Is Apinator truly free, or is there a catch?

Apinator is free to use — no credit card, no trial, no paid plan above it. The free plan includes 500 concurrent connections, 500,000 messages per day, 100 channels, and presence tracking up to 500 members per channel. If you have a legitimate use case that needs a higher ceiling, contact us.

How does the free tier work?

You create an Apinator account, create an app in EU or US, and start publishing. The free plan gives you 500 concurrent connections, 500,000 messages per day, 100 channels, presence up to 500 members per channel, and 500 client events per second. There is no separate paid tier — the platform is free for all users right now. Presence, private channels, webhooks, multi-region, and HMAC auth are all included.

Do I need to manage any infrastructure?

No. Apinator is fully managed — no Docker, no VPS, no TLS certificates. You use the console and the SDKs; we run the WebSocket servers, Redis pub/sub, and load balancers in EU and US regions.

How are updates deployed?

Updates roll out to the managed platform continuously with no client impact. The client SDKs follow semver on npm; you upgrade when you want to pick up new SDK features.

Free to Use

Free WebSocket Server — Fully Managed, No Credit Card

Production-ready WebSocket infrastructure. Free to use, zero ops, no payment required.

Apinator is a fully managed, free-to-use WebSocket platform with channels, presence, and webhooks. No credit card, no trial, no paid tier above it. Create an app, point @apinator/client at it, ship.

Get Started Free View Docs

Free to Use

Apinator costs nothing to use. No credit card, no trial, no paid plan above it. Fair-use limits apply to prevent abuse.

Zero Ops

No Docker, no VPS, no TLS certs to rotate. Create an app in the console and start publishing within minutes.

Full Feature Set

Public, private, and presence channels. Client events. Webhooks. HMAC auth. Multi-region. Not a stripped-down free tier.

Multi-Region (EU + US)

Pick the region per app so connections stay close to your users and payloads stay in the chosen jurisdiction.

Pusher-Compatible

The same channel and event API as Pusher. Existing client code works without changes — swap the import and go.

SDKs for Every Stack

Client SDKs for JS, Swift, and Kotlin. Server SDKs for Node.js, Python, Go, and PHP.

Up and Running in Minutes

Create an app in the console and connect your first client — no credit card, no setup.

quickstart.js
// 1. Create an app in the Apinator console, copy the APP_KEY.

// 2. Connect from your frontend:
import { RealtimeClient } from '@apinator/client'

const client = new RealtimeClient('APP_KEY', {
  host: 'wss://rt.apinator.io'
})

const ch = client.subscribe('live-updates')
ch.bind('new-record', (data) => {
  console.log('Live update:', data)
})

// 3. Publish from any backend:
import { ApinatorServer } from '@apinator/server'
const apinator = new ApinatorServer({ appId, key, secret })
await apinator.trigger('live-updates', 'new-record', { id: 42 })

Frequently Asked Questions

Managed WebSocket Infrastructure Regions, residency, and architecture Pusher Alternative Migrate from Pusher for free Documentation Full API and setup reference

Ready to get started?

Completely free, no credit card required. Deploy in minutes.

Get Started Free View Docs

Free WebSocket Server — Fully Managed, No Credit Card

Free to Use

Zero Ops

Full Feature Set

Multi-Region (EU + US)

Pusher-Compatible

SDKs for Every Stack

Up and Running in Minutes

Frequently Asked Questions

Related

Ready to get started?