Sendbird Pricing 2026
Sendbird pricing in 2026 is MAU-based (priced by Monthly Active Users, not agent seats), starting at $349/month on annual billing ($399 month-to-month) for the Starter plan covering up to 5,000 MAU on the Chat API (sendbird.com, 2026). Sendbird is a chat API and SDK platform — developers embed its iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, JavaScript, and Unity SDKs to build messaging inside their own product. It is not a help desk or shared support inbox. Pro is $499/month annual for the same 5K MAU but unlocks message translation, data export, image moderation, and supergroup channels. Enterprise is custom pricing for 100K+ MAU, with deal sizes commonly landing between $40K and $150K ARR per Vendr's 2026 marketplace data. The Developer plan is free forever for up to 100 MAU as long as you log into the dashboard at least once per year (sendbird.com, 2026).
About Sendbird: Sendbird pricing in 2026 is MAU-based (priced by Monthly Active Users, not agent seats), starting at $349/month on annual billing ($399 month-to-month) for the Starter plan covering up to 5,000 MAU on the Chat API (sendbird.com, 2026). Sendbird is a chat API and SDK platform — developers embed its iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, JavaScript, and Unity SDKs to build messaging inside their own product. It is not a help desk or shared support inbox. Pro is $499/month annual for the same 5K MAU but unlocks message translation, data export, image moderation, and supergroup channels. Enterprise is custom pricing for 100K+ MAU, with deal sizes commonly landing between $40K and $150K ARR per Vendr's 2026 marketplace data. The Developer plan is free forever for up to 100 MAU as long as you log into the dashboard at least once per year (sendbird.com, 2026).
What features does Sendbird offer?
Sendbird's feature set is intentionally built around what its target customer base values most, with a primary focus on messaging APIs and communication infrastructure. It uses a usage-based pricing model, starting at From $349/mo for the most relevant tier — a fundamentally different cost structure from a flat-rate alternative like Converge, which is $49/month for up to 15 agents with all messaging channels and AI tooling included as standard. The feature grid below shows what matters most when evaluating Sendbird for its primary use case, even though Sendbird and Converge ultimately serve very different product categories. Features in this category typically split across four practical dimensions that teams care about most when making a purchase decision: data collection and enrichment, workflow automation and conditional triggers, reporting and analytics dashboards, and integrations with the rest of your existing support stack.
What does each Sendbird plan include?
What each tier includes and costs
Sendbird offers 4 plans, starting at From $349/mo on a usage-based model. Pick the tier that matches your messaging APIs and communication infrastructure workflow needs and team size. Higher tiers typically unlock advanced features, premium support, integrations, and account management. Watch which features are gated behind upgrade tiers and which are paid add-ons — those decisions usually determine the real-world cost of running Sendbird.
How does Sendbird's pricing model work?
How the pricing works
Sendbird uses a usage-based pricing model, which is the underlying structural decision that determines how the total subscription cost actually scales as your support team grows over time. Understanding the model is essential before committing, because the same listed starting price can produce wildly different total annual costs depending on which model the vendor chose and how your specific team uses the platform in production. The detailed implications grid directly below covers the four most important practical consequences of this specific pricing model for a typical small support team, drawn from our customer-pipeline data plus public pricing pages. In particular, monthly costs vary based on actual usage. For comparison, Converge sidesteps the model question entirely by charging $49/month flat for up to 15 agents regardless of team size, channel count, or usage volume.
Sendbird uses usage-based pricing, where costs are tied to volume metrics like conversations, messages, or API calls.
What this means in practice
- Monthly costs vary based on actual usage
- Overage fees apply when limits are exceeded
- Costs can spike during busy periods
- Budgeting requires forecasting usage volume
Up to 5,000 MAU at $349/mo annual ($399/mo monthly); 10K MAU is $499/mo annual, 25K MAU is $1,199/mo annual; overage fees apply above each tier
Is Sendbird worth the price?
An honest evaluation
Sendbird is worth the price if your team specifically needs the workflow its target customer base actually values, and also values whatever reviewers single out as its standout capability. It is, however, not a direct substitute for unified-inbox customer support — the two product categories serve different operational needs even when their marketing copy overlaps. If unified messaging is what your team actually needs to solve, Converge is purpose-built for that operational use case at $49/month flat for up to 15 agents, with all the major messaging channels and AI tooling included in the base subscription. The strengths and drawbacks breakdown directly below walks through where the platform delivers measurable value today.
Sendbird's core strength is comprehensive sdk with voice, video, and messaging. It is best suited for Developers building custom in-app messaging experiences.
Strengths
- Comprehensive SDK suite
- Excellent developer documentation
- Scalable infrastructure
- Rich feature set for in-app messaging
Drawbacks
- Expensive for small businesses
- Complex pricing structure
- Limited social media integrations
- Steep learning curve
Bottom line: Sendbird is a strong choice for teams that need messaging APIs and communication infrastructure capabilities. Evaluate based on your specific requirements and compare with alternatives in the same category.
Frequently Asked Questions
Sendbird pricing starts at From $349/mo. Plans range from Developer (Free) ($0/month) to Enterprise (Custom).
Yes, Sendbird offers a free plan with limited features.
Sendbird is a messaging APIs and communication infrastructure tool. Chat, calls, and live streaming APIs for mobile and web. It is best for Developers building custom in-app messaging experiences.
Sendbird's Developer (Free) plan includes: Up to 100 MAU, All Pro features for 30-day trial window, 20 peak concurrent connections, Community support only. Higher tiers add more advanced capabilities.
Sendbird's strength is comprehensive sdk with voice, video, and messaging. It is best for Developers building custom in-app messaging experiences. Consider your specific messaging APIs and communication infrastructure needs and compare with alternatives before committing.
Alternatives to Sendbird in the messaging APIs and communication infrastructure space include similar tools in the category. For customer support needs specifically, platforms like Converge offer unified messaging at $49/month flat.
Sendbird's Chat API starts at $349/month on annual billing ($399/month if billed monthly) for the Starter plan, which covers up to 5,000 Monthly Active Users (sendbird.com, 2026). Pro is $499/month annual ($599/month monthly) for the same 5K MAU with translation, data export, image moderation, and supergroup channels added. Prices step up at higher MAU brackets — Starter is $499/mo at 10K MAU and $1,199/mo at 25K MAU, while Pro is $749/mo at 10K MAU and $1,799/mo at 25K MAU (sendbird.com, 2026). Enterprise is custom pricing for 100K+ MAU. A 30-day free trial unlocks all Pro features at 1,000 MAU.
Sendbird charges by Monthly Active User (MAU), not per agent or seat. An MAU is any end user who connects to Sendbird's servers from your application's Client SDK within a rolling 30-day window (sendbird.com, 2026). This is the opposite of per-seat support tools — costs scale with how many of your end users open your app's chat, not with how many internal agents you employ. The model fits product teams whose chat usage is bounded (a marketplace app with 5K active buyers fits Starter for $349/mo), but penalizes consumer products that grow their active user base — moving from 5K to 25K MAU on Pro is a 3.6× price jump from $499/mo to $1,799/mo. Sendbird also caps Peak Concurrent Connections at 5% of your MAU limit on Starter and Pro, so spike events can trigger overages even when MAU stays within tier.
Sendbird has two free options that get confused. The Developer plan is free forever and covers up to 100 MAU with 20 peak concurrent connections and community-only support — your account stays active as long as you log into the dashboard at least once per year (sendbird.com, 2026). The 30-day free trial sits on top of that and unlocks Pro features (message search, translation, image moderation, supergroup channels) at 1,000 MAU for the first month, then automatically reverts to the 100-MAU Developer plan unless you upgrade. Neither tier includes data export, which is Pro-only — meaning you cannot bulk-export your chat history off Sendbird while on the free plan. There is no free tier of Sendbird's Business Messaging or Calls products.
Sendbird's Starter plan at $349/month annual works out to roughly $4,188/year for 5,000 MAU, plus engineering time to integrate the SDKs, customize the UIKit, and maintain version upgrades across iOS, Android, and web. Building in-house typically requires WebSocket infrastructure, message storage, push notification routing, moderation tooling, and SDK maintenance across each client platform — most teams underestimate this at 4–8 engineer-months for parity with Sendbird's baseline feature set, before any moderation or compliance work. The Sendbird math becomes harder to defend in two scenarios: when MAU growth crosses the $1,199/mo (25K MAU) Starter tier or $1,799/mo (25K MAU) Pro tier, and when the team realizes they're using Sendbird to build a customer support inbox rather than in-app messaging. For pure support use cases — aggregating WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, Discord, email, and a website widget — a dedicated support inbox is a closer fit than a chat API. See our Sendbird comparison hub for full alternatives, or compare against another CPaaS at Twilio Flex pricing.
Looking for customer support software instead?
If you're actually looking for customer support software — not messaging APIs and communication infrastructure — Converge is purpose-built for it. Converge unifies WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, Instagram, Discord, and Zalo at $49/month flat for up to 15 agents.
Sendbird focuses on messaging APIs and communication infrastructure. If you need a unified inbox for customer conversations across WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger, Discord, and more, Converge offers all channels at $49/month flat for up to 15 agents with a 7-day free trial.
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