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Ably pricing and limits

iScore75–84 · ≈#1/4
ably.com · Realtime and websockets
SEPT 2026 audit

Realtime messaging metered on three axes at once — messages, channel-minutes and connection-minutes — on top of a package fee.

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Entry paid plan$29 a month for Standard, and the "+ usage" matters: the package fee buys capacity ceilings and every message, channel-minute and connection-minute is billed on top of it.
Free tierYes
CategoryRealtime and websockets

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 9 criteria comparedSources last checked

Ably pricing at a glance

Entry paid plan
$29 a month for Standard, and the "+ usage" matters: the package fee buys capacity ceilings and every message, channel-minute and… source ↗
Pricing model
Three meters at once on top of a package fee: $2.50 per million messages, $1.00 per million channel-minutes and $1.00 per million… source ↗
What the free plan includes
200 concurrent connections, 500 messages a second and 6 million messages a month, with community and best-effort email support source ↗

First line of each sourced value. The full text is in Ably pricing below. How this free offer stacks up: cloud free tiers compared.

01.Evaluation guide

Who it suits

Workloads where the ceiling has to move without a plan change: 50,000 concurrent connections at $399, three meters that scale with what you actually send, and volume rates falling to $0.50 per million messages.

Consider something else if…

You need to know the bill in advance. Three meters run at once — messages, channel-minutes and connection-minutes — and an idle connection still accrues connection-minutes, so time connected costs money whether or not anything is sent.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Each value below links to the page it was read from, with the sentence it came from. Criteria Ably does not publish are not listed.

Ably pricing

5 criteria
Free tierYes
Sources (1) →
Kind of free offerFree tier
Sources (1) →
What the free plan includes200 concurrent connections, 500 messages a second and 6 million messages a month, with community and best-effort email support. No commitment, and no time limit stated.
Sources (1) →
Entry paid plan$29 a month for Standard, and the "+ usage" matters: the package fee buys capacity ceilings and every message, channel-minute and connection-minute is billed on top of it.
Sources (1) →
Pricing modelThree meters at once on top of a package fee: $2.50 per million messages, $1.00 per million channel-minutes and $1.00 per million connection-minutes, each falling to $0.50 or $0.20 with volume. A per-MAU model is offered as an alternative. A connection that sits idle still accrues connection-minutes, so time connected is billable whether or not anything is sent.
Sources (1) →

Observability

1 criteria
Events included6 million messages a month on the free package, with a 500-per-second rate ceiling alongside it. Paid packages raise the rate ceiling — 2,500 a second on Standard, 10,000 on Pro — and bill message volume as usage rather than including it.
Sources (1) →

Queues

1 criteria
Concurrency200 concurrent connections on Free, 10,000 on Standard at $29 and 50,000 on Pro at $399, alongside matching concurrent-channel ceilings of 10,000 and 50,000.
Sources (1) →

Compliance

2 criteria
SOC 2Ably regularly completes audits of our product, infrastructure, and policies to the satisfaction of the SOC 2 Type 2 standard.
Sources (1) →
HIPAAHIPAA BAA Compliance for your healthcare solution.
Sources (1) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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Ably pricing questions

How much does Ably cost?

$29 a month for Standard, and the "+ usage" matters: the package fee buys capacity ceilings and every message, channel-minute and connection-minute is billed on top of it.

Ably Pricing · read

How does Ably charge?

Three meters at once on top of a package fee: $2.50 per million messages, $1.00 per million channel-minutes and $1.00 per million connection-minutes, each falling to $0.50 or $0.20 with volume. A per-MAU model is offered as an alternative. A connection that sits idle still accrues connection-minutes, so time connected is billable whether or not anything is sent.

Ably Pricing · read

Does Ably have a free tier?

Yes. 200 concurrent connections, 500 messages a second and 6 million messages a month, with community and best-effort email support. No commitment, and no time limit stated.

Ably Pricing · read

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.