Pricing Example

Practical example of how PowerSync pricing is calculated.

Chat app example

Use this real-world example of a basic chat app to gauge your PowerSync usage and costs. This is not an exact estimate, but it can help you better understand how your PowerSync usage would be billed.

This use case has the peculiarity that all data is user-generated and necessarily shared with other users (in the form of messages). More typical use cases might sync the same server-side data with many different users and have less user-generated data to sync.

Overview: Costs by usage

To illustrate typical costs, consider an example chat app, where users can initiate chats with other users. Users can see their active chats in a list, read messages, and send messages.

For this app, all messages are stored on a backend database like Postgres. PowerSync is used as a sync layer to make sure users see new messages in real-time, and can access or create messages even when their devices are offline.

Assumptions

Userbase assumptions:

• Daily Active Users (DAUs) are 10% of total app installations. These are the users that actively open and use your app on a given day, which is typically a small subset of your total app installations. For the calculations below, we estimated DAUs as 10% of the total number of app installations. We use this assumption as an input to calculate the total number of messages sent and received every day.

• Peak concurrent connections are 10% of DAUs. This is the maximum number of users actively using your app at exactly the same time as other users, which is typically a small subset of your Daily Active Users. For the calculations below, we estimated peak concurrent connections as 10% of the total number of app installations.

Data size, transfer and storage assumptions:

• Messages are 0.25 KB in size on average. 1KB can store around half a page’s worth of text. We assume the average message size on this app will be a quarter of that.

• DAUs send and receive a combined total of 100 messages per day, generating 100 rows in the messages table each day.

• Message data is only stored on local databases for three months. Using PowerSync’s sync rules, only messages sent and received in the last 3 months are stored in the local database embedded within a user’s app.

• No attachments synced through PowerSync. Attachments like files or photos are not synced through PowerSync.

• One PowerSync instance. The backend database connects to a single PowerSync instance. A more typical setup may use 2 PowerSync instances: one for syncing from the staging database and one for the production database. Since staging data volumes are often negligible we’ve ignored that in this example.

Table of Assumptions

DAUs as % of all installs	10%
Peak concurrent connections as % of DAUs	10%
Messages sent and received per day per DAU	100
Message average size	0.25 KB
Messages kept on local database for	3 months (90 days)

Small (50K installs)

For 50,000 app installs (5,000 Daily Active Users): $56/month

Data Processing
Data replicated from Postgres to PowerSync service / month 100 messages / day * 5,000 DAUs * 0.25 KB * 30 = 3.75 GB / month Data replicated from PowerSync service to app / month 100 messages / day * 5,000 DAUs * 0.25 KB * 30 = 3.75 GB / month Total data processing costs / month Usage: 3.75 GB + 3.75 GB = 7.5 GB Less included usage: (30 GB) Cost for additional usage: $0 Total usage costs $0

Sync operations
Total sync operations / month 100 messages / day * 5,000 DAUs * 30 = 15,000,000 sync operations / month Total sync operation costs /month Usage: 15,000,000 Less included usage: (10,000,000) Cost for additional usage: 5,000,000 * $1/1,000,000 Total usage costs $5 / month

Replicated data cached on PowerSync service
Total size of replicated data to be cached and synced 100 messages / day * 5,000 DAUs * 0.25 KB * 90 days = 11.25 GB Total replicated data caching costs / month Usage: 11.25 GB Less included usage: (10 GB) Cost for additional usage: 2 GB * $1 / GB Total usage costs $2 / month

Peak concurrent connections
Total number of peak concurrent connections 5,000 DAUs * 10% = 500 peak concurrent connections Total peak concurrent connections costs / month Usage: 500 Less included usage: (1,000) Cost for additional usage: $0 Total usage costs $0 / month

Total monthly costs
Pro Plan $49 / month Data processing $ 0 / month Sync operations $ 5 / month Replicated data caching $ 2 / month Peak concurrent connections $ 0 / month Total monthly costs $56 / month

Medium (1M installs)

For 1,000,000 app installs (100,000 Daily Active Users): $707/month

Data Processing

Data replicated from Postgres to sync service / month 100 messages / day * 100,000 DAUs * 0.25 KB * 30 = 75 GB / month Data replicated from sync service to app / month 100 messages / day * 100,000 DAUs * 0.25 KB * 30 = 75 GB / month Total data processing costs / month Usage: 75 GB + 75 GB = 150 GB Less included usage: (30 GB) Cost for additional usage: 120 GB * $0.15 / GB Total usage costs $18 / month

Sync operations
Total sync operations / month 100 messages / day * 100,000 DAUs * 30 = 300,000,000 sync operations / month Total sync operation costs /month Usage: 300,000,000 Less included usage: (10,000,000) Cost for additional usage: 290,000,000 * $1/1,000,000 Total usage costs $290 / month

Replicated data cached on sync service
Total size of replicated data to be cached and synced 100 messages / day * 100,000 DAUs * 0.25 KB * 90 days = 225 GB Total replicated data caching costs / month Usage: 225 GB Less included usage: (10 GB) Cost for additional usage: 215 GB * $1 / GB Total usage costs $215 / month

Peak concurrent connections
Total number of peak concurrent connections 100,000 DAUs * 10% = 10,000 peak concurrent connections Total peak concurrent connections costs / month Usage: 10,000 Less included usage: (1,000) Cost for additional usage: 9,000 * $15 / 1,000 Total usage costs $135 / month

Total monthly costs
Pro Plan $ 49 / month Data processing $ 18 / month Sync operations $290 / month Replicated data caching $215 / month Peak concurrent connections $135 / month Total monthly costs $707 / month

Large (10M installs)

For 10,000,000 app installs (1,000,000 Daily Active Users): $6,984.50/month

Data Processing

Data replicated from Postgres to sync service / month 100 messages / day * 1,000,000 DAUs * 0.25 KB * 30 = 750 GB / month Data replicated from sync service to app / month 100 messages / day * 1,000,000 DAUs * 0.25 KB * 30 = 750 GB / month Total data processing costs / month Usage: 750 GB + 750 GB = 1,500 GB Less included usage: (30 GB) Cost for additional usage: 1,470 GB * $0.15 / GB Total usage costs $220.50 / month

Sync operations
Total sync operations / month 100 messages / day * 1,000,000 DAUs * 30 = 3,000,000,000 sync operations / month Total sync operation costs /month Usage: 3,000,000,000 Less included usage: (10,000,000) Cost for additional usage: 2,990,000,000 * $1/1,000,000 Total usage costs $2,990 / month

Replicated data cached on sync service
Total size of replicated data to be cached and synced 100 messages / day * 1,000,000 DAUs * 0.25 KB * 90 days = 2,250 GB Total replicated data caching costs / month Usage: 2,250 GB Less included usage: (10 GB) Cost for additional usage: 2,240 GB * $1 / GB Total usage costs $2,240 / month

Peak concurrent connections
Total number of peak concurrent connections 1,000,000 DAUs * 10% = 100,000 peak concurrent connections Total peak concurrent connections costs / month Usage: 100,000 Less included usage: (1,000) Cost for additional usage: 99,000 * $15 / 1,000 Total usage costs $1,485 / month

Total monthly costs
Pro Plan $ 49.00 / month Data processing $ 22.50 / month Sync operations $2,990,00 / month Replicated data caching $2,240.00 / month Peak concurrent connections $1,485.00 / month Total monthly costs $6,984.50 / month