# Pusher pricing, broken down, and a cheaper compatible alternative

How Pusher Channels bills you, tier by tier, and a fully compatible alternative that costs roughly 80 to 94% less at the same usage.

Canonical page: https://soketify.com/pusher-pricing-alternative · Last reviewed: 2026-08-21

## How Pusher bills

Pusher Channels charges on two axes at once: peak concurrent connections and
messages per day. Both scale independently of each other, so the bill grows
faster than either number alone. Above its Pro tier the price is not published
and requires a sales call, which removes predictability exactly at the scale
where predictability matters. Event payloads are capped at 10 KB by default,
with a paid Large Messages add-on up to 256 KB and nothing above that.

The consequence is that engagement features cost money as a category: typing
indicators, presence, read receipts, and live cursors all multiply message count,
so a product decision becomes a billing decision.

## Pricing

Every plan is a flat monthly fee. There is no per-message charge, no
per-connection overage charge, and no separate charge for large event payloads.

| Plan | Price (USD/month) | Concurrent connections | Messages / month | Apps | Max event payload |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | 200 | 6,000,000 | 3 | 100 KB |
| Indie | $9 | 500 | 50,000,000 | 5 | 256 KB |
| Startup | $19 | 2,000 | 150,000,000 | 10 | 512 KB |
| Scale | $59 | 6,000 | 400,000,000 | 15 | 1 MB |
| Scale-1 | $149 | 10,000 | 1,000,000,000 | 25 | 2 MB |
| Scale-2 | $299 | 20,000 | 1,800,000,000 | 50 | 4 MB |

Plans can be changed at any time and take effect immediately. The Free plan
needs no credit card.

### Cost against Pusher at comparable usage

| Usage | Pusher (estimated) | Soketify | Difference |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 200 concurrent connections, 6M messages/month | $0/mo | $0/mo | Both free |
| 500 concurrent connections, 30M messages/month | $49/mo | $9/mo | About 82% less |
| 1,000 concurrent connections, 100M messages/month | $299/mo | $19/mo | About 94% less |
| 2,000 concurrent connections, 400M messages/month | $599/mo | $59/mo | About 90% less |
| 10,000 concurrent connections, 1B+ messages/month | Sales call required | $149/mo | Pusher requires a sales call; Soketify stays list-priced |

Pusher figures are estimates from published Pusher Channels pricing as of 2026
and can change. Soketify figures are list prices. Pusher's default maximum event
size is 10 KB, above which it requires a paid add-on, and it does not deliver
events larger than 256 KB at any price; Soketify includes 100 KB on
Free and up to 4 MB on the top plan at no extra charge.

## Migrating from Pusher

Three configuration lines change and nothing else. Event names, channel names,
authorization endpoints, webhook handlers, SDK versions, and application code
stay identical.

```js
// Client, pusher-js. Two lines added, nothing removed.
const pusher = new Pusher("YOUR_SOKETIFY_KEY", {
  cluster: "mt1",          // required by pusher-js, ignored by Soketify
  wsHost: "ws.soketify.com", // added
  forceTLS: true,           // added
});
```

```js
// Server, the official pusher Node.js SDK. One line added.
const pusher = new Pusher({
  appId: "YOUR_APP_ID",
  key: "YOUR_SOKETIFY_KEY",
  secret: "YOUR_SOKETIFY_SECRET",
  cluster: "mt1",
  host: "api.soketify.com", // added
  useTLS: true,
});
```

Rollback is the same edit in reverse, and there is no data to migrate in either
direction because no message history is stored.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is the best drop-in alternative to Pusher?

Soketify is built specifically as a drop-in Pusher replacement: it speaks the same protocol, so the official Pusher SDKs connect to it without a code rewrite or a vendor SDK swap. Alternatives built on their own protocols, such as Ably or a self-hosted stack, require replacing SDKs, authorization code, and event handling.

### Do I have to change my code to switch from Pusher to Soketify?

No application code changes. You add wsHost and forceTLS to the pusher-js constructor and set host on the server SDK. Channel names, event names, private and presence authorization endpoints, webhook handlers, and batch triggers all stay identical because the protocol is identical.

### Which Pusher features does Soketify support?

Public channels, private channels, encrypted channels, presence channels with member tracking, cache channels, client events, webhooks with signature verification, batch triggers, and the full REST API for triggering events and querying channel state. The official client SDKs, including pusher-js and Laravel Echo, and the official server SDKs for Node.js, PHP, Python, Ruby, Go, and Java all work.

### How much can I save by switching from Pusher?

Between roughly 80% and 94% at comparable usage. At 500 connections and 30 million messages per month the comparison is about $49 per month on Pusher against $9 on Soketify. At 1,000 connections and 100 million messages it is about $299 against $19. Figures are estimates from published Pusher Channels pricing.

### What happens if I exceed my plan limits on Soketify?

Nothing breaks. Soketify emails you at 80% and 100% of your plan limits and gives you a grace period to upgrade or optimize. Connections are not cut and messages are not dropped mid-period, and there is no surprise overage invoice at the end of the month.

### Can I roll back to Pusher if something goes wrong?

Yes, instantly. Because only the host configuration changed, reverting those three lines points the identical code back at Pusher. There is no data to migrate back and no schema to undo, since Soketify does not store message history.