Is Pusher or Strapi better?

Neither clearly leads. Pusher starts at Free and Strapi at $35/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Pusher or Strapi?

Pusher has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Pusher and $35/month for Strapi.

Does Pusher or Strapi run on more platforms?

Pusher runs on web, ios, android, api. Strapi runs on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker.

Can I use Pusher for free?

Yes. Pusher has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Strapi starts at $35/month.

What is Pusher best used for?

Pusher is most often used for adding live chat to a web or mobile app, showing realtime presence of online users, pushing live notifications or dashboard updates, building collaborative features without managing websocket servers. Of those, adding live chat to a web or mobile app and showing realtime presence of online users are not what Strapi is typically brought in for.

What can Pusher do that Strapi cannot?

Pusher covers Pub/sub channels, Presence channels, Client libraries, 24/7 monitoring. Strapi covers REST API, GraphQL API, Content management, PostgreSQL. Both handle Webhooks.

APIs · head to head

Pusher vs Strapi

Pusher

APIs

Realtime messaging API for building live features into apps

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Strapi

APIs

Headless CMS with REST and GraphQL APIs

From: $35/month
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Only Pusher has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
Each has a real cost: Pusher the free Sandbox plan is capped at 100 concurrent connections, which is quickly outgrown by production apps.; Strapi cloud pricing is per project, not per account, so a second project doubles the bill
They diverge on capability: Pusher covers Pub/sub channels, Strapi covers REST API.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Pusher and Strapi actually diverge.

Attributes where Pusher and Strapi differ
Attribute	Pusher	Strapi
Starting price	Free	$35/month
Pricing model	freemium	subscription
Free tier	Yes	No
Platforms	web, ios, android, api	Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker
Founded	Unknown	2015

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Pusher

Pub/sub channels
Presence channels
Client libraries
24/7 monitoring
Priority support

Only in Strapi

REST API
GraphQL API
Content management
PostgreSQL
MySQL
MongoDB
AWS
Node.js support

Both cover

Webhooks

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Pusher

Adding live chat to a web or mobile appnot Strapi
Showing realtime presence of online usersnot Strapi
Pushing live notifications or dashboard updatesnot Strapi
Building collaborative features without managing WebSocket serversnot Strapi

Strapi

Running a self hosted headless CMS with a REST or GraphQL APInot Pusher
Giving editors a content admin panel over a custom content modelnot Pusher

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Pusher

The free Sandbox plan is capped at 100 concurrent connections, which is quickly outgrown by production apps.
Pricing jumps sharply between tiers (e.g. $49 to $99 to $299), leaving few options for teams with moderate but growing usage.
Priority support with faster response times costs an additional $3,000/month on top of plan pricing.

Strapi

Cloud pricing is per project, not per account, so a second project doubles the bill
Starter at $35 a month allows 100,000 API requests, and overage is $1.50 per 25,000
Extra bandwidth is $30 per 100 GB and extra asset storage $0.60 per GB
Backups start at the Pro plan, weekly, and only become daily at Business
An uptime SLA is Business only, at $450 a month per project
Additional environments cost $60 a month on Pro and $300 a month on Business

Pricing, plan by plan

Pusher

Free

SandboxFree
- 200k messages/day
- 100 concurrent connections
- Standard support
Startup$49/month
- 1M messages/day
- 500 concurrent connections
Pro$99/month
- 4M messages/day
- 2,000 concurrent connections
Business$299/month
- 10M messages/day
- 5,000 concurrent connections
- Premium support

Strapi

$35/month

Starter$35/month
- 100k API requests
- 50 GB asset storage
- 50 GB asset bandwidth
Pro$90/month
- 1M API requests
- 250 GB asset storage
- 500 GB asset bandwidth
Business$450/month
- 10M API requests
- 1000 GB asset storage
- 1000 GB asset bandwidth

Which should you pick?

Choose Pusher if

You need pub/sub channels.
You want to start without paying.
You work on web, ios, android, api.
You also want presence channels.

Pusher review

Choose Strapi if

You need rest api.
You work on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker.
You also want graphql api.

Strapi review

Questions people ask

Is Pusher or Strapi better?: Neither clearly leads. Pusher starts at Free and Strapi at $35/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Pusher or Strapi?: Pusher has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Pusher and $35/month for Strapi.
Does Pusher or Strapi run on more platforms?: Pusher runs on web, ios, android, api. Strapi runs on Node.js, Cloud, Self-hosted, Docker.
Can I use Pusher for free?: Yes. Pusher has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Strapi starts at $35/month.
What is Pusher best used for?: Pusher is most often used for adding live chat to a web or mobile app, showing realtime presence of online users, pushing live notifications or dashboard updates, building collaborative features without managing websocket servers. Of those, adding live chat to a web or mobile app and showing realtime presence of online users are not what Strapi is typically brought in for.
What can Pusher do that Strapi cannot?: Pusher covers Pub/sub channels, Presence channels, Client libraries, 24/7 monitoring. Strapi covers REST API, GraphQL API, Content management, PostgreSQL. Both handle Webhooks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Pusher: What does Pusher cost?

Pusher Channels offers a free Sandbox plan (200k messages/day, 100 connections) and paid plans starting at $49/month for Startup, scaling up through Pro, Business, and several higher tiers up to $1,199/month, plus custom Enterprise pricing.

Source

Strapi: How much do API request overages cost?

Additional API requests beyond the plan limit cost $1.50 per 25000 requests. Extra asset storage costs $0.60 per GB, and additional bandwidth costs $30 per 100 GB.

Source

Pusher: Can I change or cancel my plan?

Yes, customers can log into the dashboard and adjust their plan at any time, including upgrading, downgrading, or cancelling.

Source

Strapi: Is yearly billing available?

Yes, yearly billing saves up to 17% compared to monthly billing on Strapi Cloud plans.

Source

Pusher: How is usage metered?

Usage is measured by concurrent connections and messages per day; a message counts both the publish and each delivery, so publishing one message to 50 subscribers counts as 51 messages.

Source

Strapi: What is included with the Pro plan?

The Pro plan costs $90 per month per project and includes 1M API requests, 250 GB asset storage, 500 GB bandwidth, multi-environment support, weekly backups, and manual backups.

Source

Pusher vs Strapi

Pusher

Strapi

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Pusher

Only in Strapi

Both cover

What people use each for

Pusher

Strapi

Where each one falls short

Pusher

Strapi

Pricing, plan by plan

Pusher

Strapi

Which should you pick?

Choose Pusher if

Choose Strapi if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Pusher

More on Strapi

Keep looking

Other head to heads