CometChat
Dev Tools
CometChat deal: Free-forever Build plan (up to 100 MAU, no card) — paid tiers scale by usage
Drop-in chat, voice and video for your app — SDKs and UI kits for every major platform.
- Ship messaging fast
- Chat, voice, and video in one
- Real free tier for prototyping
- Grows with you
How CometChat scored 74/100
6 weighted criteria, each scored out of 10 and published with its reasoning. Featured placements never move a score.
Deal Strength
8.0 /10The value here is the free-forever Build plan: up to 100 monthly active users with full chat, voice and video features and no credit card. There is no exclusive coupon, so the offer is the free tier plus the standard usage-based pricing rather than a discount, but for building and testing an in-app chat SDK that ceiling is generous.
Value for Money
8.0 /10CometChat prices by monthly active user band, with entry paid plans starting around $299/month and overages near $0.10 per extra MAU, which sits competitively for a chat API bundling voice and video calling. The catch is the gap between the free 100-MAU tier and the first paid plan, so hobby projects and mid-scale apps get very different deals.
Capability
8.0 /10CometChat covers the full real-time stack: 1:1, group and broadcast messaging, HD voice and video calling, screen sharing, moderation, smart replies and message translation on higher tiers. Prebuilt UI kits and SDKs span React, React Native, Angular, Vue, iOS, Android, Flutter and Expo, so it fits most app architectures with few obvious gaps.
Time to Value
8.0 /10The prebuilt UI kits are the headline advantage, letting developers drop working chat into an app in hours and a polished experience in days rather than months. Widget and UI Kit builders plus documented SDKs mean a basic in-app messaging integration is realistic on day one, though deep customization still takes engineering time.
Trust & Reliability
5.0 /10CometChat powers a large base of apps across many countries and advertises 99.999% uptime, but those figures are self-reported and there is limited independent SLA or third-party review consensus to lean on. It is an established chat platform rather than an unknown, yet enterprise rivals like Sendbird carry a longer, more scrutinized track record.
Flexibility & Exit
5.0 /10The free Build plan carries no lock-in and can be abandoned anytime, but paid tiers are billed annually, so scaling up means committing for a year to unlock the 20% saving. Standard REST APIs allow data export, though the yearly commitment and MAU-based pricing make it worth modeling costs before you migrate a live app onto it.
Free-forever Build plan (up to 100 MAU, no card) — paid tiers scale by usage
Affiliate link — same price for you, and it never moves the score.
- Ship messaging fast
- Chat, voice, and video in one
- Real free tier for prototyping
- Grows with you
About CometChat
Quick answer
CometChat is a chat, voice, and video communications API with prebuilt UI kits and SDKs, so developers can add real-time messaging to web and mobile apps in days instead of months. There is a free Build plan for up to ~100 monthly active users, with paid Basic (from ~$299/month), Advanced (from ~$449/month), and custom Enterprise tiers priced by MAU band. Confirm current MAU-based pricing at signup.
What is CometChat?
CometChat is a communications platform-as-a-service (CPaaS) that gives developers the APIs, SDKs, and prebuilt UI kits needed to embed real-time chat, voice, and video directly into their own apps. Instead of standing up your own WebSocket infrastructure, presence system, and moderation pipeline, you connect to CometChat and ship one-to-one messaging, group chat, and calling on top of a managed global edge network.
It is widely used in marketplaces, online communities, dating and social apps, telehealth, e-learning, and on-demand services, anywhere two users need to talk inside the product. Beyond core messaging, CometChat layers in push and email/SMS notifications, message translation, moderation (rule-based and AI-powered), smart replies, and analytics, so teams can launch a polished chat experience and harden it over time.
Key features
Chat, voice, and video APIs
One-to-one and group text chat plus HD voice and video calling, including group conferencing, delivered through a single SDK.
Prebuilt UI kits
Drop-in, customizable UI components for React, iOS, Android, Flutter, and more, so you skip building chat screens by hand.
Moderation
Rule-based filtering on lower tiers and AI/OpenAI-powered moderation on higher ones, with reporting and blocking tools.
Notifications
Push notifications on all paid plans, plus email and SMS notifications on advanced tiers to re-engage offline users.
AI assists
Smart replies and message translation help users communicate faster and across languages right inside the chat.
Global edge network
Messages route over a distributed edge network for low latency, with multi-tenancy and HIPAA/BAA options on higher tiers.
CometChat pricing explained
CometChat prices around monthly active users (MAU). The free Build plan supports roughly 100 MAU with full features for testing and early development. Paid tiers (Basic, Advanced, and Enterprise) scale by MAU band: Basic lands around $299/month and Advanced around $449/month at roughly 1,000 MAU (billed annually), with overages typically around $0.10 per additional MAU. The jump from free to paid can be steep for early-stage apps, so model your expected active-user count carefully. Exact prices appear once you select an MAU tier, so confirm current pricing at signup.
CometChat vs Sendbird vs Stream
| Tool | Best for | Pricing | Standout |
|---|---|---|---|
| CometChat | Fast chat + calling with UI kits | Free to ~100 MAU; paid from ~$299/mo | Bundled chat, voice, video and prebuilt UI |
| Sendbird | Enterprise-grade chat at scale | Free trial; MAU-based, typically higher | Mature platform with deep moderation |
| Stream | Developer-first chat and activity feeds | Free for small apps; usage-based | Excellent SDKs plus activity-feed product |
✓ Use it if you
- Need to add chat and calling to your app without building infrastructure.
- Want prebuilt UI kits to ship a polished experience quickly.
- Plan to layer in moderation, notifications, and AI features over time.
✗ Skip it if you
- Only need a one-off contact form or basic notifications.
- Have very high MAU and need to compare per-user economics carefully.
- Prefer to fully own and self-host your messaging stack.
Is CometChat worth it?
If you need real-time messaging or calling inside your product, CometChat is a strong shortcut: the prebuilt UI kits and SDKs let small teams ship in days, and the platform scales into moderation, AI assists, and HIPAA-friendly options as you grow. The honest caveat is the MAU-based pricing, where the gap between the free tier and paid plans can be sharp for early-stage apps, and costs grow with active users. Run the numbers on your expected MAU, but for most teams the build-time savings justify the spend.
What's included
- One-to-one and group chat APIs
- HD voice and video calling
- Prebuilt UI kits (React, iOS, Android, Flutter)
- Rule-based and AI-powered moderation
- Push, email, and SMS notifications
- Smart replies and message translation
- Global edge network with low latency
- Multi-tenancy and HIPAA/BAA options
CometChat pricing
Vendor's published rates at the time we checked — always confirm at checkout.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Build | $0 | free forever, up to 100 monthly active users, no card |
How to claim it
4 steps. The last one is the part most people skip.
- 1
Open CometChat through the link on this page
It carries our referral tag. The price you pay is identical either way, and it never changes the score on this page.
- 2
Pick the plan that matches your usage
This offer applies automatically through the link — there is no code to enter.
- 3
Confirm the discount before you pay
The order summary should show the reduced amount. If it does not, stop and tell us — we re-test listings that stop working.
- 4
Check what happens at renewal
Note the renewal date and the rate it reverts to, so the second invoice is not a surprise. Annual plans are usually cheaper per month but harder to exit.
Where CometChat wins and loses
What works
- Ship messaging fast
- Chat, voice, and video in one
- Real free tier for prototyping
- Grows with you
What doesn't
- Steep free-to-paid jump
- MAU pricing scales with usage
- Less control than self-hosting
The bottom line
CometChat is a fast way to add in-app chat, voice and video calling to almost any app without building real-time infrastructure yourself. A genuinely free 100-MAU tier and prebuilt UI kits make it easy to ship, but the steep jump to paid plans and self-reported reliability numbers keep it a confident Buy rather than a slam dunk.
Yes. CometChat's Build plan is free forever and supports up to 100 monthly active users with full access to chat, voice and video calling features, and no credit card is required. It is designed for development and testing an in-app chat SDK before you commit, so treat the 100-MAU ceiling as a build sandbox rather than a production tier.
CometChat prices by monthly active user band, with paid plans starting around $299/month for the Basic tier and roughly $449/month for the Advanced tier at about 1,000 MAU, billed annually. Overages run near $0.10 per additional MAU, and the top Enterprise tier is quote-based with no overage charges. Annual billing saves about 20% over paying monthly.
CometChat ships SDKs and prebuilt UI kits for web and mobile, including React, React Native, Angular, Vue, iOS, Android, Flutter and Expo, plus REST APIs and webhooks for server-side work. That breadth lets teams add a chat API and voice and video calling to almost any stack without maintaining their own real-time infrastructure.
CometChat is worth it for teams that want to add in-app chat, voice and video calling quickly without building messaging infrastructure from scratch. The free 100-MAU tier and prebuilt UI kits get you shipping fast, and mid-tier pricing is competitive. The main trade-offs are the steep jump from free to paid and annual billing on paid plans, so model your MAU growth first.
CometChat bundles chat plus voice and video calling with prebuilt UI kits and competitive mid-tier pricing, sitting between its two main rivals. Sendbird is the enterprise incumbent with the deepest moderation and compliance tooling, while Stream leads on developer experience and React components and offers a more generous free tier. CometChat suits social, community and marketplace apps wanting an all-in-one chat SDK.
CometChat is used to add real-time messaging and HD voice and video calling to marketplaces, social and community platforms, dating apps, telehealth, e-learning and on-demand services. Its 1:1, group and broadcast chat, moderation, smart replies and multi-tenant support make it a fit wherever users need to talk inside a product, from a single app to a portfolio of branded ones.
