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PubNub

iScore59–83 · #3/4
www.pubnub.com · Realtime and websockets
SEPT 2026 audit

Realtime messaging billed on monthly active users rather than messages or connections, with unlimited channels on every plan.

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Entry paid plan$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.
Free tierYes
CategoryRealtime and websockets

Updated 6 criteria comparedSources last checked

01.Evaluation guide

Who it suits

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 if…

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.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

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

Pricing
6 criteria
Free tierYes
Sources (1) →
  • PubNub Pricing ↗

    “Free Plan Free Forever free • No credit card required”

    Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing

Kind of free offerAlways free
Sources (1) →
  • PubNub Pricing ↗

    “Free Plan Free Forever free • No credit card required 200 MAU”

    Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing

What the free plan includes200 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 (1) →
Credit card to startNo
Sources (1) →
  • PubNub Pricing ↗

    “Free Forever free • No credit card required”

    Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing

Entry paid plan$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 (1) →
  • PubNub Pricing ↗

    “Starter Plan $98/month Pay as your grow 1,000 MAU included”

    Read 2026-09-15 · official pricing

Pricing modelPer 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 (1) →
  • 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.

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Every page here is sourced and dated.