Head to head
Amazon SNS vs OneSignal
As a push notification API, OneSignal rates higher on the APIbenchmarks Index, 86.4 to 84.1, a 2.3-point gap. Here is how they compare on each criterion.
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Amazon SNS | OneSignal |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DX | ||
| Reliability | ||
| Ecosystem & SDKs | ||
| Accessibility | ||
| APIbenchmarks Index | 84.1 | 86.4 |
Specifications
| Amazon SNS | OneSignal | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Hyperscale pub/sub + mobile push | Self-serve push + omnichannel engagement |
| Free tier | 1M mobile push/mo free | Unlimited mobile push + 10k web subs |
| Pricing | Per million ($0.50/M push) | MAU-based ($0.012/MAU) |
| Official SDKs | 11 languages | 12 languages |
Is Amazon SNS better than OneSignal?
On the APIbenchmarks Index, OneSignal rates higher (86.4 vs 84.1). It leads on the four weighted criteria, but price is reported separately, so the best choice still depends on your budget.
Verdict in one line
OneSignal leads by 2.3 points (86.4 vs 84.1) and wins 2 of 4 criteria; Amazon SNS wins 2.
Winner by criterion
| Criterion |  Amazon SNS | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DX | 78 | 84 | |
| Reliability | 95 | 85 | Amazon SNS |
| Ecosystem & SDKs | 90 | 86 | Amazon SNS |
| Accessibility | 72 | 92 |
Choose Amazon SNS if… / choose OneSignal if…
Choose Amazon SNS if- →reliability matters most to you (95 vs 85)
- →ecosystem & sdks matters most to you (90 vs 86)
- →your use case matches its focus: hyperscale pub/sub + mobile push
- →documentation & dx matters most to you (84 vs 78)
- →accessibility matters most to you (92 vs 72)
- →you need broad SDK coverage (12 official SDKs vs 11)
- →your use case matches its focus: self-serve push + omnichannel engagement
Pricing side by side
Amazon SNS- Model
- Per million ($0.50/M push)
- Free tier
- 1M mobile push/mo free
- Free Tier (permanent)$0
- Mobile Push Notifications$0.50 / 1M
- API Requests (Standard topics)$0.50 / 1M
- HTTP/HTTPS Deliveries$0.60 / 1M
- Email/Email-JSON$2.00 / 100,000
- SMS (US)$0.0025 / message
- Model
- MAU-based ($0.012/MAU)
- Free tier
- Unlimited mobile push + 10k web subs
- Free$0/mo
- GrowthFrom $19/mo + usage
- ProfessionalCustom (annual)
- EnterpriseCustom (annual)
Vendor-published pricing, verified 2026-06-27 (Amazon SNS) and 2026-06-27 (OneSignal).
SDK and language coverage
Both · 0
None
Only Amazon SNS · 11
AWS SDK for Java (v1 & v2)AWS SDK for Python (Boto3)AWS SDK for JavaScript / Node.jsAWS SDK for .NETAWS SDK for GoAWS SDK for RubyAWS SDK for PHPAWS SDK for C++AWS SDK for KotlinAWS SDK for RustAWS CLI
Only OneSignal · 12
iOS (Swift/Objective-C)Android (Kotlin/Java)React NativeFlutterExpoUnityCordova / Ionic CordovaCapacitor / Ionic Capacitor.NET MAUIHuaweiAmazonFlutterFlow
Strengths and weaknesses
Amazon SNS- +Very low cost: mobile push at $0.50 per million with a permanent 1M/month free tier, cheaper than most dedicated push vendors
- +Deep native integration with the AWS stack (Lambda, SQS, CloudWatch, IAM, Kinesis Firehose, EventBridge)
- +Massive fanout scale: up to 12.5M subscriptions per topic and 100,000 topics per account
- –No message persistence or history, you cannot inspect, store, or replay sent notifications
- –No built-in analytics, audience segmentation, A/B testing, scheduling, or rich notification UI (AWS steers you to Pinpoint for these)
- –Hard throughput (messages/second) and 256KB message-size limits
- +Genuinely generous free tier: unlimited mobile push sends and subscribers, enough segmentation to run real campaigns without paying
- +Very broad SDK coverage (iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter, Expo, Unity, Cordova/Ionic, Capacitor, .NET MAUI, Huawei, Amazon, FlutterFlow)
- +Clean, readable REST API and documentation; reviewers cite ~20-minute first integration
- –Support is the most common complaint, slow, templated, or doc-link responses, especially on free/lower tiers
- –Per-MAU pricing 'scales weirdly' and can get expensive as audience grows even without more sends
- –Analytics are shallower than dedicated marketing suites; attribution gets murky across concurrent campaigns
Amazon SNS vs OneSignal: questions
- Which has better documentation, Amazon SNS or OneSignal?
- OneSignal scores higher on documentation and developer experience: 84 vs 78 out of 100.
- Which is more reliable, Amazon SNS or OneSignal?
- Amazon SNS scores higher on reliability: 95 vs 85 out of 100.
- Do Amazon SNS and OneSignal have a free tier?
- Amazon SNS: yes (1M mobile push/mo free). OneSignal: yes (Unlimited mobile push + 10k web subs).
- How are Amazon SNS and OneSignal priced?
- Amazon SNS: Per million ($0.50/M push). OneSignal: MAU-based ($0.012/MAU).
- Which has more official SDKs?
- OneSignal lists 12 official SDKs, Amazon SNS lists 11.