Talkjs pricing breakdown: Value for money or overpriced?

In this blog, we’ll dive deep into TalkJS’s pricing , exploring its strengths and limitations to help you understand if it’s truly worth the investment. We’ll break down its plans, uncover hidden costs, and analyze whether TalkJS provides real value for businesses.

To give you the full picture, we’ll also compare TalkJS with CometChat, to determine which solution offers the best features and pricing at scale.

By the end of this analysis, you’ll know whether TalkJS is a cost-effective option for your needs or if it’s overpriced compared to more feature-rich solutions like CometChat.

TalkJS offers three pricing plans tailored to meet different business needs

1. Unpredictable pricing leading to scalability woes

While TalkJS offers a clear pricing structure, it lacks the flexibility of tiered MAU options that many businesses need as they scale. Customers are bound to the default limits, 10,000 MAUs in the Basic plan and 25,000 MAUs in the Growth plan.

As long as you're under these limits, you enjoy a consistent, predictable fee. However, once you exceed them, overage fees kick in, $0.04 per extra MAU for Basic and $0.03 for Growth, which can quickly drive up costs, especially during user spikes.

The absence of smaller, intermediate MAU tiers makes it impossible to incrementally scale your pricing as you grow, leaving you to either absorb fees or pay for a larger plan that may exceed your immediate needs.

2. Group chat participant limits

Another area where TalkJS distinguishes itself from other chat sdk solutions is in monetising group chat functionality. While it offers support for group conversations, the Basic plan caps group participants at 100, and the Growth plan raises that limit to 300 participants.

If your group exceeds these limits, you'll face additional charges, $0.40 per extra participant in the Basic plan and $0.30 per participant in the Growth plan. This cap on group size may become a hurdle for businesses that rely on large, community-driven chats or group-based interactions.

Compared to competitors like CometChat, which offers unlimited group participants by default, TalkJS’s approach can feel restrictive. If your platform requires flexibility to handle large groups, whether for live events, forums, or dynamic communities, these limitations could quickly escalate costs as you grow.

While Talk.js and CometChat offer similar pricing plans, CometChat stands out as a more fully-rounded chat and calling infrastructure solution, catering to both startups and enterprises. Unlike TalkJS, which is still catching up with key features, CometChat comes with a comprehensive suite of features ready to be implemented out of the box and support for enterprise-level requirements.

Refer to the graph below to see how TalkJS costs spike sharply after 10k MAUs, while CometChat’s pricing remains steady and affordable.

Why choose CometChat over Talkjs?

1. Pricing that works at scale

CometChat provides a flexible pricing model that scales efficiently with your needs, offering 30-70% lower pricing for higher MAU limits compared to TalkJS. This means that as your user base grows, you won’t be penalized with steep price hikes; instead, you can enjoy a more economical solution that aligns with your growth trajectory. TalkJS, in contrast, while straightforward, lacks this level of scalability in its pricing structure.

2. Enhanced group chat management

CometChat excels in group chat management by allowing unlimited member participation and imposing no limits on group sizes. This is particularly beneficial for businesses expecting high engagement levels within their communities.

Key group chat features include:

3. Enterprise-ready features

CometChat is equipped with true enterprise-grade features, designed to support complex use cases:

These features, all available under CometChat's standard pricing, give businesses the flexibility and functionality of a premium chat solution at a price point that’s hard to beat.

4. Advanced moderation with AI Filters

CometChat offers advanced chat moderation tools powered by AI, providing users with intelligent filters and rules to manage user behavior. Admins can create custom rules to define specific actions based on chat behavior, making moderation proactive rather than reactive.

Features like AI-powered spam detection, profanity filters, and image moderation ensure that your chat environment remains safe and compliant. In comparison, TalkJS offers only basic moderation, requiring users to integrate additional services to achieve similar functionality.

Conclusion

In summary, while TalkJS may seem like a reasonable choice at first glance, its's limitations make it a risky choice for growing businesses.

• Unpredictable costs at scale due to high overage fees and lack of flexible MAU tiers.

• Severe group chat restrictions hampering community engagement.

CometChat emerges as the superior solution, offering predictable pricing without punitive fees, unlimited group participants, and a comprehensive suite of enterprise-ready features available out-of-the-box. For businesses serious about implementing scalable chat functionality, CometChat provides the robust, cost-effective platform that aligns with both immediate needs and long-term growth objectives.

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!