PushEngage Alternative: Self-Hosted Push Notifications for WordPress

PushEngage has built a reputation as a feature-rich push notification platform. It offers drip campaigns, A/B testing, segmentation, and a WordPress plugin. For marketing teams with budget to spare, it can be a capable tool.

But for the majority of WordPress site owners — bloggers, publishers, small eCommerce stores, membership sites — PushEngage's pricing structure and approach create real friction. A free tier capped at 500 subscribers. Plans that jump to $99/month or more as your audience grows. Your subscriber data stored on PushEngage's servers, not yours.

If you've been looking for a PushEngage alternative that gives you more subscribers for free, keeps your data self-hosted, and doesn't charge a premium for basic features, this guide is for you.

Where PushEngage Falls Short for WordPress Sites

PushEngage is a capable platform. But "capable" doesn't mean "right for WordPress." Let's look at the specific issues that push WordPress users to seek alternatives.

The free tier is barely usable

PushEngage's free plan caps you at 500 subscribers. Five hundred. For context, a modestly popular WordPress blog can generate 500 push subscribers within a couple of weeks.

Once you hit that limit, new visitors can't subscribe until you upgrade. That means you're paying from almost the moment you start seeing traction — before you've had a chance to evaluate whether push notifications are working for your site.

The free plan also restricts features. Certain campaign types, advanced segmentation, and automation triggers are locked behind paid tiers. So not only is the subscriber limit restrictive, the feature set is, too.

Compare this to solutions that offer 10,000 or even 20,000 free subscribers with full feature access, and PushEngage's free tier feels like a demo, not a real starting point.

Pricing escalates fast

PushEngage's paid plans are among the most expensive in the push notification space. Here's a rough breakdown:

• Business plan: Starts around $9/month for 2,500 subscribers, but quickly rises as you scale. At 10,000 subscribers, expect to pay $29-$49/month or more depending on the plan.
• Premium plan: For 25,000-50,000 subscribers with advanced features (A/B testing, goal tracking), pricing reaches $99/month or higher.
• Growth plan: For larger lists, pricing can reach $199-$299/month, putting it in the same ballpark as full-featured email marketing platforms.

For a WordPress blog or small eCommerce store, spending $99/month on push notifications alone is hard to justify — especially when the core functionality (sending a notification to subscribers) is relatively simple. You're largely paying for PushEngage's infrastructure and margin, not for features you can't get elsewhere.

The per-subscriber pricing also means your costs grow linearly with your success. Every new subscriber increases your bill. That's the opposite of how WordPress site owners think about tools — they expect a plugin to cost a fixed amount, not scale with usage like a utility.

Your data lives on PushEngage's servers

Every push subscriber, campaign, and analytics event is stored on PushEngage's infrastructure. You don't have direct database access to your subscriber list. You can't export it in a meaningful way (push tokens are service-specific). And if you cancel your account, that data is gone.

This creates familiar problems:

• Vendor lock-in. Your subscriber list is tied to PushEngage. Switching services means rebuilding your audience from scratch.
• Privacy compliance complexity. For GDPR, you need a data processing agreement with PushEngage, and you're relying on their infrastructure to handle your EU visitors' data correctly.
• Platform risk. If PushEngage changes pricing, terms, or discontinues features, you have no leverage. Your audience is held on their platform.

WordPress was built on the principle that you own your content and data. Using PushEngage means making an exception to that principle for one of your most valuable marketing assets — your subscriber list.

Feature bloat adds complexity

PushEngage offers a lot: drip campaigns, cart abandonment notifications, dynamic segmentation, A/B testing, goal tracking, triggered notifications, and more. On paper, it sounds impressive.

In practice, most WordPress site owners use a fraction of these features. They want to send a notification when they publish a new post, occasionally run a promotional campaign, and see basic analytics. That's it.

But PushEngage's dashboard is designed around the full feature set. Navigation is cluttered. Setup involves multiple configuration steps for features you may never use. And because advanced features are upsell levers, the interface constantly nudges you toward higher-tier plans.

Simplicity has value. A tool that does the essentials well — and doesn't bury them under enterprise complexity — is often the better choice for WordPress sites.

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What Makes a Good PushEngage Alternative?

Based on the pain points above, here's what WordPress site owners should look for:

• Generous free tier. At least 10,000-20,000 free subscribers so you have room to grow before paying.
• Flat, affordable pricing. Plans based on subscriber tiers, not per-subscriber charges. All features available at every level.
• Self-hosted data. Subscriber tokens stored in your own WordPress database, not on a third-party server.
• WordPress-native. A real WordPress plugin with in-admin campaign management — not a bridge to an external dashboard.
• Simplicity. Core features (campaigns, scheduling, segmentation, analytics) without enterprise complexity you don't need.

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EasyPusher: The Self-Hosted Alternative to PushEngage

EasyPusher is a WordPress push notification plugin built from the ground up for site owners who want power without complexity and ownership without compromise.

20,000 free subscribers — 40x PushEngage's free tier

Where PushEngage caps its free plan at 500 subscribers, EasyPusher gives you 20,000. That's not a typo. Twenty thousand subscribers, with full access to every feature: unlimited campaigns, segmentation, scheduling, and analytics.

For most WordPress sites, 20,000 subscribers represents months or even years of growth. You can build a substantial push notification strategy, prove its value, and grow your audience — all without spending a cent.

And when you do outgrow the free tier, paid plans start at $4.99/month for 50,000 subscribers. Compare that to PushEngage's $99+/month for similar volume.

Flat pricing that doesn't punish growth

EasyPusher's pricing is built on a simple principle: the only thing that changes between plans is your subscriber limit. Every plan includes every feature.

• Free: Up to 20,000 subscribers — all features included
• Pro ($4.99/mo): Up to 50,000 subscribers
• Business ($9.99/mo): Up to 100,000 subscribers
• Agency ($19.99/mo): Unlimited subscribers

At PushEngage's pricing, reaching 100,000 subscribers could cost you $199/month or more. With EasyPusher, it's $9.99/month. That's a 95% cost reduction — and you get full data ownership on top.

100% self-hosted — your data stays in your database

Every subscriber token, every campaign record, every analytics event is stored in your WordPress database. Not on EasyPusher's servers. Not in a third-party cloud. Your hosting, your database, your control.

This approach offers concrete benefits:

• No vendor lock-in. Your subscriber data belongs to you. Deactivate the plugin and it stays in your database.
• Simplified GDPR compliance. Your data, your server, your responsibility. No third-party data processing agreements to negotiate.
• No platform risk. Your push notification infrastructure runs on your WordPress install. It doesn't depend on an external company's uptime or business decisions.
• Portability. Migrate hosts, clone your site, or set up staging environments — your subscriber data comes with you.

WordPress-native from installation to analytics

EasyPusher is installed from the WordPress plugin directory in one click. There's no external account to create, no API keys to configure, no separate dashboard to learn.

Everything lives inside your WordPress admin:

• Create and schedule push campaigns
• Configure your opt-in prompt appearance and timing
• Segment subscribers based on behavior and WordPress data
• View delivery, click, and subscriber analytics

If you're used to managing your site from WordPress, EasyPusher feels like a natural extension — not a foreign tool bolted on.

Zero impact on site performance

EasyPusher's front-end script loads asynchronously and registers a minimal service worker. It has no measurable effect on your Core Web Vitals, page load time, or Lighthouse scores. Your visitors' experience stays exactly the same.

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PushEngage vs EasyPusher: Full Comparison

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Who Should Switch from PushEngage to EasyPusher?

EasyPusher is the right alternative if you:

• Hit PushEngage's 500 subscriber limit and don't want to pay $29+/month just to keep growing
• Run a WordPress site and want push notifications that integrate natively with your admin workflow
• Want data ownership without your subscriber list sitting on someone else's servers
• Need predictable costs — especially if you're growing quickly and PushEngage's per-subscriber pricing is becoming expensive
• Value simplicity over feature bloat — you want campaigns, scheduling, segmentation, and analytics without the enterprise overhead
• Care about GDPR compliance and want to simplify your data processing obligations by keeping everything self-hosted

When PushEngage might still be the right choice

To give PushEngage credit where it's due:

• If you need advanced automation workflows like triggered sequences based on page visits, time on site, or complex behavioral rules, PushEngage's automation engine is more mature.
• If you operate a large eCommerce store with dedicated marketing team and budget, PushEngage's cart abandonment and revenue tracking features are well-developed.
• If you need non-WordPress support (Shopify, custom web apps), PushEngage works across platforms.

But for the typical WordPress site owner who needs reliable push notifications without the complexity and cost, EasyPusher delivers more value at a fraction of the price.

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How to Switch from PushEngage to EasyPusher

Like all push notification migrations, switching from PushEngage to EasyPusher means rebuilding your subscriber list. Push tokens are tied to the service that generated them — this is a Web Push Protocol constraint, not a limitation of any specific tool.

Here's the migration process:

• Step 1: Install and activate EasyPusher on your WordPress site.
• Step 2: Configure your opt-in prompt. EasyPusher's default prompt is designed for high conversion — most sites see opt-in rates between 5-15%.
• Step 3: Deactivate the PushEngage plugin. New and returning visitors will now see EasyPusher's opt-in prompt.
• Step 4: Existing PushEngage subscribers will be prompted to re-subscribe on their next visit. Since the opt-in is just one click, most will re-subscribe without friction.

Given EasyPusher's 20,000-subscriber free tier, you have an enormous runway to rebuild. Most sites recover their PushEngage subscriber count within weeks — and then keep growing without hitting a paywall.

The Bottom Line

PushEngage is a feature-rich platform with a price tag to match. For most WordPress site owners, it's more tool — and more cost — than they need.

EasyPusher offers a fundamentally different proposition: self-hosted push notifications with all features included, 20,000 free subscribers, and flat pricing that starts at $4.99/month. You get data ownership, WordPress-native simplicity, and costs that are 90-95% lower at scale.

If push notifications are part of your growth strategy, there's no reason to overpay. Start free with EasyPusher — 20,000 subscribers, every feature, no credit card.