What is the best alternative to Sendbird?

Novu is the top-rated alternative to Sendbird. It offers Open source and Multi-channel (email, SMS, push, in-app), and is open-source starting at $250/month (cloud)/month.

Is there a free alternative to Sendbird?

Yes — Novu is a open-source alternative to Sendbird. Open source

Why do developers switch from Sendbird?

Common reasons to switch from Sendbird: Very expensive; Overkill for simple notifications; Long contracts.

Best Sendbird Alternatives(2026)

We compared 3 alternatives to Sendbird — so you can find the best option for your needs and budget.

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You're replacing

Sendbird

freemium

Chat and messaging API for apps

Starts at $399/month

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Common reasons to switch

Very expensiveOverkill for simple notificationsLong contracts

Novu

open-source

From $250/month (cloud)

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Novu is an open source notification infrastructure for managing in-app, email, SMS, push, and chat notifications via a single API.

Pros

+Open source

+Multi-channel (email, SMS, push, in-app)

+Self-hostable

Cons

−Complex for simple use cases

−Cloud pricing is high

−Still maturing

Multi-channel notificationsIn-app notification centerWorkflow builderDigest & batchingSubscriber management

Knock

freemium

From $100/month

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Knock is a notification delivery platform for product teams to build and manage complex notification workflows across channels.

Pros

+Best-in-class notification workflows

+In-app notification component

+User preferences built-in

Cons

−Expensive vs DIY

−Less known than Twilio

−Limited free tier

Multi-channel workflowsIn-app feedsDigest notificationsPreferences APITemplate management

Twilio

paid

From $0.0079/SMS

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Twilio provides programmable SMS, voice calls, video, and email APIs used by 280,000+ businesses.

Pros

+Market leader for SMS/voice

+Excellent documentation

+Global reach (180+ countries)

Cons

−Can be expensive at scale

−Complex pricing structure

−Overkill if you only need email

SMS APIVoice callsWhatsApp APIVerify (OTP)SendGrid (email)

Compare Sendbird Head to Head

Sendbird vs Novu Sendbird vs Knock Sendbird vs Twilio