Onesignal

What is onesignal

OneSignal is a notification platform that developers and product teams use to deliver push notifications, in‑app messages, email, and SMS to users of web and mobile applications. It provides delivery infrastructure, audience segmentation, message personalization, scheduled campaigns, and analytics so teams don’t need to build their own messaging backend. The service supports multiple platforms including iOS, Android, web browsers, and many hybrid frameworks.

OneSignal combines a SaaS control plane and APIs/SDKs so teams can both manage campaigns from a dashboard and integrate messaging into application logic. It stores device identifiers and subscription state, resolves device tokens, handles retries and batching, and offers rate‑limiting and throttling controls for high‑volume senders. The platform is commonly used for onboarding flows, transactional messages, re‑engagement campaigns, and real‑time alerts.

Because OneSignal focuses on multi‑channel delivery, it includes built‑in fallback and orchestration features: if a push cannot be delivered, a campaign can fall back to email or SMS depending on the user’s contact data and campaign rules. The platform also exposes metrics and delivery reporting so teams can measure opens, conversions, and engagement across channels.

OneSignal features

OneSignal groups features across channels, messaging orchestration, targeting, and developer tooling.

Notification types: Web push, iOS and Android push, in‑app messages, email, and SMS delivery with templating support for each channel.

Segmentation and personalization: Attribute‑based segmentation, tag and event targeting, A/B testing for subject lines and content, dynamic template variables, and behavioral triggers based on user events.

Automation and workflows: Scheduled campaigns, triggered messages based on events or user lifecycle, drip sequences, and campaign throttling and priority controls.

Delivery controls and reliability: Retry logic, rate limiting, batching, platform token handling, and fallbacks between channels to increase delivery likelihood.

Analytics and reporting: Delivery, open, and click metrics, funnel and cohort analysis for campaigns, conversion tracking, and exportable logs for compliance and auditing.

Developer tools and SDKs: Client SDKs for major mobile and web platforms, RESTful APIs for sending and managing messages, webhooks for delivery and engagement events, and SDKs for popular frameworks.

Compliance and security: Data retention controls, organization and team access permissions, and features to support privacy and opt‑in management. Enterprise customers can request advanced security features.

What does onesignal do?

OneSignal delivers messages to individual devices or segments of users on web and mobile platforms. It abstracts the complexity of managing device tokens, push certificates, and provider integrations so teams can focus on message content and targeting rules. Typical workflows include sending a welcome push after sign‑up, scheduling promotional campaigns, or triggering transactional messages from backend events.

The platform also handles message personalization and testing: you can set up templates with variable substitution, run A/B tests to compare open and conversion rates, and schedule messages to respect time zones. For developers, OneSignal exposes APIs and SDK events to control subscription state, track custom events, and react to user behavior in real time.

OneSignal additionally provides reporting dashboards and export capabilities, so product and marketing teams can measure campaign performance and export engagement metrics to BI tools or warehouses.

OneSignal pricing

OneSignal offers these pricing plans:

• Free Plan: $0/month with core push and in‑app messaging features, basic analytics, limited email sends and SMS credits, and community support
• Starter: $9/month with higher email and SMS allowances, advanced analytics, A/B testing, and priority support options
• Professional: $99/month for larger send volumes, full multichannel orchestration, advanced segmentation, and SLA‑grade support
• Enterprise: Custom pricing with dedicated account management, custom SLAs, on‑premises options, and enterprise security features

Pricing tiers vary by number of subscribers, message volume per channel, and which features (for example, advanced analytics or enterprise security) are enabled. Check OneSignal's pricing tiers for the latest rates, volume thresholds, and enterprise options.

How much is onesignal per month

OneSignal starts at $9/month for the Starter plan. Monthly fees increase with subscriber counts and additional channel usage (email and SMS typically consume credits or incur overage charges). Larger Professional and Enterprise tiers are priced for higher volumes and include enhanced capabilities and support.

How much is onesignal per year

OneSignal costs $108/year for the Starter plan when the monthly rate is billed annually at the equivalent of $9/month. Professional yearly billing is typically in the range of $1,188/year for the $99/month equivalent. Enterprise contracts are quoted annually based on volume, feature set, and support requirements.

How much is onesignal in general

OneSignal pricing ranges from $0 (Free Plan) to custom enterprise pricing. Smaller projects and websites can operate on the Free Plan, while growing apps typically move to Starter or Professional tiers to access higher message throughput, advanced analytics, and support. Costs depend heavily on active subscribers, number of messages sent per month, and the proportion of messages delivered via paid channels like SMS.

What is onesignal used for

OneSignal is used to send targeted and timely notifications that re‑engage users and improve retention. Product teams use it to send onboarding tips, cart abandonment reminders, or personalized promotions; operations teams use it for critical system alerts; and marketing teams use it for campaigns and audience segmentation. It supports both transactional and promotional messaging across multiple channels.

Developers use OneSignal to add messaging to an app without the operational burden of maintaining push infrastructure. Use cases include mobile app engagement, news updates, e‑commerce promotions, time‑sensitive alerts, and cross‑platform messaging sequences that use fallback channels to ensure delivery.

Because OneSignal records event data and engagement metrics, analytics teams use it to measure campaign effectiveness, test messaging variants, and attribute conversions back to specific pushes or emails. The platform is suitable for single‑product startups up to enterprise applications that require high throughput and compliance features.

Pros and cons of onesignal

Pros:

• Robust multi‑channel support (push, in‑app, email, SMS) and orchestration capabilities make it simpler to coordinate messaging across platforms. Many teams can adopt OneSignal without building custom delivery infrastructure.

• Developer‑friendly SDKs and APIs provide hooks for real‑time triggers, event tracking, and programmatic campaign control. Integration is straightforward for common stacks.

• Segmentation, A/B testing, and analytics let teams optimize campaigns and measure outcomes across devices and channels.

Cons:

• Costs can grow quickly for high message volumes or heavy use of paid channels like SMS; accurate volume forecasting is necessary to control spend.

• Some enterprise security and compliance requirements may require paid tiers or custom contracts; organizations with strict on‑premises requirements may need additional negotiation.

• The platform abstracts low‑level provider details (APNs, FCM), which is convenient but can make certain edge‑case delivery debugging more complex for large engineering teams.

OneSignal free trial

OneSignal's Free Plan provides immediate access to core features so teams can test push and in‑app messaging at no cost. The free tier typically includes basic web and mobile push, some email sends, and basic analytics to evaluate message delivery and engagement. This lets teams validate integrations, measure open rates, and trial segmentation before upgrading.

Paid tiers frequently include trial credits or a limited free period for higher channels like email or SMS so teams can test cross‑channel flows. Because account structures and trial offers change, prospective customers should review the current offers on the pricing page or contact sales for an evaluation account.

Free accounts are subject to usage limits and community support, whereas paid customers receive higher throughput, SLA options, and priority support channels.

Is onesignal free

Yes, OneSignal offers a Free Plan that allows small projects and development teams to send basic push and in‑app messages at no charge. The Free Plan is intended for evaluation and early production use but has limits on advanced features, message volume, and paid channels such as SMS or high‑volume email.

OneSignal API

OneSignal exposes a RESTful API and event webhooks designed for programmatic message creation, audience management, and analytics retrieval. The API supports sending individual or segmented notifications, creating templates, uploading user devices, and importing subscribers. Typical endpoints include notification creation, device management, segment creation, and export of delivery events.

Developers can use the API to trigger messages from server events (for example, a purchase or password reset), orchestrate multi‑step workflows, or integrate campaign data into custom dashboards. Webhooks can notify your backend of delivery, open, and click events, enabling real‑time analytics and attribution.

OneSignal also publishes SDKs for common client platforms (iOS, Android, Web) that simplify subscription handling and expose client‑side events to complement server‑side API calls. For detailed developer references and code samples, see OneSignal’s developer documentation at the OneSignal developer documentation.

10 OneSignal alternatives

Paid alternatives to onesignal

• Braze — Enterprise‑grade customer engagement platform focused on personalization and cross‑channel messaging with deep analytics and journey orchestration.
• Airship — Mobile‑first messaging and engagement platform with advanced mobile app lifecycle tools and enterprise reliability features.
• Iterable — Cross‑channel growth marketing platform that combines email, push, SMS, and in‑app campaigns with strong data orchestration for marketing teams.
• CleverTap — Behavioral analytics and engagement platform with advanced segmentation and automated campaigns for mobile apps.
• Pushwoosh — Push and in‑app messaging service that supports many platforms and offers campaign automation and analytics.
• Customer.io — API‑centric messaging for sending transactional and lifecycle messages via email, push, and SMS with strong developer controls.
• MoEngage — Insights and engagement platform that provides personalization, orchestration, and analytics for mobile and web campaigns.

Open source alternatives to onesignal

• Mautic — Open source marketing automation that handles email and some messaging workflows; suitable when teams want self‑hosted campaign logic.
• Centrifugo — Realtime messaging server for push‑style updates in apps; useful when teams build custom delivery logic and want full control over infrastructure.
• Nchan — Pub/sub server module for Nginx that enables scalable server‑to‑client push without a managed provider; used in self‑hosted implementations.
• Apache Unomi — Open source customer data platform that can be used to build custom segmentation and personalization for owned messaging pipelines.

Frequently asked questions about OneSignal

What is OneSignal used for?

OneSignal is used for multi‑channel user messaging and re‑engagement. Teams send push notifications, in‑app messages, email, and SMS to onboard users, send transactional alerts, and run marketing campaigns. It centralizes audience targeting and delivery metrics so product and marketing teams can measure impact.

Does OneSignal support mobile push for iOS and Android?

Yes, OneSignal supports iOS and Android push notifications. The platform provides SDKs for both operating systems and handles integration with APNs and FCM so developers don’t need to manage tokens and certificates directly. It also supports hybrid frameworks and popular mobile toolchains.

Can OneSignal send email and SMS in addition to push?

Yes, OneSignal supports email and SMS as additional channels. These channels can be used as primary delivery methods or fallbacks when push fails, and they are billed according to send volume and SMS credits associated with the account.

How much does OneSignal cost per user or per month?

OneSignal starts at $9/month for the Starter tier, with the Free Plan available at $0/month for basic usage. Costs increase for higher message volumes and for Professional or Enterprise plans that add features and support.

Is there a free version of OneSignal?

Yes, OneSignal provides a Free Plan. The Free Plan includes core push and in‑app messaging features and basic analytics, but has limitations on advanced features, high throughput, and paid channels such as SMS.

Does OneSignal provide APIs and SDKs for integration?

Yes, OneSignal provides REST APIs and client SDKs. The APIs allow sending notifications, managing devices and segments, and retrieving analytics, while SDKs simplify subscription handling and event capture on client platforms.

Can OneSignal handle high volume sends for large apps?

Yes, OneSignal is designed to scale to large volumes. Professional and Enterprise tiers include higher throughput, delivery controls, and support options for large senders; enterprise customers can negotiate SLAs and custom infrastructure requirements.

How does OneSignal manage user segmentation and personalization?

OneSignal supports attribute and behavior‑based segmentation. You can target users by tags, custom events, or prebuilt audience conditions, and personalize messages using template variables and dynamic content based on user attributes.

Is OneSignal secure and compliant for enterprise use?

OneSignal provides security and compliance controls suitable for many organizations. The platform offers access controls, data retention options, and enterprise security features on paid plans; larger organizations can request additional compliance documentation and contractual terms.

Can I migrate from OneSignal to another provider?

Yes, you can export device and subscription data for migration. OneSignal supports data exports and APIs that let you extract device IDs, tags, and subscription state so you can import that data into another platform or your own messaging infrastructure.

onesignal careers

OneSignal hires across engineering, product, sales, and customer success roles to support its developer‑focused platform. Engineering roles emphasize backend delivery systems, SDK development, and telemetry, while product and marketing roles focus on channels, analytics, and go‑to‑market functions. Check OneSignal’s careers page for current openings and role descriptions.

onesignal affiliate

OneSignal occasionally provides partner and referral programs for agencies and platform partners. Affiliates typically get referral credits, co‑marketing opportunities, or partner‑level support; companies interested in partnering should consult OneSignal’s partner information or contact their sales team for details.

Where to find onesignal reviews

Public reviews and comparisons for OneSignal are available on software marketplaces and developer communities. Look for customer feedback on product suitability, deliverability, and support responsiveness on sites such as G2, Capterra, and developer forums. For feature lists and official documentation see the OneSignal developer documentation and OneSignal's pricing tiers.