{"rid":"dev-services/pusher-channels","card":{"rid":"dev-services/pusher-channels","eid":"pusher","topic":"dev-services","slug":"pusher-channels","provider":"Pusher","url":"https://pusher.com/channels/pricing","domain":"pusher.com","category":"realtime pub/sub messaging over WebSocket with an HTTP publish API","tier":"Sandbox","verdict":"qualifies-with-caveat","vorder":1,"grp":"usable","self_hosted":0,"confidence":"documented","binding":"request-rate","identity_kind":"email","identity_basis":"stated","needs_card":0,"needs_phone":0,"needs_id":0,"needs_institution":0,"country":null,"crypto":null,"interfaces":"rest","egress_metered":1,"per_object_bytes":null,"retention_days":0,"verified_at":"2026-11-02T00:38:24.163Z","verified_basis":"live","checked_on":"2026-11-02","stale_on":"2026-12-03","n_evidence":28,"usd_month":null,"usd_per_tb_month":null,"summary":"Channels Sandbox: 200k messages per day and 100 concurrent connections, free","duplicate_of":null,"n_unknown":1,"free_unit":"requests"},"record":{"topic":"dev-services","slug":"pusher-channels","provider":"Pusher","tier":"Sandbox","url":"https://pusher.com/channels/pricing","category":"realtime pub/sub messaging over WebSocket with an HTTP publish API","free_tier":{"stated":"Channels Sandbox: 200k messages per day and 100 concurrent connections, free","unit":"requests","metered_on":"request-count","source_url":"https://pusher.com/channels/pricing","read_on":"2026-10-30","notes":"A message is each API request plus each delivery to a connected client: a publish to 50 subscribers is 51 messages. Limits are counted per account, over all the apps it owns. A warning email goes out at 80% of a limit. Past the daily message limit every trigger request answers 403 over quota; past the connection limit new connections are rejected, and on Sandbox the connection limit is enforced at once (paid plans at 120%). One trigger request reaches at most 100 channels."},"per_object_cap":{"stated":"10KB of event data per message; a larger event answers 413","bytes":null,"source_url":"https://docs.bird.com/pusher/channels/channels/limits/what-is-the-message-size-limit-when-publishing-an-event-in-channels","notes":"The page writes 10KB without saying 10,000 or 10,240 bytes, so no byte count is recorded."},"retention":{"stated":"No message history by default; an opt-in cache channel keeps the last event in memory for at most 30 minutes or until a new event arrives","days":0,"source_url":"https://docs.bird.com/pusher/channels/channels/events/does-channels-store-a-history-of-events-and-messages"},"egress":{"terms":"Each delivery to a connected client counts as a message against the 200k daily quota; no byte allowance is stated","metered":true,"free_allowance":"200k messages per day, deliveries included","price_per_tb":null,"source_url":"https://pusher.com/channels/pricing"},"interface":["rest","unknown"],"interface_detail":"HTTP API at api-CLUSTER.pusher.com (for example api-mt1.pusher.com) over HTTP or HTTPS, each request signed with an HMAC SHA256 digest; clients hold WebSocket connections to ws-CLUSTER.pusher.com on port 80 for ws or 443 for wss, with an HTTP fallback transport, which the interface vocabulary has no term for.","endpoint":"https://api-mt1.pusher.com","tooling":"The pusher-js client and the Pusher server libraries, or any HTTP client that signs requests with the app secret.","chaining":"A notification fan-out from a worker to a browser dashboard, sized for about 18,000 publishes a day to 10 subscribers each.","limits":[{"kind":"request-rate","value":"200k messages per day per account, deliveries included","source":"https://pusher.com/channels/pricing"},{"kind":"per-object-cap","value":"10KB of event data per message","source":"https://docs.bird.com/pusher/channels/channels/limits/what-is-the-message-size-limit-when-publishing-an-event-in-channels"},{"kind":"retention-clamped","value":"no history; cache channels keep the last event for at most 30 minutes","source":"https://docs.bird.com/pusher/channels/channels/events/does-channels-store-a-history-of-events-and-messages"}],"limits_note":"100 concurrent connections per account, enforced at once on Sandbox, and 100 channels per trigger request. The vocabulary has no kind for a concurrency cap.","binding":"request-rate","binding_note":"A publish to n subscribers counts n + 1 against 200,000 a day, so a publish to 10 subscribers leaves about 18,000 publishes a day (200,000 / 11); a fan-out to more than 100 clients meets the connection cap first.","identity_cost":{"kind":"email","detail":"The signup form asks for an email address and a password, or a GitHub or Google sign-in, behind an invisible reCAPTCHA; billing and card details are entered only when a plan is upgraded.","country":null},"reliability_note":"Over the daily message quota the HTTP API answers 403 and further publishes fail until the next day; connections over the limit are rejected at once on Sandbox.","confidence":"documented","confidence_note":"Every limit is quoted from first-party pricing, documentation and support pages; the HTTP API host was probed and answered 400 to an unsigned request. No event was published, because publishing needs an app key and secret. A signed publish from a Sandbox app would move it to measured.","evidence":[{"url":"https://pusher.com/channels/","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"Sandbox is free with 200k messages a day and 100 concurrent connections","capture":"sha256:582813b69c8366ac09c32beb0e42b9db211661ee74fabb8bbb8f6baf7c7e2205","quote":"200k messages per day, 100 concurrent connections, Standard support"},{"url":"https://pusher.com/channels/pricing","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"a message is each API request plus each delivery","capture":"sha256:29b6eeca36952c1e99d78960ef34fc074abdd1e183817ed73f0352095f672cf3","quote":"A message refers to messages we receive through our API and those we deliver to your connected users. For example, if you publish one message to 50 subscribers, that’s 51 messages."},{"url":"https://docs.bird.com/pusher/account-billing/account-billing/plans/how-does-my-channels-plan-level-affect-the-limits-of-my-apps","date":"2026-10-31","proved":"message limits are aggregated over every app an account owns","capture":"sha256:149b5643dd50e3fdb818e2cf9f81d4390c33be2999541ce586b9ef0871977d30","quote":"The same goes for messages - they are aggregated over all of the apps that an account owns."},{"url":"https://docs.bird.com/pusher/channels/channels/limits/what-happens-when-i-hit-my-channels-plan-limits","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"past the event limit every trigger request is refused","capture":"sha256:a1b0655420f8b2db8e95b465def7eb33b7fa0f8fa644599e9fda978a8f7e27ba","quote":"When you hit event limits you will not be able to publish any more events from your server and any trigger request will return a"},{"url":"https://docs.bird.com/pusher/channels/channels/limits/what-happens-when-i-hit-my-channels-plan-limits","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"past the connection limit new client connections fail","capture":"sha256:a1b0655420f8b2db8e95b465def7eb33b7fa0f8fa644599e9fda978a8f7e27ba","quote":"When you encounter connection limits your clients will not be able to initiate a connection to Channels."},{"url":"https://pusher.com/docs/channels/using_channels/connection","date":"2026-10-31","proved":"connection limits are enforced at once on Sandbox","capture":"sha256:207bb05dd5dc68eb0fbfb74efb6f3d27ef3ab79e8713dd6af6bacbefd69a014a","quote":"Connection limits are currently only strictly enforced on Sandbox plans."},{"url":"https://pusher.com/docs/channels/using_channels/connection","date":"2026-10-31","proved":"clients use WebSockets with an HTTP-based fallback transport","capture":"sha256:207bb05dd5dc68eb0fbfb74efb6f3d27ef3ab79e8713dd6af6bacbefd69a014a","quote":"This implies that WebSockets are not natively available and an HTTP-based transport could not be found."},{"url":"https://docs.bird.com/pusher/channels/channels/limits/what-is-the-message-size-limit-when-publishing-an-event-in-channels","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"an event carries at most 10KB of data","capture":"sha256:b06004788daafe953c603ce780eca0105fefd63b63b4293744c02076e3cadc0e","quote":"The message size limit is 10KB"},{"url":"https://docs.bird.com/pusher/channels/channels/events/does-channels-store-a-history-of-events-and-messages","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"Channels keeps no message history by default","capture":"sha256:156da0f25e8ea1e13b3981517692bd3c2bdfa18d25eef41c3cd2bd598c16626a","quote":"By default, Channels does not offer any message history functionality."},{"url":"https://docs.bird.com/pusher/channels/channels/events/does-channels-store-a-history-of-events-and-messages","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"a cache channel keeps the last event for at most 30 minutes","capture":"sha256:156da0f25e8ea1e13b3981517692bd3c2bdfa18d25eef41c3cd2bd598c16626a","quote":"Cache channels stores the last event sent to the channel - this event is stored for a maximum of 30 minutes or until a new event arrives."},{"url":"https://pusher.com/docs/channels/library_auth_reference/rest-api/","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"the HTTP API is hosted per cluster, over HTTP or HTTPS","capture":"sha256:5998893e4832e8db909da5056d9a70e1e5ec2ddbde38fce534922e3ec3a54c96","quote":"where CLUSTER is replaced with your own apps cluster (e.g., mt1). The API may be accessed via HTTP or HTTPS."},{"url":"https://pusher.com/docs/channels/library_auth_reference/rest-api/","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"the HTTP API answers 403 when the app is over its message quota","capture":"sha256:5998893e4832e8db909da5056d9a70e1e5ec2ddbde38fce534922e3ec3a54c96","quote":null},{"url":"https://pusher.com/docs/channels/library_auth_reference/rest-api/","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"one trigger request reaches at most 100 channels","capture":"sha256:5998893e4832e8db909da5056d9a70e1e5ec2ddbde38fce534922e3ec3a54c96","quote":"| channels | Array of one or more channel names - limited to 100 channels. |"},{"url":"https://pusher.com/docs/channels/library_auth_reference/rest-api/","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"requests are signed with an HMAC SHA256 digest","capture":"sha256:5998893e4832e8db909da5056d9a70e1e5ec2ddbde38fce534922e3ec3a54c96","quote":"The signature is a HMAC SHA256 hex digest."},{"url":"https://dashboard.pusher.com/accounts/sign_up","date":"2026-10-30","proved":"the signup form asks for an email address","capture":"sha256:15dca6e4c0c3644ecdcb83cd84e3c7185c0ca06ba0ebd6acb0d37596e286769e","quote":"