Push notification services deliver short messages to phones and browsers, from a bare transport API to a full engagement platform.
This guide ranks twelve products on the first ninety days of setup, the real bill once volume grows, how subscriber data leaves, and whether you can run it without a partner.
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vendor. How that works.
In short
What push notification services software does
A push notification service registers devices or browsers, then sends and tracks short messages through platform networks such as Apple, Google and web browsers, often with targeting and automation.
In this order: setup effort, what it really costs, how your data comes back out, whether
you can leave, and who each push notification services tool is built for. One rule sits on top of those tests:
Places 1 to 3 go to challengers, vendors outside the best-known brands in a category, wherever the category has them; the established names follow from place 4 in their ranked order. Why those five, and why there is no
score out of ten, is on the how we work page.
No-cost Cloud Messaging on the Spark plan; published pay-as-you-go Blaze plan for other Firebase services
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Google's no-cost push transport for Android, iOS and web apps
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Country is where the vendor is headquartered or contracts from, which is a
different question from where your data is hosted. Where the two tell different stories, the
entry says so.
Open-core notification infrastructure covering push, email, SMS, chat and in-app
Ranked #1 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Free tierSelf-hostablePublished pricingMiddle East
Novu publishes its core under the MIT licence while keeping an enterprise folder under a commercial licence, so the open part is real but not everything. The Free plan allows 10,000 workflow runs, 20 workflows and 2 environments, with US and EU data residency listed.
Pro starts at a low monthly fee for 30,000 runs, then charges per thousand extra. Exit is simple because the workflow code is yours; the cost is that a developer must write it.
What stands out
Open core (MIT)
Self-hosting on Enterprise
Multi-channel API
Where it costs you
Free plan keeps the activity feed for only 24 hours and allows 3 team members.
Self-hosted deployment is listed only under the custom Enterprise plan.
Right for
Engineering teams that want notification code they can read, fork and host
Wrong for
Marketers who want to build campaigns without developers
IsraelFree tier of 10,000 workflow runs a month; published Pro and Team plans; custom Enterprise
Web push service pricing by subscribers, with every feature on every plan
Ranked #2 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Webpushr prices only by active subscribers: free to 10,000, then four published tiers up to 150,000, with a custom Enterprise above. All features, including segments, API access and unlimited websites, come with every plan, so there is no feature ladder to climb.
The pricing page footer still shows a 2019 copyright, which is worth asking about before relying on roadmap claims. The monthly export limit in its terms affects anyone planning to leave.
What stands out
Web push
Subscriber-based pricing
All features on all plans
Where it costs you
The pages I read describe browser push and plugins, not a mobile-app SDK.
Non-enterprise accounts may request a full subscriber export only once a month.
Right for
Publishers and shops that need browser push at a predictable, subscriber-based price
Wrong for
Mobile-app teams that need native iOS and Android push
United StatesFree up to 10,000 subscribers; published monthly tiers by subscriber count; custom above 150,000
Notification workflows and in-app feeds sold per message sent
Ranked #3 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Knock sells a messaging layer for product events. Free allows 10,000 messages a month and 500 guide recipients, with unlimited workflows, channels, profiles and team members.
Starter adds branding removal, email previews and priority email support for a fixed monthly fee, then bills per message above 50,000. Because bounced or failed sends are not counted, bills track delivered volume. Enterprise offers notified-user pricing as an alternative to per-message charges.
What stands out
Workflow engine
In-app guides
Usage-based
Where it costs you
Message-based billing means a busy product can pass the 50,000 included on Starter quickly.
SSO, SCIM, an SLA and HIPAA terms are reserved for custom Enterprise contracts.
Right for
SaaS product teams that want workflows, preferences and in-app guides from one API
Wrong for
Sites that only need cheap browser push to a large list
United StatesFree tier of 10,000 messages a month; Starter published with per-message overage; Enterprise quoted
Push-only API for iOS, Android and web with plans tiered by subscribers
Ranked #4 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingEurope
Beams offers device interests for broadcasting, authenticated users for targeting a person across devices, and delivery tracking with webhooks. The Sandbox covers 1,000 subscribers; paid tiers run from 10,000 to 250,000 subscribers at fixed monthly prices, so the bill is predictable.
The registered office is at MessageBird UK Limited, which suggests a parent group, though the page does not say so. If you outgrow 250,000 subscribers, the pricing page offers no tier, so plan for a conversation with sales.
What stands out
Push-only API
Device interests
Five fixed tiers
Where it costs you
It sends push only, with no email, SMS or in-app channel on the pages I read.
Standard support is best-effort email; the 24-hour target begins at the Business tier.
Right for
Developers who need a small push API for iOS, Android and web
Wrong for
Teams that want segmentation, campaigns or multi-channel journeys
United KingdomFree Sandbox for 1,000 subscribers; five published monthly tiers up to 250,000 subscribers
Notification routing API with journeys, broadcasts and a flat per-send rate
Ranked #5 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
Courier acts as a layer above delivery providers, with journeys, broadcasts, digest and batching, internationalisation and multi-tenant support. Developer allows 10,000 sends a month; Business charges a flat rate per send with no per-seat fee.
The vendor's FAQ says pricing follows notifications sent, not team size or channels. EU data residency is a Business feature, so check the region before building. Exit means re-pointing code that calls its API.
What stands out
Routing API
Journeys
Per-send pricing
Where it costs you
Developer logs are kept for 7 days, which limits debugging of older sends.
Role-based access control and an SLA require the Enterprise contract.
Right for
Product teams routing transactional messages across several delivery providers and channels
Wrong for
Marketing teams running recurring push campaigns on a schedule
United StatesFree tier of 10,000 sends a month; Business published per send; Enterprise priced by volume
Notification inbox with push, Slack, SMS and email delivery counted per channel
Ranked #6 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
MagicBell leads with a notification inbox for web and mobile apps and treats push, Slack, SMS and email as delivery channels. The Builder tier gives 1,000 deliveries a month with unlimited team members and users.
Startup raises that to 50,000 with a per-delivery rate beyond it. Smart delivery rules can drop a channel for a user, which affects the count, so measure real deliveries during a trial before you sign.
What stands out
Notification inbox
Smart delivery
Per-delivery pricing
Where it costs you
Deliveries are counted per channel, so a two-channel notification counts as two.
Projects beyond the five included on Startup cost a stated extra monthly fee.
Right for
Apps that want an in-app notification bell plus push and Slack fallbacks
Wrong for
Teams that need campaign analytics, segmentation or journey design
United StatesFree Builder tier of 1,000 deliveries a month; published Startup plan with per-delivery overage
Notification workflows with batching, preferences and an optional bring-your-own-cloud deployment
Ranked #7 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Free tierSelf-hostablePublished pricingElsewhere
SuprSend's Free tier covers 10,000 notifications a month with unlimited channels, branching and lists, plus a 30-day trial of premium features. Essentials and Business are billed annually and add overage per thousand notifications.
Enterprise adds SAML, audit trail, HIPAA terms, multi-region data centres and self-hosting. The pages I read show Delaware governing law but no office address, so ask where data is processed before you buy.
What stands out
Batching and digest
User preferences
Self-hosted on Enterprise
Where it costs you
Batching and digest, and user preferences, are not on the Essentials plan.
The Free inbox carries SuprSend branding, removed from Essentials upward.
Right for
Startups that want workflow, preferences and data modelling with a self-host path
Wrong for
Buyers who want the vendor's country of operation stated on the site
Not stated by the vendorFree tier of 10,000 notifications a month; Essentials and Business published, billed annually; Enterprise quoted
Web and app push with a subscriber-priced ladder and automation workflows
Ranked #8 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
PushEngage lists web push for Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge, iOS and Android app push, in-app messages and WhatsApp automation for Shopify and WooCommerce.
Paid plans are quoted by the number of active subscribers, and the pricing page says an account is upgraded automatically when usage passes the limit instead of pausing campaigns. Workflows grow from one on Free to five on Business. Check annual versus monthly price before comparing.
What stands out
Web and app push
Subscriber pricing
WordPress and Shopify
Where it costs you
The free tier allows 200 subscribers, one site and 30 campaigns for its lifetime.
Only Premium and above cover more than one website or app.
Right for
WordPress, WooCommerce and Shopify stores wanting push plus simple automations
Wrong for
Large app publishers needing server-side event APIs and journeys
Not stated by the vendorFree tier for 200 subscribers; published paid tiers that scale with active subscribers; Enterprise quoted
Mobile and web push priced per thousand monthly active users
Ranked #9 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingElsewhere
The company history page says Pushwoosh Inc. was registered in 2014, but no page I read gives a country. Pricing counts monthly active users, with a lower rate for push only and a higher one once email, SMS and WhatsApp are included.
Messenger channels are billed by third-party providers at their own prices, so the headline rate is not the full cost.
What stands out
MAU pricing
Mobile push
Omnichannel
Not stated by the vendorFree tier up to 1,000 monthly active users; published per-1,000 rates for push-only and omnichannel
CRM and push platform sold through demos for retail and media
Ranked #10 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Pricing on requestEurope
Batch positions itself as a customer engagement platform with app push, web push, email, SMS and in-app messaging, plus AI features and a data platform.
That scope suits a CRM team in retail, media, finance or luxe more than a developer who only needs to send a push. The website lists no prices, so cost can only be compared after a sales conversation.
What stands out
CRM platform
App and web push
Demo-led sales
FranceNo prices on the website; contact the vendor for a demonstration and offer
Free-to-start push, email and in-app service that scales by monthly active users
Ranked #11 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Free tierPublished pricingNorth America
The entry plan includes all channels, and mobile push costs a stated rate per monthly active user beyond the first 1,000, so costs rise with an engaged user base.
Web push is priced per subscriber. Journeys are capped at 3 on the free plan and 5 on Growth, and experiments, all integrations and advanced permissions sit on the annual Professional tier.
What stands out
Free plan
MAU pricing
Large ecosystem
United StatesFree plan with all channels; Growth published from a monthly fee plus usage; Professional and Enterprise custom
Google's no-cost push transport for Android, iOS and web apps
Ranked #12 of 12 in Best Push Notification Services in 2026.
Published pricingNorth America
Firebase Cloud Messaging is listed as no-cost on the pricing page and delivers to Android, iOS and web, and Flutter, Unity and C++ projects.
It is transport, not a campaign tool: you send through server code or the Firebase console, target single devices, groups or topics, and carry payloads of up to 4096 bytes. Segmentation and journeys need another product.
What stands out
Transport layer
Topics and device groups
Google-run
United StatesNo-cost Cloud Messaging on the Spark plan; published pay-as-you-go Blaze plan for other Firebase services
A push notification service registers devices or browsers, then sends and tracks short messages through platform networks such as Apple, Google and web browsers, often with targeting and automation. The differences that matter are rarely in the feature list, so this is
the order we would work through them.
01
Decide whether you need a published price
11 of the 12 tools here publish what they cost; the other 1 quote per organisation. The ones you can compare without a sales call: Novu, Webpushr, Knock, Pusher Beams, Courier, MagicBell, SuprSend, PushEngage, Pushwoosh, OneSignal, Firebase.
02
Decide how much the jurisdiction matters
These 12 vendors are established in 5 countries across 4 regions (North America 6, Elsewhere 3, Europe 2, Middle East 1). That decides whose disclosure law applies to what the vendor holds, wherever the servers are.
What a push notification service actually sells
The category mixes three different products. Firebase and Pusher Beams are transport: they deliver a payload to a device and leave targeting to your code. Webpushr and PushEngage are browser-first tools with a dashboard for composing sends. Knock, Courier, Novu, MagicBell and SuprSend are notification infrastructure, where push is one channel inside a workflow.
OneSignal, Pushwoosh and Batch sit nearer a marketing platform with segments and journeys. Decide which of these you need before comparing prices, because a transport API will look cheapest and then cost developer time you did not budget. Write down who sends the notification: a developer, a marketer, or an automated product event. The answer decides whether you need a dashboard, an SDK or a workflow engine, and it usually settles the shortlist.
List the senders: developers, marketers or product events
Decide whether web push, app push or both are required
Check whether segmentation exists or must be coded
Counting the unit you will be billed on
Vendors charge by different units, so the same audience produces very different invoices. Pushwoosh and OneSignal count monthly active users, Webpushr and PushEngage count subscribers, Knock counts messages delivered, Courier counts sends, MagicBell counts deliveries per channel and Novu counts workflow runs. Firebase lists Cloud Messaging as no-cost.
Convert your own numbers into each unit before asking for quotes: monthly active users, subscribers, and notifications per user per month. A product that notifies every user daily multiplies message-based bills quickly, while a rarely used app can sit comfortably on a free tier. Batch publishes no prices, so request a quote in writing and keep the volumes you gave the vendor, because a verbal figure is hard to hold them to later.
Estimate active users, subscribers and monthly notifications
Convert each figure into every vendor's billing unit
Ask what happens when you pass the plan limit
Moving off a vendor
Switching push providers means more than changing an API key. Device tokens and subscriber records live in the vendor, and browser subscriptions are tied to the service worker and keys that registered them. Webpushr limits non-enterprise accounts to one subscriber-data export a month. Novu publishes its core code under the MIT licence and lists self-hosting on Enterprise, and SuprSend lists self-hosting and Bring Your Own Cloud on Enterprise, which lowers lock-in.
Ask any vendor how tokens leave, in what format, and whether history of sends is exportable. Try the export on a test project before the contract starts, not after, because a missing field or a rate limit on the export call is much cheaper to learn about in week one than in the final month of a contract.
Request a sample export of tokens or subscribers
Check whether workflow logic is code you own
Confirm what happens to subscriptions after cancellation
Data location and plan gates
Features that look standard are often held back for higher tiers. Courier lists EU data residency from Business, Novu shows US and EU residency on its Free plan, and SuprSend keeps batching and digest for Business. Knock reserves SSO, SCIM and an SLA for Enterprise, while Pusher Beams gives a 24-hour support target only from Business upward.
Make a short list of the features you cannot live without, such as digest, preferences, branding removal, log retention or regional hosting, and check each against the exact tier. A free tier that lacks one of them is a trial, not a plan, and the free tiers listed here differ a lot in that respect.
Pin each must-have feature to a specific plan
Check log and feed retention against your debugging needs
Confirm the region where message data is stored
What goes wrong most often when buying push notification services software
Comparing the headline price per thousand users without converting every vendor to the same unit.
Choosing a transport API such as Firebase and discovering later that segmentation and scheduling must be built in-house.
Testing push on one browser, then missing that web push behaves differently on iOS, Safari and Android.
Skipping an export test, so subscriber lists and tokens turn out to be hard to move at cancellation.
07
Frequently asked questions
7 answers
What is the best push notification services in 2026?
Novu leads our ranking of 12. The operating company, Noti-Fire Apps Ltd, lists its offices in Ramat Gan, Israel, and the core code sits on GitHub under the MIT licence. That lets an engineering team read what it runs.
Push is one of five channels, so you build workflows in code rather than compose campaigns. The free plan keeps the activity feed for 24 hours, and self-hosting is listed only under Enterprise.
Which push notification services tools publish their pricing?
11 of the 12, with the pricing model each one publishes:
Novu: Free tier of 10,000 workflow runs a month; published Pro and Team plans; custom Enterprise.
Webpushr: Free up to 10,000 subscribers; published monthly tiers by subscriber count; custom above 150,000.
Knock: Free tier of 10,000 messages a month; Starter published with per-message overage; Enterprise quoted.
Pusher Beams: Free Sandbox for 1,000 subscribers; five published monthly tiers up to 250,000 subscribers.
Courier: Free tier of 10,000 sends a month; Business published per send; Enterprise priced by volume.
MagicBell: Free Builder tier of 1,000 deliveries a month; published Startup plan with per-delivery overage.
SuprSend: Free tier of 10,000 notifications a month; Essentials and Business published, billed annually; Enterprise quoted.
PushEngage: Free tier for 200 subscribers; published paid tiers that scale with active subscribers; Enterprise quoted.
Pushwoosh: Free tier up to 1,000 monthly active users; published per-1,000 rates for push-only and omnichannel.
OneSignal: Free plan with all channels; Growth published from a monthly fee plus usage; Professional and Enterprise custom.
Firebase: No-cost Cloud Messaging on the Spark plan; published pay-as-you-go Blaze plan for other Firebase services.
The other 1 quote per organisation.
Is there a free push notification services tool?
Novu, Webpushr, Knock, Pusher Beams, Courier, MagicBell, SuprSend, PushEngage, Pushwoosh, OneSignal offer a free tier or a free self-hosted edition.
Where are these push notification services vendors established?
In 5 countries across 4 regions: North America 6, Elsewhere 3, Europe 2, Middle East 1.
Novu: Israel.
Webpushr: United States.
Knock: United States.
Pusher Beams: United Kingdom.
Courier: United States.
MagicBell: United States.
SuprSend: Not stated by the vendor.
PushEngage: Not stated by the vendor.
Pushwoosh: Not stated by the vendor.
Batch: France.
OneSignal: United States.
Firebase: United States.
Which push notification services tools can you host yourself?
Novu, SuprSend. The other 10 are hosted by the vendor only.
What should you use instead of Novu?
Webpushr and Knock are the next two on this page. Webpushr is for Publishers and shops that need browser push at a predictable, subscriber-based price; Knock is for SaaS product teams that want workflows, preferences and in-app guides from one API.
Who should not buy Novu?
Marketers who want to build campaigns without developers. Free plan keeps the activity feed for only 24 hours and allows 3 team members..
If your push notification services product belongs among these 12, tell us what it does and who it is for. Inclusion is an editorial call; what a listing is and is not is set out under software advice.
