Best Chat API · FREE
Best free Chat API (2026)
8 chat api that offer a genuine free plan, ranked by entry price. Every figure links to the public page it was captured from — the vendor's own wherever the vendor publishes the number, otherwise the named public source — with the date we captured it.
Key takeaways
- Cheapest: Ably at $0/mo.
- Qualifying: Ably, CometChat, PubNub, Pusher Channels, Sendbird, Stream (GetStream), Twilio Conversations, ZEGOCLOUD.
- Data current through: 2026-11-01. STALE marks a row whose price we have not re-checked at its source in over 30 days; a vendor with no published price is marked when any of its plans is. 1 of 8 rows below is marked.
Comparison
| # | Chat API | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | SOC 2 | Best for | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ably | $0/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | real-time data pipelines | ably.com |
| 2 | CometChat | $0/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | marketplace chat | cometchat.com |
| 3 | PubNub | $0/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | real-time data streaming | pubnub.com |
| 4 | Pusher Channels | $0/mo | Yes | — | — | real-time notifications | pusher.com |
| 5 | Sendbird | $0/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | healthcare messaging | sendbird.com |
| 6 | Stream (GetStream) | $0/mo | Yes | Yes | Yes | social apps | getstream.io |
| 7 | Twilio Conversations STALE · 2026-09-02 | $0/mo | Yes | — | — | multi-channel customer messaging | twilio.com |
| 8 | ZEGOCLOUD | $0/mo | Yes | — | — | gaming chat | zegocloud.com |