Push notification software:
the 10-point buyer’s checklist.
Most push notification platforms can send a notification. The differences that cost you later are in billing, ownership, and what your team can change without a developer. Here is what to check, and how PushEngage answers each item.
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The checklist
Ten questions to ask every vendor.
Put each question to every push notification software vendor on your shortlist, and ask for the answer in writing. Ours sit under each one, with the plan it needs.
Does it cover every surface your customers use?
Browser visitors, app users, and people who installed your PWA each need a different delivery path. Separate tools mean separate lists and separate reports.
PushEngage: web push notifications, mobile app push notifications, PWA push notifications, and in-app notifications on one subscriber profile, with WhatsApp automation (Growth plan) and a chat widget on the same account.
What exactly are you billed for?
Per-message fees and total-list billing grow with every campaign, whether anyone clicks or not. Usage meters move month to month, which makes the budget hard to forecast.
PushEngage: you pay only for active subscribers, web and app combined, in fixed tiers. No per-message fees. Unsubscribed devices stop counting. See the pricing calculator.
Can marketing launch without a developer?
If every new campaign needs a ticket, retention work waits behind the product roadmap.
PushEngage: native apps and plugins for Shopify Plus, WooCommerce, WordPress, and a HubSpot integration. Setup guides also cover PrestaShop, Wix, AMP, and any other site. Mobile apps need a one-time SDK integration; after that, marketing runs campaigns without releases.
How much control do you get over the opt-in?
The opt-in prompt sets the ceiling on your list. A cold browser prompt on page load wastes the one ask you get.
PushEngage: trigger the prompt on time on page, scroll depth, or a click, with full design control and a desktop and mobile preview. Works on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. GDPR tools on every plan.
Are eCommerce automations built in, and on which plan?
Cart recovery is the reason most stores buy push. Check whether it is a template you configure or a project you build, and which tier unlocks it.
PushEngage: smart cart abandonment, browse abandonment, back-in-stock, and price-drop alerts are built in on the Growth plan, alongside order notifications. See WooCommerce cart recovery.
How deep does the automation go?
A single triggered message is not a journey. You want waits, branches, tests, and a way to hand off to other systems.
PushEngage: the Workflows builder is on every plan. Free runs 1 workflow of 5 steps; Business 5 workflows with waits and decisions; Premium 20 with split-path A/B tests and goal nodes; Growth unlimited, with HTTP request and custom event actions.
Can you prove the revenue?
Clicks are not revenue. If you cannot attribute orders to a campaign, the channel loses the budget argument.
PushEngage: goal tracking reports revenue per campaign and per workflow (Premium and above), and UTM parameters carry every click into GA4.
Can you target and test precisely?
Sending everything to everyone trains subscribers to ignore you, and operating systems now quiet noisy senders.
PushEngage: dynamic segments and audience groups, frequency caps on triggered campaigns, plus A/B testing and timezone sending on Premium and above.
What do developers and AI tools get?
Your developers will eventually want the keys, and more teams now run campaigns through AI assistants.
PushEngage: five SDKs (Web, iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native), a REST API, webhooks in Workflows on Growth, a first-party MCP server, open-source Agent Skills, and a browser extension for Chrome and Firefox.
What does it cost to find out you chose wrong?
Annual contracts and long onboarding make a bad choice expensive. Look for a way to test on your own traffic first.
PushEngage: a free plan (1 site, 200 subscribers, 30 campaigns) with no card, and a 14-day money-back guarantee on every paid plan. Moving from OneSignal? We pull your list through their API; see PushEngage vs OneSignal.
Red flags
Three answers that should slow the evaluation down.
None of these rule a vendor out on their own. Each one is a cost you should price in before you sign.
“We bill per message.”
Every campaign you add raises the bill, so the team starts rationing sends. Ask what a busy month costs compared with a quiet one.
“Your developers set that up.”
If new campaigns or segments need engineering time, retention runs at the speed of the product roadmap. Ask which jobs marketing can do alone.
“Pricing depends; let’s get on a call.”
Normal for enterprise contracts. For a mid-size list it means you cannot forecast cost before the demo. Ask for the price at your subscriber count, in writing.
Scorecard
The checklist, applied to four platforms.
Filled in from each vendor’s own pricing and help pages. Copy the rows into your evaluation doc and add the vendors you are talking to.
| PushEngage | OneSignal | Braze | Klaviyo push | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Web and app push on one account | Yes Web, iOS, Android, Flutter, React Native, PWA, plus in-app | Yes Web, mobile, in-app | Yes Web, mobile, in-app | Mobile only; no web push at this time, per Klaviyo |
| 2. What you are billed for | Active subscribers, fixed tiers, no per-message fees (monthly sending volume per plan) | $19/month base plus $0.012 per mobile MAU and $0.004 per web subscriber (Growth) | Monthly active users, quoted by sales | Profiles in your account |
| 2b. Prices visible before a sales call | Yes Free to Growth, with a calculator | Yes Growth; Professional and Enterprise custom | No | Check with Klaviyo |
| 10. Free way to test on live traffic | Free plan: 1 site, 200 subscribers, 30 campaigns | Free plan: mobile push up to 1,000 MAU | Trial offered | Free up to 250 profiles |
OneSignal, Braze, and Klaviyo details checked on their own pricing and help pages on September 30, 2026. Items 3 to 9 (ownership, opt-in control, eCommerce automations, workflow depth, attribution, targeting, developer and AI access) depend on your stack and plan, so ask each vendor to demo them on your store. Our answers are in the checklist above.
Question 2, answered in full
What PushEngage costs, before any sales call.
To estimate your bill, count the subscribers who can still receive your notifications, web and app together, and find the tier that covers them. Campaign volume does not change the price.
Free
$0
No card needed
- 1 site or app
- Up to 200 subscribers
- 30 campaigns (lifetime)
- 1 active workflow
Business
from $8/month
billed yearly (first-year price)
- 1 site or app
- Up to 50,000 active subscribers
- Unlimited campaigns
- 5 active workflows
Premium
from $15/month
billed yearly (first-year price)
- 2 sites or apps
- Up to 100,000 active subscribers
- A/B testing, drip campaigns, goal tracking
- Timezone sending
Growth
from $24/month
billed yearly (first-year price)
- 3 sites or apps
- Up to 250,000 active subscribers
- Cart and browse abandonment
- Back-in-stock and price-drop alerts
Prices shown are first-year prices, billed yearly. Enterprise is custom. Pay only for active subscribers; the calculator on the pricing page prices your exact count.
Calculate your priceRun the test
A 14-day evaluation, on your own traffic.
The money-back window is 14 days, which is enough to answer most of the checklist with real data instead of a sales deck.
Day 1: install
Add the plugin or site code, or start on the free plan with no card. Connect your store if you are on Shopify Plus or WooCommerce.
Days 2 to 3: opt-in
Set the prompt to fire on time on page, scroll depth, or a click. Watch subscribers arrive in the dashboard.
Days 4 to 10: automate
Turn on one automated journey and one broadcast. On Premium, split the broadcast into an A/B test.
Days 11 to 14: decide
Compare clicks and goal revenue with the plan price. Not a fit on a paid plan? Ask for a full refund inside 14 days.
At a glance
What you get on one account.
Next steps
Check each item in depth.
Push notification service for eCommerce
How retention teams run cart recovery and win-back on PushEngage.
Push notification serviceWeb push notifications
Browser push on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari.
Web push notificationsMobile app push notifications
iOS, Android, Flutter, and React Native SDKs.
Mobile app push notificationsIn-app notifications
Banners, modals, and full-screen messages inside your app.
In-app notificationsPWA push notifications
Push for progressive web apps, including iOS home-screen apps.
PWA push notificationsPlatform overview
Every channel, feature, and integration in one place.
See the platformPushEngage vs OneSignal
Costs side by side and how migration works.
Compare with OneSignalWorkflows
What each plan’s workflow builder can do.
Explore WorkflowsFAQ
Questions, answered.
What is push notification software?
Push notification software lets you collect subscribers and send them clickable notifications in the browser, on a phone’s lock screen, or inside an app. Good software also handles the opt-in prompt, segmentation, automation, testing, and reporting, so a marketing team can run the channel without building it.
Is a push notification platform different from push notification software?
The terms are used interchangeably. Vendors that say platform usually mean several channels, such as web push, app push, and in-app messages, plus automation and analytics on one account. Judge by the checklist, not the label.
Which features matter most for an eCommerce store?
Cart and browse abandonment, back-in-stock and price-drop alerts, order notifications, segmentation, A/B testing, and revenue attribution. On PushEngage the smart eCommerce automations are on the Growth plan, and A/B testing and goal tracking start at Premium.
How do I compare pricing across vendors?
Price every vendor at your own numbers: web subscribers, app installs, and the share of app users active each month. PushEngage charges for active subscribers in fixed tiers. OneSignal’s Growth plan, for example, is $19/month plus $0.012 per mobile monthly active user and $0.004 per web subscriber, as published on September 30, 2026. Braze quotes through sales.
Is free push notification software good enough?
For testing, often yes. PushEngage’s free plan covers 1 site with up to 200 subscribers and 30 campaigns, which is enough to prove the opt-in and a first automated journey. Growing stores move to a paid plan for unlimited campaigns, more workflows, and the eCommerce automations.
How long should an evaluation take?
About two weeks: install on day one, tune the opt-in, run one automated journey and one broadcast, then compare revenue with the price. That fits inside PushEngage’s 14-day money-back guarantee on paid plans.
Can I test PushEngage before paying?
Yes. There is a free plan that needs no card, and every paid plan has a 14-day money-back guarantee. If PushEngage isn’t the best fit, reach out within 14 days and we refund 100%. No questions asked.
Can I switch from my current provider without losing subscribers?
From OneSignal, yes: we pull your list through OneSignal’s API, and our SDKs install next to your current setup so nobody misses a notification. For other providers, book a demo and we will walk through your setup.
Put PushEngage through the checklist.
Start free, or pick a paid plan and run the 14-day evaluation. If it isn’t the best fit, we refund 100%.
Free plan, no card 14-day money-back guarantee Pay only for active subscribers