Honest Comparison
OneSignal does push, email, SMS, and in-app messaging. If you only need web push, that's a lot of complexity you're paying for. Pushary does one thing well: gets your message on their screen.
Most teams searching for "OneSignal alternative" aren't unhappy with OneSignal's quality. They're frustrated by the setup time, the SDK requirements, the per-subscriber billing that creeps up, or the fact that they're paying for email and SMS features they already handle elsewhere.
If that sounds like you, here's the honest breakdown.
OneSignal setup means installing their SDK, adding a service worker file, configuring a web manifest, and managing API keys across environments. Pushary gives you a hosted subscribe page at your-brand.pushary.com. Share the link. Visitors subscribe. Done. If you want deeper integration later, the API and JavaScript SDK are there.
OneSignal charges $0.004 per web push subscriber per month on their Growth plan. At 5,000 subscribers, that's $20/mo just for web push, plus the $19/mo base. At 25,000 subscribers it's $100/mo plus the base. Pushary is flat: $29/mo for 5K subs, $99/mo for 25K. No surprises. No mental math on your next invoice.
If you use Cursor, Claude, or any MCP-compatible AI tool, Pushary sends you a push notification when your agent finishes a task. You can even answer yes/no decisions from your phone without going back to your laptop. No other push notification service does this because it's a different use case entirely.
Pushary connects to HubSpot with OAuth. Subscribers sync to your CRM. Push events appear on contact timelines. You can trigger push campaigns from HubSpot workflows. OneSignal doesn't integrate with HubSpot natively. You'd need Zapier or a custom integration.
| Feature | Pushary | OneSignal |
|---|---|---|
| Time to first notification | 5 minutes | 30+ minutes |
| SDK required | ||
| Self-hosted subscribe page | ||
| Web push | ||
| Email + SMS | ||
| In-app messaging | ||
| A/B testing | ||
| Segmentation | ||
| AI agent notifications (MCP) | ||
| HubSpot CRM integration | ||
| API on all paid plans | ||
| Data retention (Growth) | 90 days | 30 days |
| Per-subscriber billing |
We're not going to pretend Pushary is better at everything. Here's when OneSignal makes more sense:
OneSignal handles push, email, SMS/RCS, and in-app messaging. If you want all your messaging in a single dashboard with cross-channel journeys, OneSignal is built for that. Pushary only does push.
OneSignal's free plan supports 10,000 web push subscribers with basic segmentation. That's a real amount of volume to test with. Pushary offers a 14-day free trial on paid plans with full access to all features, but no permanent free tier.
If you have iOS and Android apps and want deep push integration with rich notifications, action buttons, and in-app messaging, OneSignal's mobile SDKs are mature. Pushary works through the browser, not native app SDKs.
OneSignal's Growth plan is $19/mo base plus $0.004 per web push subscriber. Pushary is flat pricing. Here's what that looks like at different subscriber counts:
| Subscribers | Pushary | OneSignal (Growth) |
|---|---|---|
| 1,000 | $29/mo (Starter) | $23/mo ($19 + $4) |
| 5,000 | $29/mo (Starter) | $39/mo ($19 + $20) |
| 10,000 | $99/mo (Growth) | $59/mo ($19 + $40) |
| 25,000 | $99/mo (Growth) | $119/mo ($19 + $100) |
OneSignal pricing based on their published $0.004/subscriber/month rate on the Growth plan. Both include A/B testing and API access at these tiers. OneSignal also includes email (20K sends/mo) and SMS at this price.
If your main goal is web push notifications, Pushary gets you there in 5 minutes with no SDK. OneSignal is built for omnichannel (push + email + SMS + in-app). If you don't need all those channels, you're dealing with more complexity than you need.
OneSignal's free tier gives you 10,000 web push subscribers, but it's limited to 6 segments, 2 data tags, and 1 journey with 2 steps. Their paid Growth plan starts at $19/mo plus $0.004 per web push subscriber per month. At 5,000 subscribers that's $39/mo for web push alone. Pushary's Starter plan is a flat $29/mo for 5,000 subscribers and 25,000 notifications.
Yes. Both use standard Web Push (VAPID). You can run them side by side and migrate subscribers gradually. Pushary's hosted subscribe page lets you start collecting new subscribers immediately without changing your existing setup.
Pushary focuses on web push notifications delivered through the browser. This works on Android (full support), desktop (Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari), and iOS (via PWA). If you need native mobile SDK push for iOS/Android apps, OneSignal covers that.
Three things. First, a hosted subscribe page so you can collect subscribers without any code on your site. Second, native MCP support for AI coding tools like Cursor and Claude. Third, native HubSpot CRM integration with OAuth and timeline events.
14-day free trial on all plans. No credit card. No SDK to install. Just your message on their screen.