CometChat Pricing Explained (2026): Plans, MAU Costs and What to Pay For

Quick answer

CometChat is in-app messaging infrastructure — SDKs and APIs for building chat, voice/video calling, AI moderation, and notifications inside a software product. It is not a website support widget. Pricing is MAU-based for chat and pay-as-you-go for voice and video.

Current tiers (verified May 2026 from cometchat.com/pricing):

Plan	Price	MAU coverage
Build	$0	Up to 100 users
Basic	From $239/month (annual)	MAU-based; $0.10/MAU overage
Advanced	From $359/month (annual)	MAU-based; HIPAA, AI moderation
Enterprise	Custom (~$999/month at 10k+ MAU)	Zero overages, SSO, white-label

Voice and video calling is priced separately: $0.001/min voice, $0.003/min video, $0.006/min recording.

How the plans work

Build ($0) is the development sandbox. It supports up to 100 monthly active users with all CometChat features enabled — no card required. The Build plan also includes 10,000 voice and video test minutes. Start here every time. Use it to complete a full SDK integration before any commitment to a paid tier.

Basic (from $239/month annual) is the production plan for chat-focused products. It includes rich in-app chat, push notifications, basic moderation, and CometChat's global EDGE network for low-latency delivery. Pricing scales by MAU with a $0.10/MAU overage charge for users above the base plan allocation.

Advanced (from $359/month annual) adds the features needed for regulated verticals, AI-heavy products, and multi-tenant architectures: HIPAA/BAA compliance, AI rule-based moderation, email and SMS notifications, multi-tenancy, AI smart replies and summaries, in-depth insights, advanced search, and message translation. This is the right tier for telehealth, marketplaces with moderation requirements, and education platforms.

Enterprise (custom, from ~$999/month at 10,000+ MAU) is designed for high-scale products where MAU overage exposure is a financial risk. Enterprise includes zero overages through automatic tier upgrades, OpenAI-powered moderation and insights, 10% MAU concurrency included, SAML/LDAP SSO, and custom white-label domain.

Voice and video pricing

Voice and video calling is charged separately from the chat subscription. Rates verified May 2026:

• Voice calling/conferencing: $0.001 per minute
• Video calling/conferencing: $0.003 per minute
• Call recording: $0.006 per minute

The Build plan includes 10,000 test minutes for voice and video validation. For production products with active calling, model expected monthly call minutes separately from the MAU projection. A product with 5,000 users who each average 20 video minutes per month will generate 100,000 video minutes — $300/month in video charges on top of the plan subscription.

AI Agent platform pricing

CometChat has a separate AI Agent platform for products that want to add conversational AI features. This is distinct from the Lyro-style FAQ automation in Tidio — it is infrastructure for building AI agents into a product's communication layer.

• Sandbox (free): 1,000 MAU, 1,000 starter credits
• Core: Custom pricing, 2,500 monthly credits, AI moderation, multi-tenancy
• Plus: Custom pricing, 25,000 monthly credits, advanced orchestration
• Prime (Enterprise): Custom pricing, 50,000+ MAU, comprehensive compliance

Contact CometChat for current AI Agent platform production pricing.

What makes MAU costs increase

MAU growth is the primary cost driver on Basic and Advanced. The $0.10/MAU overage rate means:

• A product growing from 500 to 5,000 MAU sees CometChat costs increase by $450/month at overage rates
• A product with 10,000 MAU using the Basic plan base will have accumulated significant overage charges

Model 12–24 month user growth projections before annual commitment. For products with rapidly growing user bases, the point at which Enterprise pricing (with zero overages) becomes more economical than Basic/Advanced plus overage should be calculated explicitly.

Annual vs monthly billing

Annual billing is available on Basic and Advanced, typically with meaningful savings versus monthly rates. Only commit to annual billing when MAU projections are reasonably predictable — during rapid early growth, monthly billing gives flexibility to adjust as the actual trajectory becomes clearer.

Who should use CometChat

CometChat is right for:

• SaaS product teams adding user-to-user chat or team collaboration as a product feature
• Telehealth and healthcare platforms needing HIPAA-compliant in-app messaging (Advanced plan)
• Marketplaces where buyer-seller communication is a core engagement driver
• Community and education platforms with peer-to-peer messaging needs
• Developer-led teams who want SDK-based infrastructure rather than building messaging from scratch

CometChat is not right for:

• Small businesses wanting a website support chat widget — that is Tidio
• Non-technical teams without engineering capacity to integrate SDKs
• Teams that only need a customer support ticketing inbox

CometChat vs Tidio

This comparison is asked frequently but misses the point. CometChat and Tidio are not alternatives — they are different tools for different jobs:

• Tidio adds a support chat widget to a website. A visitor starts a chat, a support agent or Lyro AI responds. Starts free, Starter at $24.17/month.
• CometChat adds messaging infrastructure inside a product. A developer integrates the SDK, and users can chat within the app. Starts free on Build, Basic from $239/month.

If the requirement is website support chat, evaluate Tidio. If the requirement is in-app product messaging, evaluate CometChat. If both are needed, run both — they are complementary, not competing.

Pricing checked

Pricing and plan details in this guide were verified in May 2026 from cometchat.com/pricing. Always verify live pricing before committing to any plan, as MAU tiers, base prices, and overage rates can change.

See the full CometChat review for a complete assessment of pricing, pros, cons, workflow fit, and best alternatives.