# Pusher Channels vs PubNub

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/pusher-vs-pubnub/

Every value below is read from Pusher Channels's and PubNub's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Pusher Channels | PubNub |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Kind of free offer | Free tier | Always free |
| What the free plan includes | 200,000 messages a day and 100 concurrent connections on the Sandbox plan, with standard support. A daily message ceiling rather than a monthly one, which is the harder limit to plan around. | 200 monthly active users or 1 million transactions, whichever comes first, plus 1 GB of data storage retained for 7 days. Described as suitable for testing and prototypes. |
| Entry paid plan | $49 a month for Startup, which buys 1 million messages a day and 500 concurrent connections. Nothing is metered on top — the plan is the ceiling and the whole bill. | $98 a month for the Starter plan, which includes 1,000 monthly active users. The highest entry price of the four, and the only one where the entry unit is people rather than messages or connections. |
| Pricing model | Fixed plan tiers with pre-built ceilings and no usage metering at all — $49, $99, $299, $499, $699, $899 and $1,199 a month, each raising the daily message count and the concurrent connection count together. The page sells this as spending control, and the trade is explicit: you are rate-limited rather than invoiced when you exceed a plan. | Per monthly active user, and PubNub presents that as the point rather than as a detail: one metric, unlimited channels on every plan, and core features included rather than tiered. A product with many short-lived users costs more here than one with few users sending constantly — the reverse of every message-metered competitor. |

## Where they differ

### Kind of free offer

- Pusher Channels: Free tier ([source](https://pusher.com/channels/pricing/))
- PubNub: Always free ([source](https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/))

### What the free plan includes

- Pusher Channels: 200,000 messages a day and 100 concurrent connections on the Sandbox plan, with standard support. A daily message ceiling rather than a monthly one, which is the harder limit to plan around. ([source](https://pusher.com/channels/pricing/))
- PubNub: 200 monthly active users or 1 million transactions, whichever comes first, plus 1 GB of data storage retained for 7 days. Described as suitable for testing and prototypes. ([source](https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/))

### Entry paid plan

- Pusher Channels: $49 a month for Startup, which buys 1 million messages a day and 500 concurrent connections. Nothing is metered on top — the plan is the ceiling and the whole bill. ([source](https://pusher.com/channels/pricing/))
- PubNub: $98 a month for the Starter plan, which includes 1,000 monthly active users. The highest entry price of the four, and the only one where the entry unit is people rather than messages or connections. ([source](https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/))

### Pricing model

- Pusher Channels: Fixed plan tiers with pre-built ceilings and no usage metering at all — $49, $99, $299, $499, $699, $899 and $1,199 a month, each raising the daily message count and the concurrent connection count together. The page sells this as spending control, and the trade is explicit: you are rate-limited rather than invoiced when you exceed a plan. ([source](https://pusher.com/channels/pricing/))
- PubNub: Per monthly active user, and PubNub presents that as the point rather than as a detail: one metric, unlimited channels on every plan, and core features included rather than tiered. A product with many short-lived users costs more here than one with few users sending constantly — the reverse of every message-metered competitor. ([source](https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Pusher Channels if A bill that cannot surprise you. Fixed tiers with pre-built ceilings and no usage metering at all, so $49 buys a million messages a day and 500 connections and that is the whole invoice.

Pick PubNub if Products with heavy users rather than many of them. Billing is per monthly active user with unlimited channels on every plan, so a small audience sending constantly costs the same as a small audience sending rarely.

Consider something else: Pusher Channels — Traffic is spiky. The ceilings are daily rather than monthly, so one busy day can hit a limit a monthly allowance would have absorbed — and exceeding a plan rate-limits you rather than billing you.

Consider something else: PubNub — You have many short-lived users. MAU billing inverts every message-metered competitor here: a product with a large, lightly-engaged audience pays for all of them, and at $98 the entry price is twice the next highest.

## Documented by only one

- Credit card to start: PubNub: No
- Events included: Pusher Channels: 200,000 messages a day free, rising to 1 million at $49, 4 million at $99, 10 million at $299 and 20 million at $499. Counted per day rather than per month, so a single busy day can hit a ceiling a monthly figure would have absorbed.
- Concurrency: Pusher Channels: 100 concurrent connections free, 500 at $49, 2,000 at $99, 5,000 at $299 and 10,000 at $499. The ceiling moves only when the plan does.
- Support on entry paid plan: Pusher Channels: Standard support up to the $99 Pro plan and Premium support from $299 Business upward. Support level is a plan attribute here rather than an add-on.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Pusher Channels or PubNub?**

Pusher Channels: $49 a month for Startup, which buys 1 million messages a day and 500 concurrent connections. Nothing is metered on top — the plan is the ceiling and the whole bill.
PubNub: $98 a month for the Starter plan, which includes 1,000 monthly active users. The highest entry price of the four, and the only one where the entry unit is people rather than messages or connections.

**Should I choose Pusher Channels or PubNub?**

Pick Pusher Channels if A bill that cannot surprise you. Fixed tiers with pre-built ceilings and no usage metering at all, so $49 buys a million messages a day and 500 connections and that is the whole invoice.
Pick PubNub if Products with heavy users rather than many of them. Billing is per monthly active user with unlimited channels on every plan, so a small audience sending constantly costs the same as a small audience sending rarely.