Simple, Transparent Pricing
Choose Your Plan
All plans include unlimited channels, and all our core features. You only pay for what you use: MAU.
Free Plan
Free
- ✓1GB data storage (7 days)
- ✓Community support
- ✓Up to 1M transactions monthly
Starter Plan
$98/month
- ✓Includes add-on Bizops Workspace for user and channel management
- ✓Up to 6 months data storage
- ✓Standard support (24/5)
- ✓Insights into your users, channels and messages
Pro Plan
Custom
- ✓Unlimited data storage
- ✓Dedicated support team
- ✓Advanced analytcs & monioring
- ✓99.999% uptime SLA
- ✓Custom integrations
Pay-As-You-Go Pricing
Free Plan
$0/month
for up to 200 MAU
Starter Plan
$98/month
for 1,000 MAU
$698/month
for 5,000 MAU
Pro Plan
Volume Discounts
for 10,000+ MAU
Simple, Predictable Pricing — No Hidden Fees
Other providers have unexpected charges for concurrency, channels, and messaging, making costs unpredictable and difficult to budget for. With PubNub's MAU pricing, it's simple. You only pay for MAUs. That's it.
| Billing Metric |  | Other Platforms |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly Active Users (MAU) | PubNub The only thing you pay for | Other platform One of many potential charges |
| Peak Concurrent Connections | PubNub Included | Other platform Extra Cost |
| Message & API Call Volume | PubNub Included | Other platform Extra Cost |
| Active Channel / Connection Time | PubNub Included | Other platform Extra Cost |
| Storage & Bandwidth | PubNub Included | Other platform Extra Cost |
| Advanced Feature Add-ons | PubNub Included | Other platform Extra Cost |
Pricing Calculator
Estimate your monthly costs based on your number of Monthly Active Users (MAU). The pricing shown is representative of most common use cases.
Need more than 50,000 MAU?Contact sales for volume discounts
Compare Plans & Features
New premium add-on
PubNub Illuminate: Real-Time Intelligence
Go beyond messaging with AI-powered real-time decision making. Process live data streams and trigger instant actions across your entire application ecosystem.
Discover Illuminate
Watch how real-time intelligence transforms user experiences with instant, automated responses to live data.
Perfect for: Content moderation, fraud detection, personalization engines, real-time recommendations, and automated user engagement
Illuminate
Turn live app data into real-time metrics and actionable insights
Decision rules had trigger alerts, rewards, and prompts—no coding required
Act instantly with real-time decisioning to boost engagement, personalization, and monetization
Try Illuminate Free
Get full access to all features for 2 weeks—no setup required. Instantly generate a custom demo tailored to your use case.
Illuminate is available as an add-on to any PubNub plan.
Support & Service Options
Get the support you need to build confidently. All plans include standard support, with premium options available for mission-critical applications.
Frequently Asked Pricing Questions
What is MAU (Monthly Active Users)?
MAU stands for Monthly Active Users - the number of unique users who interact with your app each month. This includes users who send/receive messages, join channels, or use any PubNub features.
How much does Platform Starter cost per MAU?
What are the Free plan limitations?
How much do messages cost?
Are there any subscription fees for storing chats?
Can I estimate costs for 100,000 MAU?
Do I need a credit card to start?
How do overages work?
Trusted by 3M+ Developers Worldwide
99.999%
Uptime SLA
<100ms
Global Latency
3M+
Developers
25M+
Concurrent Connections
GDPR
Compliant
HIPAA
Compliant
SOC 2 Type 2
Certified
ISO 27001
Certified
Enterprise-Grade Compliance
Compliance is handled out of the box, with support for GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2 Type 2, and ISO 27001. You can control how and where data is stored and routed—including locking it to U.S.-only data centers when needed. Access controls and audit logs are built in, so meeting requirements doesn't add extra overhead.
Data Residency
Control where your data is stored and processed
Audit Logs
Complete audit trails built into the platform
Access Controls
Granular permissions and role-based access
Ready to Build Real-Time Apps?
Join millions of developers building the future of real-time experiences. Start free, scale as you grow.
What is MAU?
A Monthly Active User is a unique user who connects to PubNub at least once in a monthly billing cycle. Learn more in our FAQ
Our free plan is designed for you to build and test your application. When you're ready for production, you can seamlessly upgrade to a paid plan.
