Knock alternatives, priced without a message meter.
Comparing Knock alternatives usually starts with the bill. Knock is a hosted notification API, and its published pricing includes 10,000 messages a month on the free Developer plan; the next step up is the $250/month Starter plan with 50,000 messages and $0.005 per message after that. Single sign-on with SAML, SCIM directory sync, custom roles, and translations are all listed as Enterprise-plan features, and message history is retained for 30 days on Developer and Starter. For the whole bill laid out, with worked monthly totals from 10,000 to 500,000 messages, see Knock pricing in 2026.
Notifly is the same shape of product with a different price ladder: 10,000 events a month free, $19/month for 50,000, and $149/month for 500,000 with roles, translations, custom environments, and unlimited members. The meter counts workflow events rather than individual messages, so a notification that fans out to inbox, email, and push is one event, not three. Knock's own pricing FAQ puts the difference plainly: "if you trigger a notification workflow that results in a user receiving an in-app message and an email, that counts as two messages sent."
At a glance
Best for
Notifly
Product teams whose volume is growing across several channels, and who want roles and translations on a self-serve plan instead of an Enterprise contract.
Best for
Knock
Teams that want in-app guides alongside notifications, unlimited seats on every plan, and a security and support organization sized for large customers.
| Capability | Notifly (hosted) | Knock (hosted plans) |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model [source] | Flat plan, metered on trigger events | Per message — $0.005/message over the Starter allowance |
| Free-plan volume [source] | 10,000 events/month | 10K messages/month on Developer |
| First paid tier [source] | $19/month (50,000 events) | $250/month Starter (50K messages) |
| Fan-out across channels [source] | One event, every channel it routes to | Each channel send counts as a message |
| Message log retention [source] | 24h free, 7 days Pro, 90 days Team | 30 days on Developer and Starter, 90 days on Enterprise |
| SAML 2.0 SSO [source] | Enterprise | Enterprise only (Google SSO on lower plans) |
| Directory sync (SCIM) [source] | Enterprise | Enterprise only |
| Custom roles and permissions [source] | Team — $149/month | Enterprise only |
| Translations (i18n) [source] | Team — $149/month | “Only available on our Enterprise plan” |
| Audit log of account events [source] | Included on every plan, with CSV/NDJSON export | Enterprise plan |
| Remove vendor branding [source] | Pro and up ($19/month) | Starter and up — not on Developer |
| In-app guides / active users [source] | In-app inbox, no per-user metering | Guides billed per active user — 500 on Developer, 2,500 on Starter, then $0.05/user on Starter; Enterprise priced by sales |
| Team members [source] | 3 on Free and Pro, unlimited on Team | Unlimited on all plans |
Knock pricing
As of , this is what Knock's own pricing page lists. Knock's pricing FAQ says it does not hard-cap notifications, and the full bill, with worked monthly totals, is on Knock pricing in 2026.
- Developer, $0 a month. 10,000 messages, 500 guide active users and 500 AI agent credits. The page lists no per-message price past the allowance; it says "Upgrade for additional usage."
- Starter, $250 a month. 50,000 messages, then $0.005 per message; 2,500 guide active users, then $0.05 per user; and 2,000 AI agent credits, then $0.01 per credit.
- Enterprise, contact sales. No price is published; the page lists flexible volume-based pricing, monthly notified user pricing and annual commit discounts.
Notifly's ladder has no per-message rate: free for 10,000 events a month, $19 for 50,000 on Pro and $149 for 500,000 on Team, with one event per trigger however many channels it reaches.
Roles and translations without an Enterprise call
Knock's pricing page places SAML SSO, SCIM provisioning, and custom roles and permissions on the Enterprise plan, and its documentation states plainly that translations are "only available on our Enterprise plan." In Notifly, role-based access control, translation groups rendered by the same engine that powers preview and delivery, custom environments, and an org-scoped audit log with CSV and NDJSON export all sit on the $149 Team plan or below, which you can buy without talking to anyone (start free, with an opt-in 14-day Pro trial, no card). SSO and SCIM remain Enterprise on both.
What the meter does to a growing product
Take a workflow that sends an in-app message and an email to every user who is mentioned in a comment. On a per-message plan that is two messages per mention, and a digest that later rolls ten mentions into one email still leaves ten in-app messages on the meter. Add a push step for mobile users and the count rises again, without a single extra trigger from your code.
Notifly counts the trigger. The same mention is one event whether it reaches one channel or three, so adding a channel to a workflow is a product decision rather than a pricing one. What does grow with channels is your delivery cost with SendGrid, Twilio or FCM — paid to them directly, at their rates.
When to pick Knock instead
Pick Knock if you want its in-app guides product from the same vendor as your notifications; Notifly has no equivalent. Pick it if seats are your constraint: Knock includes unlimited team members on every plan, where Notifly allows three until Team. And pick it if you want a month of message logs on a free plan, where Notifly's free plan keeps 24 hours.
Large organizations may also prefer a vendor with a security and support organization sized for large customers, which Notifly, a smaller company, does not claim to be. If that outweighs a lower bill and roles on a self-serve plan, Knock is the honest recommendation.
Migrate from Knock
- Create a free Notifly workspace — no card — and copy the Development environment's secret key.
- Connect the email, SMS, push and chat providers you use with Knock as integrations.
- Rebuild each Knock workflow in the visual editor: channel steps, digest, delay and throttle, with translations on Team.
- Sync your users as subscribers over the API, including push device tokens and chat credentials.
- Replace each Knock workflow trigger in your backend with POST /v1/events/trigger, and move your in-app feed to Notifly's inbox.
Frequently asked questions
Is Notifly a good Knock alternative?
It is if your Knock bill is driven by message count, or if you need roles and translations without an Enterprise contract. Notifly meters the workflow trigger rather than each channel send, and puts role-based access control, translations and custom environments on a $149 self-serve plan. It is a weaker fit if you rely on Knock's in-app guides or need unlimited seats on a free plan.
How does Knock compare with SuprSend?
Going by our own sourced comparisons of each: both meter every channel a notification reaches rather than the trigger, both give the free plan 10,000 messages or notifications a month, both offer unlimited team members on every plan, and both keep role-based access control on Enterprise. Where they differ on price is the first paid plan: Knock's Starter is $250 a month for 50K messages, while SuprSend's Essentials is $110 a month ($100 billed annually) for 50,000 notifications. Notifly's Pro is $19 a month for 50,000 events, counted per trigger.
What does per-message billing actually cost you?
The number that matters is not the first invoice, it is the second one. Digests, retries, multi-channel fan-out, and a growing in-app feed all multiply message count against a rate you cannot renegotiate. Notifly meters the trigger event instead: one workflow run is one event whether it lands in an inbox, an email, and a push, so fan-out changes your delivery bill with your own providers rather than your platform bill with us.
How do I migrate from Knock to Notifly?
Create a free workspace, connect the email, SMS, push and chat providers you already use, and rebuild each Knock workflow in Notifly's visual editor with the same steps — channel sends, digest, delay and throttle. Then replace each Knock workflow trigger in your backend with POST /v1/events/trigger, sync your users as subscribers over the API, and move in-app feed rendering to Notifly's inbox. Run both side by side in the Development environment before you cut over.
Which channels does Notifly support?
Email, SMS, mobile and web push, chat — Slack, Discord, Microsoft Teams, Telegram, WhatsApp Business and more — and a real-time in-app inbox, across 70+ provider integrations, on every plan including the free one. You connect your own provider accounts and pay them directly.
Do roles, translations or SSO need an Enterprise contract on Notifly?
Roles, translations, custom environments and an unlimited team are on the $149 Team plan, which you can buy self-serve. Start free; try Pro free for 14 days whenever you’re ready, no card needed. The audit log is on every plan. Only SAML or OIDC single sign-on and SCIM directory sync are Enterprise — the same as on Knock — and sales@notifly.io sets those up.
How many team members can I add?
Three on the Free and Pro plans, and unlimited on Team. Knock includes unlimited team members on every plan, including its free Developer plan, so if seats are your only constraint Knock is more generous there.
What does Knock do that Notifly doesn't?
Honesty cuts both ways. Knock is a polished product with a strong workflow editor, an in-app guides product — paywalls, dialogs and nudges built from your own components — that Notifly has no equivalent for, and a security and support organization sized for large customers. Unlimited team members are included on every one of its plans, including the free one, where Notifly caps Free and Pro at three. If seats are your constraint rather than roles or translations, that difference is real.
See it on your own workflows.
One POST /v1/events/trigger — email, SMS, push, in-app, and chat. 10,000 events a month, free.