TalkJS vs Sendbird
TalkJS costs less than Sendbird at every paid tier Sendbird publishes. At 10,000 monthly active users, TalkJS is $239 a month and Sendbird starts at $429. At 25,000 users, TalkJS is $499 and Sendbird is $1,119, both billed annually. We also keep your full message history, and we publish our overage rate.
TalkJS and Sendbird both add real-time chat with a pre-built UI to web and mobile apps. Sendbird also sells voice and video calls as a separate product, lists SOC 2 and HIPAA with a BAA, and has AI image moderation on its Pro plan. TalkJS focuses on chat between your users. You get a chat UI you can customize down to the HTML and CSS, notifications by email, SMS, and push on every plan, and support from engineers. Most teams ship to production in 2 to 5 days. TalkJS costs less at every tier Sendbird publishes, and under half as much at 25,000 users. It keeps your full message history, it’s ISO 27001 certified, and it hosts your data in the EU.
TalkJS is a chat API and SDK platform that lets teams add white-label messaging to web or mobile apps. It is designed for fast-moving teams that need customizable in-app chat, predictable pricing, and control over design, data, and functionality. Best for product teams building marketplaces, SaaS tools, or communities that need secure, flexible chat without a huge engineering investment.
- You need in-app chat live fast. Many teams ship in 2–5 days.
- You want full control over UI and UX, including going fully headless or custom
- Your use case is primarily chat (not voice/video)
- You want predictable, transparent pricing that scales without surprises
- You need ISO 27001 compliance with European data residency
- You want direct support from engineers, not a ticketing queue
- You’re migrating from another chat provider and need a smooth transition
Sendbird is a communications platform offering chat, voice, and video APIs for building real-time in-app messaging experiences. It combines omnichannel messaging, AI agents, and advanced content moderation tools to support large-scale, highly regulated healthcare use cases.
- Sendbird sells voice and video calls as a separate product. TalkJS focuses on chat, and you add the calling provider you choose.
- Sendbird lists SOC 2 and HIPAA with a BAA. TalkJS is ISO 27001 certified, GDPR compliant, and hosts your data in the EU, with on-premise or private cloud hosting as an Enterprise add-on.
- Sendbird has AI image moderation and a moderation ticket system. TalkJS blocks words and patterns you choose, can hide email addresses, phone numbers, and links, and sends messages to the moderation service you choose through webhooks and the REST API.
TalkJS vs Sendbird features
Both cover the core of in-app chat: 1-to-1 and group chat, read receipts, typing indicators, file sharing, and push notifications. Every TalkJS plan also adds email and SMS notifications, reply by email, and message history with no time limit.
| Feature | TalkJS | Sendbird | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core messaging | |||
| 1-to-1 chat (DMs) | Yes. | Yes. | |
| Group chat | Yes. | Yes. | |
| Pre-built UI | Yes. | UI kit with components | |
| Message features & interactions | |||
| Emoji reactions | Yes. | Yes. | |
| Read receipts | Yes. | Yes. | |
| Delivery receipts | Yes. | Pro plan or higher | |
| Replies | Yes. | Yes. | |
| Threads | No. | Yes. | |
| Message search | Growth plan or higher | Pro plan or higher | |
| Content & media | |||
| File sharing | Yes. | Yes. | |
| Voice messaging | Yes. | Yes. | |
| Auto message translation | Yes. | Pro plan or higher | |
| UI localization | Yes. 35+ languages | Limited manual | |
| Announcements | Yes. | Pro plan or higher | |
| User experience | |||
| User presence | Yes. | Yes. | |
| Typing indicators | Yes. | Yes. | |
| Notifications | |||
| Push notifications | Yes. | Yes. | |
| Email notifications | Yes. | Enterprise only | |
| SMS notifications | Yes. | Add-on product | |
| Reply-via-email | Yes. | No. | |
| Customization, data & control | |||
| UI customization | Yes. HTML/CSS/JavaScript | Yes. Themes & custom components | |
| Profanity filter & keyword detection | Yes. | Pro plan or higher | |
| Unlimited message retention | Yes. | 6 months (Starter/Pro) or custom (Enterprise) | |
| AI image moderation | No. | Pro plan or higher | |
| Moderation ticket system | No. | Enterprise plan | |
| Data export | Yes. | Pro plan or higher | |
| Security | |||
| TLS/SSL encryption (in transit) | Yes. | Yes. | |
| GDPR | Yes. | Yes. | |
| ISO 27001 | Yes. | Yes. | |
| HIPAA | No. | Yes. | |
| Domain masking | Enterprise plan | No. | |
| Support & infrastructure | |||
| Free for development | Yes. | Limited free plan | |
| Chat support | Yes. Staffed by engineers | Ticket-based | |
| Email support | Yes. Staffed by engineers | Requires add-on support plan | |
| Phone support | Enterprise | Enterprise | |
| Uptime SLA | Enterprise plan (included) | Requires add-on support plan | |
| Private dedicated servers | Add-on | Enterprise | |
| On-premise/private cloud | Add-on | No. | |
Why TalkJS?
Teams that choose TalkJS get results. You’re able to launch fast with a secure, reliable in-app chat you can fully customize to match your brand. Need support? You have direct chat access to TalkJS engineers at every stage.
We’ve seen a 3x increase in booking conversion compared to our previous experience with a masked-SMS solution.
I demoed a working end-to-end chat conversation in our platform in just 2–3 days. The POC took less than an hour.
We saved 1,000+ hours on maintenance and development, with zero downtime as the platform expanded globally.
The support was incredibly helpful. It’s now a major reason we’ll continue to stick with TalkJS as Hotplate grows.
Sendbird vs TalkJS pricing by monthly active users
TalkJS pricing is transparent and predictable, and the gap with Sendbird grows as you add users. Here’s each one’s cheapest plan at the user counts Sendbird publishes, in USD per month, billed annually.
| Monthly active users | TalkJS | Sendbird |
|---|---|---|
| 10,000 MAU | Basic $239 | Starter $429 |
| 25,000 MAU | Growth $499 | Starter $1,119 |
| 50,000 MAU | Growth $1,249 | Custom pricing (Starter) |
Prices are in USD per month, billed annually, as of October 2026. At 50,000 MAU, the TalkJS price is the Growth plan plus overage for each MAU over the 25,000 it includes: $499 + 25,000 × $0.03 overage = $1,249. See the current prices on the TalkJS pricing page and the Sendbird pricing page.
What Sendbird’s price leaves out
- Message history: Sendbird keeps messages for six months on every plan below Enterprise. TalkJS keeps your full message history on every plan.
- Concurrent connections: on Starter and Pro, Sendbird caps them at 5% of your MAU tier and counts each device, including an open browser tab. TalkJS has no hard limit, and fair use is about 10% of your monthly active users.
- Going over your tier: Sendbird charges an overage fee and doesn’t publish the rate. TalkJS charges $0.04 for each extra user on Basic and $0.03 on Growth, so 1,000 extra users cost $40 or $30.
How do you move from Sendbird to TalkJS?
Most teams move in less than 30 days, and our migration team helps you switch with zero downtime. Start with the Sendbird to TalkJS migration guide.
- Step-by-step migration guide
- Data import tools
- Dedicated migration support by a TalkJS engineer
FAQs
No. TalkJS costs less at every tier Sendbird publishes: $239 a month against $429 for Sendbird Starter at 10,000 monthly active users, and $499 against $1,119 at 25,000, both billed annually. TalkJS also keeps your full message history and publishes its overage rate.
Yes. Full data migration including message history and conversation state is supported. Most migrations complete in 2–4 weeks with zero downtime.
TalkJS focuses on chat, so you add the calling provider you choose alongside it. Sendbird sells voice and video calls as a separate product with its own pricing. Every TalkJS plan also includes email, SMS, and push notifications for missed messages.
Typically 2–5 days for production chat, compared to weeks with Sendbird. Simple implementations can go live in hours.
Both scale. TalkJS handles over a billion messages annually. The Enterprise plan includes a 99.9% uptime SLA.
Yes. TalkJS is ISO 27001 certified, GDPR compliant as a data processor, and hosts your data in the EU. Sendbird lists SOC 2 and HIPAA with a BAA. For strict data rules, TalkJS Enterprise plans can add on-premise or private cloud hosting.
Yes. Sendbird’s React UIKit v3 supports theming and custom React components; its renderMessage prop can replace the whole message block. TalkJS lets you customize layout, content, and behavior with editable HTML, CSS, and JavaScript theme components. You can reuse those themes across TalkJS’s React and Web Components SDKs, or use the Data API to build a fully custom UI.
Your data is yours. Export anytime, no penalties.
TalkJS prioritizes direct access; you’ll work with engineers, not a ticket system. Sendbird has larger support teams but response times for technical issues can be slower unless you’re on an elevated support plan.