Pubnub pricing breakdown: Value for money or overpriced?

When evaluating solutions for adding chat functionality to your application, PubNub often appears as an option, but there's a critical distinction to understand.  PubNub operates fundamentally differently from popular chat SDK solutions like CometChat, SendBird, and Stream.

At its core, PubNub is a real-time publish-subscribe (pub/sub) infrastructure platform , not a dedicated chat solution. While it can be used to build chat applications, it only provides the foundational building blocks through its pub/sub infrastructure. This means developers must construct most chat features from scratch, investing significant time and resources in development.

While some developers might be drawn to the idea of building chat functionality from the ground up using PubNub's infrastructure, the crucial question remains: Is it economically viable? 

In this blog post, we'll analyze PubNub's pricing structure to help you determine whether the additional development effort and resources required are justified compared to more straightforward solutions like CometChat that offer comprehensive chat functionality at competitive pricing.

PubNub's pricing model has evolved to focus on Monthly Active Users (MAU) across its Free, Starter, and Pro plans. Instead of charging separately for individual infrastructure operations, PubNub now includes core capabilities such as unlimited channels, messages, API calls, concurrency, bandwidth, and storage (tiered by plan) within its MAU-based pricing.

In the context of building a chat application, usage is measured by how actively users engage with your product rather than by individual message or event volumes. This simplifies billing compared to earlier usage-heavy models, but still requires careful consideration as engagement scales.

While this approach improves predictability relative to transaction-based billing, costs can still scale quickly as user activity increases. Highly active users can consume significantly more resources and may count as multiple MAUs under PubNub’s proportional overage model, making cost planning important for fast-growing or engagement-heavy applications.

This MAU-based model is easier to reason about than granular infrastructure billing, but it does not eliminate the need for ongoing monitoring. As applications grow and engagement deepens, teams must still forecast how usage patterns translate into MAU consumption.

Pubnub’s starter plan

PubNub offers a Starter plan priced at $98/month for up to 1,000 MAUs. This plan includes core real-time features, the BizOps add-on, and up to six months of message storage, along with standard support availability (24/5).

The Starter plan also builds on PubNub’s MAU-based pricing structure, which applies across its Free and Starter tiers. When usage exceeds plan limits, overages are handled proportionally by counting higher-usage users as multiple MAUs, rather than charging fixed fees per message, API call, or gigabyte of storage.

While this structure removes explicit per-transaction fees, it still introduces variability as user behavior intensifies. Applications with highly engaged users may see effective MAU counts rise faster than anticipated, requiring teams to upgrade plans or carefully manage usage patterns.

Although the Starter Plan makes it easier for teams to get started with PubNub, the primary consideration remains the same.

As engagement grows, MAU consumption can scale non-linearly, requiring ongoing attention to avoid unexpected plan upgrades.

Instead of paying for predefined chat features, you are paying for infrastructure usage tied to engagement levels. While MAUs are easier to track than raw transactions, they are still influenced by user behavior patterns that may be difficult to fully control or predict.

PubNub’s MAU-based pricing simplifies billing compared to transaction-heavy models, but it still requires teams to plan carefully as adoption and real-time usage increase.

For developers seeking ready-made chat solutions with predictable costs and minimal operational overhead, platforms like CometChat provide feature-complete options without the need to manage infrastructure-level usage dynamics.

Comparing PubNub with chat-focused solutions like CometChat presents an inherent challenge, as we're essentially comparing a foundation layer with a complete solution. Check the table below to understand the key differences in Pubnub and CometChat’s pricing model.

1. Requires significant development effort for full chat functionality

PubNub provides the infrastructure needed to build real-time experiences, but it does not offer out-of-the-box chat features. Core capabilities such as read receipts, typing indicators, message history management, and user presence must be designed, built, and maintained by the development team, increasing time-to-market and engineering effort.

2. Limited chat-specific features included by default

While PubNub includes powerful real-time messaging primitives, many features that are standard in dedicated chat solutions are not available by default. Teams must invest additional effort to implement capabilities like moderation controls, rich media handling, and user management, which are typically included in chat-focused platforms like CometChat.

CometChat includes essential chat features such as message storage, file uploads, and moderation tools as part of its core offering. What users see on the CometChat pricing page is what they pay, reducing implementation complexity as their chat platform scales.

3. MAU consumption can increase rapidly with high engagement

Although PubNub no longer relies on per-transaction fees, applications with highly active users can see MAU usage scale faster than expected. Heavy real-time usage can result in users effectively counting as multiple MAUs, requiring closer monitoring and potential plan upgrades as engagement grows.

In contrast, CometChat’s pricing aligns directly with user counts and includes common chat functionality by default, allowing teams to focus on building experiences rather than managing infrastructure usage dynamics.

4. Absence of a robust notification engine

PubNub's notification system is limited to basic push notifications and lacks the sophistication and flexibility of CometChat's comprehensive notification engine, which supports:

• Push, email, and SMS notifications

• Customizable notification settings for private and group chats

• Scheduled notifications based on user behavior

• Notification templates for consistent, clear alerts

CometChat's advanced notification capabilities enable businesses to provide a more personalized and engaging experience for their users, without incurring extra costs.

5. Lacks advanced moderation capabilities

Compared to CometChat's AI-powered content moderation, rules-based filtering, and automated spam prevention, PubNub's moderation features are relatively basic. PubNub primarily offers simple keyword filtering, leaving businesses to handle more complex content moderation tasks manually.

CometChat's advanced moderation tools, including profanity filters, user behavior monitoring, and group moderation features, help businesses maintain a safe and engaging chat environment for their users. This level of content control and automation is notably absent in PubNub's offering.

In summary, while PubNub may provide the foundational real-time infrastructure, the platform's pricing model, hidden costs, and limited feature set make it a less attractive option compared to CometChat.

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Haris Kumar

Lead Content Strategist , CometChat

Haris brings nearly half a decade of expertise in B2B SaaS content marketing, where he excels at developing strategic content that drives engagement and supports business growth. His deep understanding of the SaaS landscape allows him to craft compelling narratives that resonate with target audiences. Outside of his professional pursuits, Haris enjoys reading, trying out new dishes and watching new movies!