Choosing the right chat and calling sdk for your app can be a complex decision, especially when pricing is unclear or difficult to compare. In this blog, we’ll break down Stream’s pricing structure across their various plans, helping you make an informed decision so you can choose the best solution for your app’s needs. Ready to dive in? Let’s get started!
Stream's pricing plans overview
Stream offers separate pricing for its chat and video products. In this analysis, we’ll focus primarily on Stream’s chat pricing, with limited coverage of their video pricing.
Chat and messaging
For the chat product, Stream provides four distinct plans tailored to varying requirements:
Calling and live streaming
Stream's pricing for its video and live streaming product is based on a pay-as-you-go model. Specifically, you are charged per 1,000 participant minutes, where a participant minute is the total time each participant spends in a video session.
Stream's pricing for its video and live streaming product is based on a pay-as-you-go model. Specifically, you are charged per 1,000 participant minutes, where a participant minute is the total time each participant spends in a video session. Stream offers flexible pricing that ranges from $0.75 to as high as $12 per 1,000 participant minutes.
They also offer a Build plan that comes with $100 in free credits. For larger deployments, the Enterprise plan starts at 1 million participant minutes.
How does Streamchat’s pricing compare with other chat sdks?
Stream's pricing model aligns closely with major players in the chat SDK landscape, offering two paid plans, a free trial, and a customizable enterprise plan. However, a significant difference lies in Stream's starting MAU tier, which begins at 10,000 MAUs.
This approach creates barriers for early-stage businesses implementing chat features. While Stream offers a developer plan that supports up to 100 MAUs, it is strictly limited to testing and prototype development, making it unsuitable for production environments.
When businesses need to move from testing to production, they must choose between Stream’s Starter or Enterprise plans, both of which are priced for up to 10,000 MAUs. This creates a significant entry barrier for smaller businesses and startups that may only need to support a few hundred or thousand users, leaving them in a difficult position.
For example, a business with only 1,000 MAUs would need to select the 10,000 MAU tier, leading to overpayment and unused capacity. In such cases, it is often more beneficial to subscribe to a lower-tier plan that better matches your current user base and allow for gradual scaling. Rather than being compelled to commit to a higher-tier plan that includes capacity they may not yet require.
Pricing comparison: Streamchat vs. CometChat
Getstream's rigid rate limitations leading to unexpected costs and inconsistent billing
For chat features, such as image resizing, previews generated, file storage, and auto message translation, StreamChat imposes hard limits.
In stark contrast, CometChat eliminates these concerns. Our pricing model is transparent and devoid of hidden costs. We provide unlimited usage of all core features across our plans, simplifying the pricing structure. This means businesses can scale freely without the anxiety of escalating costs or the risk of hitting service caps that could disrupt user experience.
Advanced moderation is only available as a paid add-on
Rather than being an integrated part of the service, StreamChat treats its moderation capabilities as a standalone product. Full access to advanced moderation features is only available as a paid add-on for Enterprise plans. This means that businesses must invest separately to get access to critical features like:
Spam detection
Platform circumvention filters
Semantic filters
AI image moderation
For customers on the lower-tier plans, only basic moderation tools are available, such as simple flagging or blocking mechanisms, which may not be sufficient to manage user-generated content at scale. This creates a significant barrier for businesses that need comprehensive moderation features but may not have the budget or scale to justify the Enterprise plan.
By treating moderation as a premium add-on, StreamChat creates a pricing structure that can become prohibitively expensive for businesses that are scaling or handling large volumes of user-generated content.
Conclusion
In summary, GetStream’s pricing structure can be a hurdle for businesses just starting with chat, especially with the need to subscribe to higher-tier plans for fewer than 10,000 MAUs. The rigid rate limitations and the added costs of advanced moderation also make it less flexible.
On the other hand, CometChat stands out as a cost-effective alternative to GetStream, offering a lower entry barrier, flexible pricing, and comprehensive features without the hidden fees or rigid limitations. If you’re looking for a solution that allows you to scale at your own pace while delivering a full suite of chat and moderation tools, CometChat is a great option.
Ready to explore further? Sign up, schedule a demo, or try our interactive demo today!
Haris Kumar
Lead Content Strategist , CometChat