Sendbird is a managed in-app chat, calls and AI-agent platform — drop-in messaging, group channels, moderation and voice/video without running your own realtime backend. Billing is per monthly active user (MAU) plus peak connections, not per message. Here's the cost, the free plan, and how to get a key.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Developer free | $0 | ~100 MAU, limited peak connections, for building/testing |
| Starter | from ~$399 / mo | bundle of MAU + peak connections, core chat |
| Pro / Enterprise | custom | higher MAU, advanced moderation, SLA, AI agent |
| Extra MAU | metered add-on | overage above the plan bundle |
| Calls (voice/video) | per participant-minute | billed separately from Chat |
Sendbird's Developer plan is free and includes core chat so you can build a full messaging feature — channels, message history, push, basic moderation — before committing. It's capped at a small monthly-active-user count (historically ~100 MAU) and limited peak concurrent connections, which is fine for a prototype or internal demo but not production. The jump to Starter (around $399/month) is significant, so model your expected MAU carefully: because Sendbird bills on active users rather than messages, a small but highly engaged community can be cheaper than a large dormant one.
1. Sign up at the Sendbird Dashboard (dashboard.sendbird.com) and create an application.
2. Copy the Application ID — clients use it to connect via the SDK.
3. For server-side calls, open Settings → API tokens and generate a Master API token.
4. Use the App ID in your mobile/web SDK; keep the Master token server-side only.
Create a user via the Platform API:
Sendbird, Stream and Twilio Conversations all sell managed chat, and all three bill by MAU rather than messages. Sendbird is strongest on moderation, calls and its AI-agent add-on; Stream often wins on price for pure chat at mid volume and on activity-feed use cases; Twilio Conversations fits teams already on Twilio's SMS/voice stack that want omnichannel threads. For voice/video only, a usage-based option like Agora or LiveKit can be far cheaper than a full chat platform. Model your real MAU and peak connections with the API alternatives finder and the cost-per-user calculator.
Yes — a free Developer plan capped at roughly 100 MAU and limited peak connections, with core chat included for building and testing. Production starts on the Starter plan (~$399/month).
By monthly active users (MAU) plus peak concurrent connections, not per message. Calls (voice/video) are billed separately per participant-minute. A user is "active" in a month if they connect or send/receive a message.
It depends on volume and features. For plain chat at mid scale Stream is frequently cheaper; Sendbird tends to win when you need built-in moderation, voice/video calls or the AI-agent features. Compare both on your real MAU and peak-connection numbers.
A monthly active user is any user who connects to the chat service or sends/receives a message within the billing month. Counting active rather than registered users means dormant accounts don't cost you — but a spike in engagement can push you into overage.
Not affiliated with Sendbird. Prices are reference estimates — always verify on the official pricing page.