Pricing

This page explains how Agora calculates your monthly bill for Signaling.

Signaling is priced based on the following metrics:

• Message volume: The total number of messages sent and received by all users in a calendar month.
• Storage utilization: The average amount of data, measured in GB, stored on Agora's servers over the billing cycle.
• Peak Concurrent Users (PCU): The maximum number of simultaneous users connected to your Signaling service at any point during the billing cycle.

The following are key terms you need to understand pricing:

• Overage: Usage that exceeds the limits included in your fixed-rate plan is billed at the standard consumption rates.
• Normalization: The process of standardizing billing calculations to 30-day months (720 hours), regardless of the actual number of calendar days, to ensure consistent month-to-month billing.

In Signaling, message count is the total number of instructions and data interactions between users and Signaling servers through the SDKs, RESTful APIs, webhooks, or serverless services. It is important to note that one message in Signaling is measured in units of 1 KB. This means that if you send a 2.5 KB message or instruction, it counts as three messages. Use of Signaling features contributes to the message count as follows:

General

Each of the following constitutes one message:

• A login request
• A logout request
• Updating an expiring token
• Receiving a connection status change notification
• Receiving a token expiry notification

Channels

Each of the following constitutes one message:

• Subscribing to a message channel
• Unsubscribing from a message channel
• Creating a stream channel instance
• Joining a stream channel
• Leaving a stream channel

Topics

Each of the following constitutes one message:

• Joining a topic
• Leaving a topic
• Subscribing to a topic
• Unsubscribing from a topic
• Receiving a topic change notification

Messaging

Each of the following constitutes one message:

• Publishing a message to a message channel
• Receiving a message in a message channel For example, if a client sends a message to a message channel, and 10 people are subscribed to this channel, this counts as 1 sent message and 10 received messages, for a total of 11 messages.
• Publishing to a topic in a stream channel
• Receiving a message in a stream channel topic For example, if a client sends a message to a topic in a stream channel, and 10 people are subscribed to this topic, this counts as 1 sent message and 10 received messages, for a total of 11 messages.

Note

Even if message filtering is enabled on the client, it does not have any impact on message metering. The client-side message filtering function is only for the convenience of developers, and the messages are actually delivered to the client.

• The asynchronous callback generated by publishing a message in the message channel or stream channel is not counted in the number of messages.
• Messages sent using the RESTful API are also counted as messages.
• If a client is not subscribed to a channel or topic, it does not receive any messages.

Presence

Each of the following constitutes one message:

• A whoNow query
• A whereNow query
• Each setState, getState, or removeState call to manage temporary user state
• Each triggered presence event notification, such as a client entering a channel, leaving a channel, timing out, or changing status.
• Each received presence event notification. For example, if a client enters a channel and 10 other clients are subscribed to the channel, it sends 1 presence event notification, and the other 10 clients each receive 1 presence event notification, totaling in 11 messages.

Note

• If a client joins or subscribes to a channel and disables presence event notifications, it does not receive any such notifications. However, since Signaling still sends these notifications to the client, the notifications still count as messages.
• If a client does not join or subscribe to a channel, it does not receive presence event notifications from that channel. Therefore, no messages are added to the count.

Storage

If you turn off the storage module in Agora Console, no storage message count is generated. If storage is enabled, each of the following counts as one message:

• Setting channel metadata using setChannelMetadata
• Querying channel metadata using getChannelMetadata
• Updating channel metadata using updateChannelMetadata
• Deleting channel metadata using removeChannelMetadata
• Receiving a channel metadata change event notification. For example, if a client sets metadata in a channel, and the channel is subscribed to by 10 users, it sends 1 storage event notification, and the other 10 clients each receive 1 storage event notification, for a total of 11 messages.

info

• If a client joins or subscribes to a channel and disables storage event notifications, it does not receive any such notifications. However, since Signaling still sends these notifications to the client, the notifications still count as messages.
• If a client does not join or subscribe to a channel, it does not receive storage event notifications from that channel. Therefore, no messages are added to the count.

• Setting user metadata using setUserMetadata
• Querying user metadata using getUserMetadata
• Updating user metadata using updateUserMetadata
• Deleting user metadata using removeUserMetadata
• Receiving a user metadata change event notification. For example, if a client sets user metadata, and 10 other users are subscribed to this user's metadata, it sends 1 storage event notification, and the other 10 users each receive 1 storage event notification, for a total of 11 messages.

info

If a client does not subscribe to user metadata, it does not receive user metadata change notifications. Therefore, no messages are added to the count.

Locks

Each of the following constitutes one message:

• setLock
• acquireLock
• getLocks
• releaseLock
• revokeLock
• removeLock

• Receiving a lock change event notification. For example, if a client sets a lock on a channel, and 10 other users subscribe to this channel, it sends 1 lock event notification, and 10 users each receive 1 lock event notification, for a total of 11 messages.

Note

In Signaling, a message is calculated in 1 KB. Therefore, if you send a message package with a size of 10 KB to a channel or topic subscribed by 100 people, it will be counted as 10 inbound messages and 1,000 outbound messages to give a total of 1,010 messages.

Storage in Signaling generates cloud storage occupancy. Agora measures the total storage occupancy and bills the amount for the month by sampling the customer's actual storage use at 1-hour intervals during a calendar month. At the end of the month, the average storage occupancy is calculated by dividing the sum of all sample values by the number of samples. The average occupancy is then multiplied by the monthly unit price to calculate the monthly charge. The following formula mathematically represents this calculation process:

Peak connection usage (PCU) is the maximum number of clients simultaneously connected to Signaling at any point during a calendar month. For example, if you have 10,000 customers, and a maximum of 500 clients connected to Signaling simultaneously during the month, the PCU value is 500. This means you only pay for 500 peak connections. The total number of clients or devices that connect to Signaling during a month does not affect billing.

Signaling 2.x is an enhanced version of 1.x with a wide range of new features and a new pricing structure. Choose from the following packages:

Signaling 2.x package	Description	Package price per month (USD)
Free Package	Up to 20 peak concurrent users 1M Monthly message volume 1GB Storage	Free
Starter Package	Up to 500 peak concurrent users 30M Monthly message volume 2GB Storage	$59
Pro Package	Up to 2500 peak concurrent users 150M Monthly message volume 10GB Storage	$399
Business Package	Up to 5000 peak concurrent users 500M Monthly message volume 20GB Storage	$820
Enterprise Package	Pay–as-you-go	Contact sales

Additional usage cost over and above the fixed package limits:

• Peak PCU: $30 per 1000 PCU
• Messages: $3 per 1 Million
• Storage: $15 per 1 GB

Refer to the following examples to understand how Agora calculates your bill:

Example 1: Billing calculation for the Pro package

The Pro package has a fixed monthly fee of $399, which includes:

• Up to 2,500 peak concurrent users (PCU)
• Up to 150 million monthly messages
• Up to 10GB average storage utilization. See Example 3: Storage cost calculation for details on how storage use is calculated.

If your usage stays within these thresholds, your monthly bill is the base subscription fee of $399 with no additional charges.

If you exceed these limits, additional usage is charged at the following overage rates:

Resource	Billing Unit	Rate
Peak Concurrent Users	1,000 PCU	$30.00
Message Volume	1 Million messages	$3.00
Storage	1 GB	$15.00

Example 2: Billing calculation for the Enterprise Package (Pay-as-you-go)

The Enterprise Package follows a pure consumption-based model where you pay only for what you use.

Example Scenario: Consider a customer with the following monthly usage:

• 20,000 peak concurrent users
• 800 million messages sent
• 3.93 GB average storage utilization. See Example 3: Storage cost calculation for details on how storage use is calculated.

Detailed Billing Calculation:

1. Peak Concurrent Users (PCU)

   • PCU Usage: 20,000 users (highest recorded in the month)
   • PCU Rate: $30.00 per 1,000 PCU
   • PCU Cost = (20,000 ÷ 1,000) × $30.00 = $600.00

2. Message Volume

   • Total Messages: 800 million
   • Message Rate: $3.00 per million messages
   • Message Cost = 800 × $3.00 = $2,400.00

3. Storage Utilization

   • Average Monthly Storage: 3.93 GB
   • Storage Rate: $15.00 per GB per month
   • Storage Cost = 3.93 GB × $15.00 = $58.95

4. Total Monthly Invoice

   • Total Monthly Cost = PCU Cost + Message Cost + Storage Cost
     • = $600.00 + $2,400.00 + $58.95
     • = $3,058.95

Example 3: Storage cost calculation

Storage is billed based on the average monthly utilization, calculated from hourly measurements.

Storage Calculation Process:

• Hourly measurement: Agora captures storage utilization every hour.
• Monthly normalization: For billing consistency, all months are normalized to 30 days (720 hours).

Example: For usage in March (a 31-day month):

• Week 1: 2 GB baseline storage
• Weeks 2-3: 6 GB during high usage period
• Week 4+: 2 GB returning to baseline

Calculation:

• Week 1 (7 days): 2 GB × (7 days × 24 hours) = 336 GB-hours
• Weeks 2-3 (14 days): 6 GB × (14 days × 24 hours) = 2,016 GB-hours
• Week 4+ (10 days): 2 GB × (10 days × 24 hours) = 480 GB-hours

Total GB-hours: 336 + 2,016 + 480 = 2,832 GB-hours

Normalized Monthly Average: 2,832 GB-hours ÷ 720 hours (Normalization) = 3.93 GB.

Normalization is the process of standardizing billing calculations to 30-day months (720 hours) regardless of actual calendar days which is 31 in this example.

Storage Cost = 3.93 GB × $15.00 per GB = $58.95

If you still have questions, refer to the FAQ on the recently announced package changes​ or contact Agora support.

The following table compares the features included in each package:

Feature	Free Package	Starter Package	Pro Package	Business Package	Enterprise Package
Publish/Subscribe Messaging (Message Channel)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Stream Channel	✘	✔	✔	✔	✔
Presence	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Storage	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
History message (Beta)	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Lock	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Authentication	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Console	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Webhooks	✘	✔	✔	✔	✔
Uptime SLA	✘	✔	✔	✔	✔
Geofencing	✘	✘	✔	✔	✔
GDPR & HIPAA Compliance	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
Private deployment	✘	✘	✔	✔	✔

If you have any questions or would like to discuss your specific needs, please contact your account manager or reach out to support@agora.io.

This section contains content that completes the information on this page, or points you to documentation that explains other aspects to this product.

Q. When will the changes to the Signaling packages take effect?

The changes take effect on May 1, 2025. The first invoice reflecting these changes will be generated in June 2025

Q. Why is Agora making these changes to the Signaling service packages?

These changes are being implemented to better align Agora's services with industry standards and provide more consistent global service quality.

Q. Will there be any changes to the pricing structure?

No, there are no changes to the pricing structure or the costs of our existing paid packages. The changes primarily affect capacity thresholds and feature availability across service tiers.

Q. Which customers will witness these changes?

These changes are primarily applicable for:

• Customers using Signaling 2.x on Free, Pro, and Business packages
• Customers using Signaling 1.x on the Free package

Enterprise Package customers using Signaling 1.x in the DAU model will not be affected. Similarly no changes are applicable for the Signaling 2.x starter pack.

Q. I'm using the Free package. What changes will I see?

Free package users will see revised limits:

• Peak concurrent users reduced from 100 to 20
• Monthly message volume reduced from 3M to 1M
• Storage remains at 1GB
• Some advanced features like Stream Channel will not be available with the free package

Q. I'm using the Starter package. Will I see any changes?

There are no changes to the Starter package capacity thresholds. You will continue to have access to:

• Up to 500 peak concurrent users
• 30M monthly message volume
• 2GB storage
• All standard features including Stream Channel, Presence, Storage, etc.

Q. What happens if I exceed my package limits?

Usage above your fixed plan limits will be charged as additional usage (overage) at the standard consumption rates:

• Peak PCU: $30 per 1000 PCU
• Messages: $3 per 1 Million
• Storage: $15 per 1 GB per month

Q. Will I lose access to any features with these changes?

Feature availability depends on your package:

• Free Package: Will no longer have access to Stream Channel and Webhooks
• Starter Package: No changes to feature availability
• Pro and Business Packages: No changes to feature availability
• Enterprise Package: No changes to feature availability

Q. I'm currently on the Free package but will exceed the new limits. What are my options?

If you're currently on the Free package and anticipate exceeding the new limits (20 PCU, 1M monthly messages), Agora recommends upgrading to the Starter package ($59/month), which provides:

• Up to 500 peak concurrent users
• 30M monthly message volume
• 2GB storage
• Full feature access including Stream Channel and Webhooks

Q. How can I opt for changes to my package?

You can subscribe to a new package or change the subscribed package using Agora Console.

The console shows the following messages when you attempt to upgrade, downgrade or unsubscribe a package.

• Upgrade notice:

  When upgrading your package, the new package tariffs are applied immediately. The charge will be prorated based on the remaining days of the current billing cycle.

• Downgrade notice:

  Your downgrade will take effect at the end of the current billing cycle. Until then, you will be charged at the current package rate.

• Unsubscribe notice:

  Unsubscribing will take effect at the end of the current billing cycle. Post which, your account will automatically switch to the Free Signaling 2.x package.

If you need any further assistance, contact your account manager or reach out to support@agora.io to discuss your specific needs and concerns.

Depending on the features you enable for your project and your actual usage, Signaling stores the relevant data and you incur the corresponding storage charges. To avoid unintended charges, delete stored data that is no longer needed as follows:

Function	Storage API	Stored Data	How to delete
Presence	setState	Temporary user status	Call removeState
Storage	setChannelMetadata setUserMetadata	Channel Metadata and User Metadata	Call removeChannelMetadata or removeUserMetadata Disable Storage from the project configuration page of Agora Console. Contact Agora support
Lock	setLock	Lock settings and status	Call removeLock Disable Locks functionality from the project configuration page of Agora Console.

• Billing policies and free-of-charge policy