PubNub plan comparison
This reference compares what the PubNub Free, Starter, and Pro plans include. For the soft and hard limits each API enforces on every plan, see API limits.
Features by plan
Every PubNub plan allows unlimited channels, devices, and concurrent users, and includes a 99.999% uptime SLA. Including a feature in your plan doesn't cover its storage or file transfer. PubNub bills those separately from transactions. See Data Persistence and Files pricing.
| Feature | Free | Starter | Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pub/Sub | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Presence | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Message Filtering | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Message Persistence | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DataSync | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| File Sharing | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile Push Notifications | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Functions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Access Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Encryption | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Uptime SLA of 99.999% | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Production keysets | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Keysets | 10 active keysets | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Audit Log | Preview of recent events | Yes | Yes |
| Secret key rotation without downtime | No | Yes | Yes |
| Custom domain | No | No | Yes |
| SAML single sign-on (SSO) for the Admin Portal | No | No | Yes |
| Business Associate Agreement (BAA) for HIPAA compliance | No | No | Yes |
| Channel Monitor | No | Yes | Yes |
| Auto Moderation (Beta) | No | Yes | Yes |
| PubNub Insights | Trial | Yes | Yes |
| Illuminate | Trial | Add-on | Add-on |
| Events & Actions | Trial | Add-on | Add-on |
PubNub will enter into a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with eligible customers upon request. Customers remain responsible for their own HIPAA obligations and appropriate service configuration. The PubNub Audit Log shows the full event history on the Starter and Pro plans. On the Free plan, the PubNub Audit Log shows a preview of the 5 most recent events.
Keysets
PubNub keyset limits by account tier:
| Account tier | Soft limit | Hard limit |
|---|---|---|
| Free | 10 active keysets | 10 active keysets |
| Starter | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Pro | Unlimited | Unlimited |
A Free account can have up to 10 active keysets. Disabled keysets do not count toward the limit. A Free tier account that reaches the hard limit can create another keyset after it disables an existing one.
Every plan, including Free, can create Production keysets. Testing keysets are rate-limited and aren't suitable for live traffic. See Set up your account to create one.
Monthly Active Users
A free PubNub account covers up to 200 monthly active users (MAUs) or 1 million transactions at no cost, whichever limit you reach first. The PubNub Starter plan includes 1,000 monthly active users (MAUs). You can buy more MAUs month to month. The Pro plan sets your MAU package, usage allowance, and rate in your contract. See Pricing overview for how MAU billing works, and for the pricing calculator.
Message retention
PubNub Message Persistence limits:
| Setting | Limit | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Data retention | Message Persistence retention is 1 or 7 days on the Free plan, 30 days, 3 months, or 6 months on Starter, and 1 year or Unlimited on Pro. | Free tier keysets are capped at 7 days. Set the retention period per keyset in the Admin Portal. |
| Messages per history call | A single history call returns up to 100 messages for one channel, or up to 25 messages per channel across as many as 500 channels. | Page backward with the timetokens each response returns. |
| Channels per message-count call | A single messageCounts call covers up to 100 channels. | Applies to the call that returns unread message counts for multiple channels in one request. |
Channel groups
A channel group lets a client subscribe to many channels as one unit.
A keyset can have any number of channel groups. A single client can subscribe to up to 10 channel groups at a time. Each group holds up to 1,000 channels by default. Paid plans can raise the cap to 2,000 channels per group.
To raise a keyset's limit up to the 2,000-channel maximum, contact support.
Functions
On Free and Starter plans, a PubNub Function typically handles 15 requests per second (RPS). Starter plan Functions can scale up to 10 times that within 20 seconds. Free plan Functions do not scale beyond their baseline RPS. If load exceeds the RPS limit, Functions may time out or run longer.
A PubNub Function package revision can deploy to up to 10 keysets on the Free plan and up to 500 keysets on a paid plan.
On the Free plan, a Function deployment pauses 7 days after it's deployed. PubNub sends reminder emails before the pause. To run the Function again, redeploy it.
Contact sales for higher throughput. See API limits for the full model.
Events & Actions
PubNub Events & Actions limits by tier:
| Item | Free | Intro | Tier 1 | Tier 2 | Tier 3 | Tier 4 | Tier 5 | Tier 6 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Events ingested per month | 10K | 2M | 4M | 25M | 66M | 200M | 500M | Unlimited |
| Listeners | 1 | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Actions per listener | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Your keyset's tier is set by your PubNub plan.
For the dollar cost of each tier above Free, see Pricing by feature.
Next steps
- Pricing overview. The MAU model, plan comparison, and when transaction-based pricing fits better.
- Pricing by feature. The cost of each transaction type, storage, file transfer, and Events & Actions tier.
- API limits. The soft and hard limits every API enforces, independent of plan.
- Full pricing details. PubNub's plan comparison and signup page.