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Paid plans start at $98/mo. There's also a free plan.
PubNub has a free tier, but the first listed paid plan is Starter at $98 per month. The pricing page says Starter includes 1,000 MAU and up to six months of data storage. Pro has no fixed base price: examples are $550/month for 10,000 MAU and $2,100/month for 50,000 MAU, while the page also says 50,000+ is custom. Annual Pro discounts and add-on prices are not published, so budget around your usage and required extras.
01Every plan, line by line
| Plan | Billed annually | Billed monthly | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | — | $0 | Testing and prototypes |
| Starter | — | $98 | Launching apps |
| Pro | — | Quote | Production apps |
Add-ons and overages
- Events & Actions: price not published
- PubNub Insights: price not published; trial listed
- BizOps Workspace: price not published; included with Starter
- Illuminate: price not published; 2-week free trial
02What the plan grid doesn't tell you
Pro pricing varies by MAU
The page lists $550/month for 10,000 MAU and $2,100/month for 50,000 MAU, but also says 50,000+ is custom.
Annual rates are unpublished
The pricing page mentions annual discounts for Pro but does not publish annual rates.
Add-on prices are unpublished
Events & Actions, PubNub Insights, and Illuminate have no listed prices. BizOps Workspace is included with Starter; its separate price is not published.
Free tier has usage limits
The Free plan lists up to 200 MAU or 1M transactions, plus 1GB storage for 7 days.
03Which plan should you buy?
| If you are… | Get | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Testing and prototypes | Free | Start with the $0 tier; it lists up to 200 MAU or 1M transactions and 1GB storage for 7 days. |
| Launching an app | Starter | At $98/month, it includes 1,000 MAU, up to six months of data storage, and BizOps Workspace. |
| Production apps with variable usage | Pro | It offers custom MAU packages, unlimited data storage, and up to a 99.999% uptime SLA; check the quote against your expected usage. |
04Is PubNub worth the money?
PubNub's price is easier to assess at the entry level than at production scale: Starter is $98/month, while Pro depends on MAU and the listed examples do not resolve the 50,000+ custom-pricing note. The real-time messaging, persistence, presence, and data-sync features make the platform worth considering when those capabilities matter to the product. We would compare the Pro quote and any paid add-ons with your requirements before switching; mixed user reports are another reason not to decide on the plan grid alone.
PubNub pricing FAQ
How much does PubNub cost?
The pricing page lists a free plan and Starter at $98 per month. Pro has no single published monthly price: examples are $550/month for 10,000 MAU and $2,100/month for 50,000 MAU. The page also says 50,000+ is custom, so larger deployments need a quote.
Does PubNub have a free plan?
Yes. PubNub lists a Free plan for testing and prototypes, with up to 200 MAU or 1M transactions, up to 1M transactions monthly, and 1GB of storage for 7 days. Check how those limits apply to your expected traffic before relying on it for a live app.
What does PubNub Pro include, and how is it priced?
The pricing page describes Pro as a production plan with custom MAU packages, volume discounts, unlimited data storage, and up to a 99.999% uptime SLA. It gives monthly examples of $550 for 10,000 MAU and $2,100 for 50,000 MAU, but says 50,000+ is custom.
Are PubNub annual billing and add-on prices published?
The page mentions annual discounts for Pro but does not publish annual rates. Prices for Events & Actions, PubNub Insights, and Illuminate are also not published. PubNub lists a two-week free trial, but the published pricing details do not specify which plans or add-ons it covers.