The parts of the cost
Most quotes for offline messaging cover only one line of the bill. A fair comparison adds up all of them.
- License. Permissive open-source code, such as Apache-2.0 or MIT, asks very little. Copyleft licenses such as the AGPL let you use the code free but require you to share your app’s source under the same terms. Commercial licenses replace those obligations with a contract and a fee.
- Usage fees. Some SDKs charge per monthly active user (MAU) or per message. Usage pricing is easy to start with, but the bill grows with adoption.
- Servers and relays. Messages between devices in range can travel over a local link with no server. Messages between people far apart need an internet path, which means running your own relay server or paying for a hosted one.
- Engineering and testing. Discovery, reconnection, background behaviour, permissions, encryption and retries all take work, and radio behaviour has to be tested on real phones. Lower-level libraries move more of that work to you.
- Distribution. To publish on Apple’s App Store you need an Apple Developer Program membership, and the library’s license has to allow the way you distribute. Copyleft terms such as the AGPL’s can rule out closed-source and App Store distribution unless a commercial license is available.
Free platform libraries
The phone platforms include peer-to-peer libraries with no license fee or usage charge.
Nearby Connections lets apps discover, connect to and exchange data with nearby devices, even without internet access. Google publishes its source on GitHub under the Apache License 2.0. Multipeer Connectivity is Apple’s framework for discovering and talking to nearby devices, using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth on iOS. It works only between Apple devices, and Apple’s technote TN3213 says Xcode 27 deprecates it in favour of the Network framework.
What these cost is engineering time. They link devices that are in range of each other. Relaying across several devices, keeping messages for people who are away, and encrypting content end to end are left to you.
Per-user pricing
Some offline messaging SDKs charge by MAU. Bridgefy’s pricing FAQ defines a MAU as a unique user who has interacted with your app through the Bridgefy SDK in a 30-day period, and says users who never touch the offline features do not count. According to the same FAQ, Starter plans have a limit of 200 MAU that renews every 30 days, and Pro plans also have a limit, where going over does not stop the SDK but triggers an Extra User fee. Check the current prices on that page before comparing.
For teams with large or seasonal audiences, the question is what happens when the feature is used most, such as during an outage or a crowded event. Bridgefy alternatives without per-user (MAU) fees compares options without that meter.
What Offline Protocol costs
Offline Protocol separates the mesh SDK’s license from its hosted services. The mesh SDK is free under AGPL-3.0-only, including in production, when your product meets the license’s obligations, such as offering your users the corresponding source. Closed-source apps, apps distributed through the Apple App Store and closed-source firmware need the commercial license, because they cannot meet the AGPL obligations. It is annual and has no published price.
Local peer-to-peer traffic, such as messages over Bluetooth LE, is never metered on any plan. The hosted services are metered, including hosted relay deliveries for messages that travel through the internet relay when no local path exists. Each device that uses the hosted relay authenticates with its user’s OfflineID session, and OfflineID is billed by monthly active users, each end user who signs in at least once in the calendar month.
| Plan | Price | OfflineID MAU a month | Hosted relay deliveries a month |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free | $0 | 1,000 | 10,000 |
| Pro | $99 a month | 10,000 | 100,000 |
| Scale | $499 a month | 50,000 | 1M |
| Enterprise | Annual | Contracted | Contracted |
Usage beyond a quota costs $0.02 per MAU and $0.50 per 1,000 relay deliveries, and you can set a billing limit on any meter. A Free organization without a card stops at its quota: the first meter to reach it pauses all of the organization’s metered hosted services until it adds a card or picks a paid plan, or until the next billing period starts. Local mesh traffic is never metered or paused.
So which option is cheapest?
It depends on what you would otherwise pay for.
- All Apple devices, direct links only. Multipeer Connectivity has no fee; the cost is engineering.
- Direct links across Android and iOS. Nearby Connections has no fee; you build relaying and message storage yourself.
- A multi-hop mesh in an open-source app. An AGPL SDK can cost nothing in fees if you meet the license.
- A closed-source or App Store app. Compare a commercial license quote, per-user pricing at your expected MAU, and the engineering cost of building on a free library.
Whichever you choose, estimate how many people use the offline feature each month, how many messages must cross the internet rather than a local link, and which license your distribution needs. Then read each vendor’s pricing page on the day you decide, since prices and terms change.