Yes, PubNub has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans. The free plan includes up to 200 MAU included, up to 1M transactions monthly, and 1GB data storage for 7 days. FreeTier.co estimates the free tier at about $98/mo, and no credit card is required to sign up.
About
PubNub is a real-time application platform that provides publish/subscribe messaging, message persistence, presence, file sharing, mobile push notifications, App Context, and serverless Functions. It exposes APIs and SDKs for JavaScript, Java, Kotlin, Swift, Python, Go, Rust, PHP, C#, Unity, Unreal, and other clients so developers can add chat, live updates, and device interactivity across web, mobile, and IoT applications.
The free plan includes up to 200 MAU, 1 GB of data storage for 7 days, up to 1 million transactions per month, and 5 test Serverless Functions with a 7-day runtime. It is aimed at development and testing, with no credit card required, and it can be upgraded to paid plans for higher MAU limits, longer retention, and production-scale usage.
- 200 MAU free allowance
- 1M transactions monthly
- 1 GB storage for 7 days
- 5 test serverless functions
- 7-day function runtime
- 99.999% SLA on paid plans
- Unlimited channels and devices
Free Tier Value
This free tier is a capped but genuinely usable monthly allowance: 200 MAU, 1M transactions, limited storage, a few test functions, and push notifications, all with no credit card required. The cheapest paid plan is Starter at $98/month for 1,000 MAU, so the free tier is roughly 20% of that plan’s user capacity and a meaningful slice of the overall package, putting its practical value at about $98/month.
What's included in the free tier
Verified
- Up to 200 MAU included.
- Up to 1M transactions monthly.
- 1GB data storage for 7 days.
- 5 test Serverless Functions with 7-day runtime.
- 1M push notifications per month.
- No credit card required.
See PubNub pricing for current limits.
Paid plans
Starter
- MAU
- 1,000
- data storage
- up to 6 months
- serverless functions
- 30
- 1,000 MAU included
- Up to 6 months data storage
- 30 Serverless Functions
- Insights into users, channels and messages
- BizOps Workspace add-on included
- Standard support
Pro
- MAU
- custom
- data storage
- unlimited
- uptime SLA
- 99.999%
- Custom MAU packages
- Unlimited data storage
- Advanced analytics & monitoring
- 99.999% uptime SLA
- Custom integrations
- Enterprise features included
Pricing extracted from PubNub's pricing page. Always verify current pricing before committing.
Common questions
Is PubNub free forever?
Yes. PubNub has a permanent free tier alongside its paid plans, though the allowance typically resets each month.
Does PubNub require a credit card?
No. You can start on PubNub's free tier without entering card details.
What happens when you exceed PubNub's free tier?
You move to a paid plan. PubNub's cheapest paid plan is Starter at $98 / month.
What is PubNub's free tier worth?
PubNub's free tier is worth about $98 per month. That maps to an FTV score of 75/100. The FTV score is explained at freetier.co/ftv.
