What is CometChat?

CometChat provides the infrastructure for adding real-time communication to any application. Instead of building chat, voice, and video calling from scratch—a massive engineering undertaking—developers integrate CometChat's SDKs and APIs to add these features in days rather than months.

The platform handles the complex backend requirements: message delivery, presence detection, push notifications, media handling, and scaling to millions of users. Developers focus on their core product while CometChat manages the communication layer.

Key Features

Text Messaging

Real-time text chat with support for one-on-one conversations, group chats, and broadcast channels. Features include message threading, reactions, read receipts, typing indicators, and message editing/deletion. Rich media support handles images, videos, files, and custom message types.

Voice & Video Calling

Integrate voice and video calls directly within your application. Support for one-on-one calls and group conferences with features like screen sharing, recording, and virtual backgrounds. WebRTC-based calling works across web and mobile platforms.

Pre-Built UI Kits

CometChat provides ready-to-use UI components for React, React Native, iOS, Android, Angular, Vue, and Flutter. These customizable components accelerate development—drop in a chat interface, style it to match your brand, and focus on unique features.

Moderation Tools

Built-in moderation handles the challenges of user-generated communication. Profanity filters, user blocking, message reporting, and admin controls protect community safety. AI-powered moderation can automatically flag problematic content.

Push Notifications

Keep users engaged with push notifications for new messages and calls. Integration with Firebase Cloud Messaging and Apple Push Notification service ensures reliable delivery across platforms.

Webhooks & Extensions

Webhooks notify your backend about chat events for custom processing. Extensions add functionality like translations, sentiment analysis, and data enrichment. Build custom workflows triggered by communication events.

Pricing

CometChat offers a free tier with 1,000 monthly active users—useful for development and small applications. The Startup plan at $149/month supports 10,000 MAU with priority support. Growth at $399/month scales to 50,000 MAU with advanced features. Enterprise provides custom pricing for higher volumes with dedicated infrastructure.

Voice and video calling incur additional usage-based charges. The pricing model scales with application growth.

Who Uses CometChat?

Marketplace platforms add buyer-seller messaging to facilitate transactions. Dating apps implement matching conversations and video dates. Healthcare applications enable secure patient-provider communication with HIPAA compliance.

EdTech platforms build student-teacher messaging and virtual classrooms. Gaming companies add in-game chat for community building. Enterprise applications integrate team messaging without relying on external chat tools.

Social networks and community platforms use CometChat as their communication backbone. Any application needing real-time messaging benefits from purpose-built infrastructure rather than custom development.

Integrations

CometChat integrates with authentication providers, analytics platforms, and backend services. Connect with Firebase, Auth0, and custom authentication systems. Push data to analytics tools for engagement tracking. Webhooks enable integration with any backend system.

CometChat vs Alternatives

CometChat vs SendBird

SendBird is CometChat's primary competitor with similar feature sets and pricing models. SendBird offers slightly more mature enterprise features; CometChat provides competitive functionality with responsive support. Both serve the same use cases effectively.

CometChat vs Stream

Stream started with activity feeds and expanded to chat. Stream's feed functionality remains stronger; CometChat focuses purely on communication. Choose based on whether you need social feeds alongside messaging.

CometChat vs Twilio

Twilio provides communication APIs at a lower level of abstraction. More flexibility but more development work. CometChat's pre-built components accelerate shipping; Twilio suits teams wanting complete control.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Comprehensive SDK coverage across platforms
• Pre-built UI kits accelerate development
• Combined chat, voice, and video in one platform
• Strong moderation and safety features
• Generous free tier for development
• Responsive technical support

Cons

• Costs scale with user growth—budget carefully
• UI kits require customization for unique designs
• Voice/video quality depends on user network conditions
• Enterprise features require higher tier plans

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does integration take?

Basic chat integration with UI kits can ship in 1-2 days. Custom implementations with specific requirements take 1-2 weeks. The documentation and sample apps accelerate the learning curve.

Is CometChat HIPAA compliant?

Yes, CometChat offers HIPAA-compliant configurations for healthcare applications. This requires enterprise plans with additional security measures and Business Associate Agreements.

Can I customize the UI completely?

UI kits are customizable but maintain certain structural patterns. For completely unique designs, use the underlying SDK directly and build custom interfaces—more work but complete control.

How does pricing work at scale?

Monthly Active Users (MAU) drive core pricing. Voice and video minutes incur usage charges. Contact sales for high-volume applications to negotiate custom pricing that fits your business model.

Final Verdict

CometChat solves a hard problem well: adding real-time communication to applications without building infrastructure from scratch. The combination of chat, voice, and video in one platform simplifies integration compared to stitching together multiple services.

For development teams needing in-app messaging, CometChat offers a mature solution with comprehensive SDKs, helpful UI kits, and predictable pricing. The free tier allows thorough testing before committing resources to integration.

Rating: 4.4/5