Sendbird pricing breakdown: Value for money or overpriced?

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s businesses increasingly seek to enhance user engagement through real-time communication, the choice of a chat SDK or API has never been more critical.

If you're exploring Sendbird for your app's messaging and calling needs, you're likely wondering about its pricing structure and whether it offers the best value for your investment.

In this blog post, we’ll break down Sendbird’s pricing, compare it with CometChat, and help you determine if it’s truly worth the cost.

Sendbird offers four pricing plans, tailored for various stages of your chat app and user base.

The Starter and Pro plans feature tiered pricing based on monthly active users (MAUs). This means the cost increases as you move up in MAU tiers, while features remain the same across each tier. Here’s a breakdown of the pricing for both plans:

Sendbird's pricing structure aligns closely with other major players in the chat SDK landscape. They offer a free trial for developers, along with two paid plans (Starter and Pro) and a custom-priced Enterprise plan.

However, customer feedback indicates that Sendbird's pricing is often viewed as expensive and less transparent.

The general customer sentiment is that it's highly priced against the value offered. The entry barrier is high for early stage start-ups and the costs explodes at scale forcing users to look for alternatives.

Additionally, users have noted a lack of transparency in Sendbird's pricing. Overage costs for exceeding monthly active users (MAU) or participant capacities (PCCs) are not publicly listed, making it difficult for businesses to anticipate potential cost increases as their usage grows.

When comparing Sendbird's pricing to CometChat, it's clear that Sendbird is consistently more expensive across all MAU tiers. CometChat offers a better value for money, with a transparent pricing model that allows businesses to predict costs more accurately.

Customers who switch to CometChat typically save 30-70% on their monthly subscription while gaining access to a comprehensive feature set that rivals Sendbird’s offerings.

1. High overage costs

In addition to having a base plan that is very expensive, Sendbird's overage prices make it even more expensive when you grow past your plan limits.

For each additional concurrent connection, Sendbird charges $5, while CometChat charges only $1. If you experience a surge in your user engagement, Sendbird’s pricing is designed to penalize you for it.

CometChat also offers a zero overage guarantee for its Enterprise customers, providing additional peace of mind as businesses scale. This feature further enhances CometChat’s value proposition compared to Sendbird.

2. Hidden and unexpected costs

When considering a subscription to Sendbird, it's important to recognize that the costs extend beyond what appears on their pricing page. Several factors contribute to the overall expense, making it less favorable in terms of value for money.

Sendbird charges extra for critical chat features such as:

• Thumbnail Generation

• Image Moderation

• Message Translation

• Message Search

Additionally, users are charged for file storage and traffic uploads. This pricing structure leads to unexpectedly high costs, especially as your user base scales.

Since most of these features are commonly used by chat applications, the design seems intentionally aimed at increasing costs when demand grows.

In contrast, CometChat provides unlimited usage of all these features in its plans, simplifying the pricing structure and allowing businesses to scale without worrying about escalating costs.

Here’s a comparison table highlighting the differences between Sendbird and CometChat regarding these features:

3. Core features are limited to higher-tier plans

Another significant drawback of Sendbird's pricing model is its practice of hiding core chat functionalities within higher pricing tiers. Many essential features are locked behind their Enterprise plan or require additional payments for add-ons, compelling users to upgrade and incur higher costs. This strategy makes Sendbird's overall pricing substantially more expensive than it appears at first glance.

• No paywalls: All core features are included in CometChat’s base plans, ensuring that users have access to the necessary tools from the start.

• No add-ons: Unlike Sendbird, which offers features as optional add-ons, CometChat includes all essential features within its standard offering. This means users don’t have to worry about paying extra for tools that should be part of a comprehensive chat solution.

Conclusion

While Sendbird offers robust chat capabilities, the initial costs are notably high compared to market alternatives, but the real pain point emerges as your user base grows, what starts as an expensive solution becomes potentially unsustainable at scale.

The complexity doesn't end there. The layered costs, from hefty overage charges to additional storage fees and usage limitations, create a compounding effect on your total expenditure. Perhaps most concerning is Sendbird's approach to feature distribution: essential chat functionalities are often locked behind their premium tiers, forcing businesses to upgrade regardless of their actual needs.

This three-pronged challenge - high base costs, scaling expenses, and feature-gating, creates a scenario where businesses inevitably pay premium prices for features that have become industry standard.

CometChat, on the other hand, offers a cost-effective, scalable alternative with affordable pricing plans and a rich feature set tailored for businesses with growth in mind. With CometChat, you get access to everything you need to create a high-quality chat experience, without the hidden fees and unexpected charges.

Haris Kumar

Lead Content Strategist , CometChat

Haris brings nearly half a decade of expertise in B2B SaaS content marketing, where he excels at developing strategic content that drives engagement and supports business growth. His deep understanding of the SaaS landscape allows him to craft compelling narratives that resonate with target audiences. Outside of his professional pursuits, Haris enjoys reading, trying out new dishes and watching new movies!