Pusher Channels vs PubNub
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Pusher Channels and PubNub built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose 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.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- 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.
- 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.
4 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Pusher Channels 0
PubNub 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Pusher Channels | PubNub |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| 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
- PubNub
- Always free
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pusher Channels Pricing ↗
“Sandbox Free Sign up Messages per day 200k Concurrent connections 100”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- PubNub Pricing ↗
“Free Plan Free Forever free • No credit card required 200 MAU”
Read 2026-09-15 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pusher Channels Pricing ↗
“Messages per day 200k Concurrent connections 100 Level of support Standard”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- PubNub Pricing ↗
“200 MAU or 1M transactions”
Read 2026-09-15 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pusher Channels Pricing ↗
“Startup $49/month Sign up Messages per day 1 million Concurrent connections 500”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- PubNub Pricing ↗
“Starter Plan $98/month Pay as your grow 1,000 MAU included”
Read 2026-09-15 · official 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.
- 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.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Pusher Channels Pricing ↗
“Easy pricing with our pre-built limits. Take control of your spending”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
- PubNub Pricing ↗
“pay-as-you-grow pricing is based on one simple metric: Monthly Active Users”
Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing.
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.