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Knock review: Dev & Infrastructure, pricing and who it's for

Ship email, in-app, push, SMS and Slack notifications from one workflow instead of building it yourself. Free up to 10,000 messages a month.

Knock is notification infrastructure for product and engineering teams. You define a workflow once and send email, in-app, push, SMS and Slack or chat from it, with batching, preferences and multi-tenancy. An official MCP server and a REST API connect it to your product. The free plan includes 10,000 messages a month. Starter is $250 a month plus usage.

Free plan; paid from $250 per month + usage

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Reviewed · Facts checked · Dev & Infrastructure

Good fit if

  • Product and engineering teams adding email, in-app, push, SMS and chat notifications.

Skip if

  • you only send through one email provider and do not want a workflow layer. Look at Postmark.

Use cases

  • Add an in-app notification feed to your React app

    Free plan (10,000 messages a month)

    Product engineers who want a bell-icon inbox without building one. 1) Create a workflow in the Knock dashboard with an in-app feed channel step. 2) Install the React SDK and render the NotificationFeed component for the signed-in user. 3) Trigger the workflow from your backend when something happens (e.g. a comment).

    Source: docs.knock.app/getting-started/quick-star…

  • Send one digest email instead of twenty notifications

    Free plan

    Teams whose users complain about notification spam. 1) Add a Batch step to your workflow so events collect over a time window. 2) Follow it with an email step whose template loops over the batched items. 3) For a daily or weekly digest, trigger the workflow on a schedule.

    Source: docs.knock.app/tutorials/building-recurri…

  • Let users choose which notifications they get

    Free plan

    SaaS teams that need opt-outs per category and channel. 1) Define workflow categories and channel types in Knock. 2) Use the hosted preference centre via a signed link, or build one with the SDK's preference methods. 3) Knock checks each user's preferences before sending.

    Sources: docs.knock.app/preferences/hosted-prefere…, docs.knock.app/in-app-ui/react/preferences

Watch-outs

  • The free plan includes 10,000 messages a month. Past that, Knock contacts you about billing and keeps delivery running. Starter is $250 a month plus usage after the included amounts. You still pay the providers that deliver email, SMS and chat. Free and Starter list a monthly price only.

    Source: knock.app/pricing · checked

At a glance

Pricing

Knock plans with monthly price, annual price, and what each plan includes (USD)
FreeMonthlyFreeAnnual—What's included10,000 messages, 500 guide recipients and 500 agent credits a month. No card.
Starterper month + usageMonthly$250Annual—What's included50,000 messages then $0.005 each; 2,500 guide recipients then $0.05; 2,000 agent credits then $0.01.
EnterpriseMonthlyCustomAnnual—What's includedAnnual agreements, volume pricing, SAML SSO, SCIM, SLAs and a HIPAA BAA.

Pricing checked on · Knock pricing page

Trust & security

AI & integrations

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Some links are affiliate links: we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects our verdicts.

FAQs

Knock or Postmark: do I need a notification platform?

Postmark is a transactional email delivery service. Knock sits above providers like it and runs email, in-app, push, SMS and chat from one workflow, with batching and user preferences, and you still pay those providers separately.

Sources: postmarkapp.com, knock.app/pricing, workstak.co/tools/knock, workstak.co/tools/postmark

How much does Knock cost?

Free covers 10,000 messages a month with no card. Starter is $250 a month including 50,000 messages, then $0.005 per message, and Enterprise is custom with annual agreements.

Source: knock.app/pricing

Do I still pay my email and SMS providers if I use Knock?

Yes. Knock does not handle billing for downstream providers like Postmark or Twilio, so those costs sit on top of your Knock bill.

Source: knock.app/pricing

What happens if I go over Knock's free plan limit?

Knock does not hard-cap messages, so delivery keeps running. It contacts you about adding a billing method for the next month instead.

Source: knock.app/pricing

How does Knock count billable messages?

One message is one delivery to one user on one channel, so an in-app message plus an email is two. Messages that bounce or fail, and triggers that send nothing because of user preferences, are not billed.

Source: knock.app/pricing

Ready to try Knock?

Ship email, in-app, push, SMS and Slack notifications from one workflow instead of building it yourself. Free up to 10,000 messages a month.

Try Knock free

Some links are affiliate links: we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never affects our verdicts.

Alternatives to Knock

  • Postmark logo

    Postmark: Postmark sends transactional email. Knock runs email, in-app, push, SMS and chat from one workflow.

  • Novu: Novu is an open-source notification API. Knock is hosted, with batching, preferences and in-app guides.

  • Courier: Courier is another cross-channel notification API. Knock adds in-app guides and multi-tenant preferences.

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