Scaledrone review
A low-cost pub/sub service with room events, WebSockets, REST, and presence features.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
Scaledrone is a hosted realtime messaging service for developers building chat, collaboration tools, live dashboards, multiplayer applications, notifications, and other event-driven features. Its core model is publish/subscribe messaging in rooms, with WebSocket connections, fallback technologies, REST API publishing, authentication, access rules, and observable room events. Platforms and client coverage include web, iOS, Android, API, JavaScript, Java, Swift, React Native, Node.js, Go, Ruby, Python, and PHP. That makes it a focused infrastructure layer rather than a complete end-user chat product.
Published plans show a free tier with 20 concurrent connections and 100,000 events per day, with all features available. Paid pricing starts at $19 per month for Hobby, which raises capacity to 100 connections and 200,000 daily events. Startup costs $29 for 500 connections and 1 million events per day; Pro costs $49 for 2,000 connections and 4 million events. Business is $149 for 5,000 connections, 10 million events, and priority support. Growth is $249 for 10,000 connections and 20 million events, while Premium is $349 for 15,000 connections and 40 million events. Performance costs $499 for 20,000 connections and 60 million events. Growth, Premium, and Performance also include personal onboarding.
Scaledrone fits teams that want direct realtime transport with room-level presence, member join and leave events, member lists, typing indicators, JWT or basic authentication, and dashboard debugging tools. Optional message history can retain up to 100 messages per room for up to 30 days and is enabled per channel. The service suits developers who can build their own product experience around a pub/sub backend. Teams needing push notifications or moderation tools should choose a platform that includes those capabilities directly.
Scaledrone pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Free plan includes all features, 20 connections, and 100,000 events daily
- WebSocket, fallback, and REST delivery support multiple application types
- Room presence, access rules, authentication, and optional message history
- Where it doesn't
- Free plan is limited to 20 concurrent connections
- Message history supports up to 100 messages per room for 30 days
- Push notifications and moderation tools are not part of the feature set
Scaledrone fact sheet, pricing and score →
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