WordPress Push Notification Plugins: 5 Worth Installing
OneSignal is the WordPress push notification plugin most sites should install. Its free plan covers up to 10,000 web push subscribers per send, it is the most widely installed push connector in the WordPress directory with more than 60,000 active installations, and it runs the delivery service for you, so there is no push server, no VAPID key handling and no service worker to maintain on your own hosting.
The thing nobody tells you first is that browser push is not a WordPress feature. A notification has to be handed to Google, Mozilla or Apple’s push service and delivered from there, which means every plugin on this page is either a connector to a hosted service you have an account with, or a self-hosted sender that turns your own server into that middleman. Which of the two you pick decides your monthly bill, where your subscriber list lives, and how much breaks when your host tightens cron.
How do these push notification plugins compare?
| Plugin | Price and free tier | Active installs | Rating | Hosted or self-hosted | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OneSignal | Free for up to 10,000 subscribers per send; Growth from $19/mo | 60,000+ | 4.3 (360 ratings) | Hosted service, connector plugin | Blogs and publishers sending on publish |
| PushAlert | Free for 3,000 subscribers with unlimited sends; Basic $10/mo billed yearly | 1,000+ | 4.6 (8 ratings) | Hosted service, connector plugin | Sites that want room to grow before paying |
| PushEngage | Free for 200 subscribers and 30 campaigns a month; Business from $8/mo billed yearly | 9,000+ | 4.2 (34 ratings) | Hosted service, connector plugin | WooCommerce stores chasing abandoned carts |
| Perfecty Push Notifications | Free, with no paid tier and no subscriber cap | 4,000+ | 4.6 (42 ratings) | Self-hosted on your own server | Sites that cannot send subscriber data offsite |
| Push Notifications for WP | Free; iOS support requires the paid Pro version | 6,000+ | 4.2 (5 ratings) | Self-hosted on your own server | Small sites that want no external account |
Prices checked September 2026.
Which push plugin should most WordPress sites install?
OneSignal, at version 3.9.3 and tested up to WordPress 7.1, is the default for a reason. It has 60,000+ active installations, more than every other plugin on this page put together, and it does the unglamorous work: browser permission prompts, subscriber storage, segmentation, scheduling and delivery reporting, all on OneSignal’s infrastructure.
The free plan carries up to 10,000 subscribers per send for web push, which is a genuinely large list before you have to pay anything. The paid Growth plan starts at $19 a month.
The distinguishing capability is the automatic send on publish. Point the plugin at your post types and every new article goes out as a notification without you opening a dashboard, which is the entire use case for most publishers.
The honest limitation shows in the ratings. OneSignal sits at 4.3 out of 5, but 50 of its 360 ratings are one star, a much heavier tail than its rivals. Read a few before you commit, because the complaints cluster around plan changes and support response rather than the plugin itself.
Which free plan lets you grow furthest before paying?
PushAlert has the most generous free tier here: 3,000 subscribers, described on their pricing page as lifetime free, with unlimited notifications. The paid Basic plan is $12 a month, or $10 a month billed annually.
The plugin is at version 2.9.0 and tested to WordPress 7.0.2. It suits a growing site that wants to send as often as it likes without watching a campaign counter, and it has specific WooCommerce support for price-drop and back-in-stock alerts alongside the usual new-post notification.
The distinguishing capability is that unlimited send allowance on a free plan. Most services cap either your list or your monthly campaigns; PushAlert caps only the list.
The honest limitation is scale of evidence. The WordPress plugin has 1,000+ active installations and 8 ratings, so you are judging the service on its own merits rather than on a deep pool of WordPress user experience.
Which plugin is best for a WooCommerce store?
PushEngage, version 4.2.9 and tested to WordPress 7.1, is built around commerce rather than publishing. It has 9,000+ active installations and a 4.2 rating from 34 buyers.
Its paid plans add cart abandonment recovery, browse abandonment, price drop alerts and A/B testing, which is a different job from telling readers a post went live. The Business plan starts at $8 a month billed annually, or $14 month to month.
The distinguishing capability is the automation library. Rather than sending one broadcast, you set a trigger and the service handles the follow-up sequence, which is how push actually recovers revenue on a shop.
The honest limitation is the free plan, which stops at 200 subscribers and 30 campaigns a month. That is a trial rather than a tier, and any store with real traffic will pass it inside a fortnight.
Can you send push notifications without a third-party service?
Yes, and Perfecty Push Notifications is the way to do it. It is free, open source, at version 1.6.5 with 4,000+ active installations and a 4.6 rating from 42 users, and it needs no API key and no account anywhere. Notifications are sent directly from your server.
It suits anyone who cannot hand a subscriber list to a third party, whether for policy reasons or because a data protection review said no. There is no subscriber cap because there is no plan to sit under.
The distinguishing capability is ownership. Your subscriber records live in your own database, and nothing about your audience is visible to a vendor who might change their pricing next quarter.
The honest limitations are two, and they are real. Perfecty states plainly that iOS and Safari are not supported, so you lose every Apple user. And because sending runs through WordPress cron jobs, delivery is only as reliable as your host’s cron, which on cheap shared hosting is not very. It is also tested only to WordPress 6.8.8, behind the others here.
Perfecty Push Notifications on WordPress.org
What if you want self-hosted push that covers Safari?
Push Notifications for WP by Magazine3 takes the same self-hosted approach as Perfecty but reaches further across browsers. It is at version 1.51 with 6,000+ active installations, tested to WordPress 7.0.4, and the free version sends automatic, custom and scheduled notifications from your own server at no cost.
It works with Chrome on desktop and Android, Safari on macOS, Edge, Opera and Firefox, on HTTPS sites.
The distinguishing capability against Perfecty is that macOS Safari coverage, which matters more than people expect on a design, food or travel audience where Mac share runs high.
The honest limitation is that iOS support sits behind the paid Pro version, along with unlimited notifications and segmentation. The plugin also has only 5 ratings, so there is very little independent experience to lean on.
Push Notifications for WP on WordPress.org
Do push notifications work on iPhone and Safari?
On a Mac, yes, Safari handles web push like any other desktop browser. On iPhone and iPad, Apple’s rules are different and they catch people out.
Web push arrived on iOS and iPadOS in version 16.4, and it only works for a site the user has added to their Home Screen. A visitor reading you in Safari cannot subscribe. They have to tap share, add your site to the Home Screen, open it from there, and only then can you ask.
The permission request also has to come from a direct user action. Apple’s requirement is that the prompt appears in response to something like tapping a subscribe button, so the automatic on-load permission popup that works on Chrome is simply ignored on iOS.
In practice this means your iPhone subscriber numbers will be a small fraction of your Android ones, whichever plugin you choose. Plan around it rather than trying to configure your way out of it.
Which push plugins are closed, and what should you run instead?
Three plugins that once ranked well for this search are no longer in the WordPress directory. If one of them is active on your site, replace it.
- Push Monkey Pro is closed as of 8 November 2024. WordPress.org gives the reason as a security issue.
- Push Notifications for WordPress by PushAssist is closed as of 6 November 2024, also for a security issue.
- Push Notifications for WordPress (Lite) is closed as of 8 January 2024, permanently, at the author’s request.
A closed plugin gets no updates and no security fixes, and the first two were pulled precisely because something needed fixing. If you are running any of them, deactivate and delete it, then install OneSignal for a hosted replacement or Perfecty Push Notifications if you want to keep sending from your own server.
So which should you pick?
For most people, install OneSignal. A free ceiling of 10,000 subscribers per send covers years of growth for a normal blog, and the automatic send on publish is the only setting most sites will ever touch.
For the harder case, a site that cannot pass subscriber data to a vendor, use Perfecty Push Notifications. It is free, self-hosted and has no cap, as long as you accept losing Apple users and you trust your host’s cron.
Skip PushEngage unless you run a shop. A 200-subscriber free plan is not a free plan, and the features you would be paying for are cart and browse abandonment, which do nothing for a content site.
Push is one channel among several. If you want the step-by-step setup, we have a walkthrough on adding web push notifications to WordPress. For visitors who never grant push permission, a notification bar reaches them on the page instead, and an email opt-in form still outlasts every browser policy change. If the goal is clicks rather than reach, the call to action plugins roundup is the better place to start.
Frequently asked questions
Are WordPress push notification plugins free?
The plugins are free to install, but most of them connect to a paid service. OneSignal is free for up to 10,000 subscribers per send, PushAlert is free for 3,000 subscribers, and PushEngage is free for only 200. Perfecty Push Notifications is genuinely free with no cap because it sends from your own server rather than a hosted service.
Do I need a service, or can WordPress send push notifications on its own?
WordPress cannot deliver a browser notification by itself. Every notification is passed to the browser vendor’s push service, so a plugin either connects you to a hosted provider like OneSignal or PushAlert, or turns your own server into the sender, as Perfecty Push Notifications and Push Notifications for WP do. Self-hosted sending needs working WordPress cron to deliver on time.
Do web push notifications work on iPhone?
Only for sites the user has added to their Home Screen. Apple added web push in iOS and iPadOS 16.4 for Home Screen web apps, so a visitor browsing in Safari cannot subscribe until they install your site that way. The permission prompt must also be triggered by a direct tap, such as a subscribe button, rather than firing automatically on page load.
Which push notification plugin is safest to install?
Choose one that is still in the WordPress plugin directory and tested against a current WordPress version. Push Monkey Pro was closed on 8 November 2024 and PushAssist on 6 November 2024, both for security issues, so neither receives fixes any more. OneSignal, PushEngage, PushAlert, Perfecty Push Notifications and Push Notifications for WP are all still listed and maintained.
How many push subscribers should I expect?
Subscription rates vary by audience, but the shape is predictable: Android and desktop Chrome will supply most of your list, and iPhone will supply very little because of the Home Screen requirement. Pick a free tier with room to be surprised, then check the numbers after a month before committing to a paid plan.
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