Azure Notification Hub Pricing And Features Scalable Mobile Push Notification Engine

Azure Notification Hubs: Pricing and Features

Azure Notification Hubs is a scalable mobile push notification engine. It sends push notifications to iOS, Android, Windows, Kindle, and Baidu platforms from a single API — without managing separate integrations for each platform's push service. Free tier: 1 million pushes/month and 500 active devices. Paid tiers scale to millions of devices. EPC Group implements Notification Hubs for enterprise mobile apps. 29 years of Microsoft experience.

Key facts

• Supported platforms: Apple (APNs), Google Firebase (FCM), Windows (WNS), Amazon (ADM), Baidu, and Huawei (HMS).
• Free tier: 1 million pushes/month, up to 500 active devices.
• Basic tier: $10/month, 10 million pushes/month, up to 200,000 active devices.
• Standard tier: $25/month, 10 million pushes/month, unlimited active devices, scheduled pushes, and rich telemetry.
• Supports tag-based, template-based, and broadcast targeting.
• EPC Group: 29 years Microsoft consulting, 10,000+ enterprise deployments.

What is Azure Notification Hubs?

Azure Notification Hubs is a managed push notification service. Your backend sends a single API request to Notification Hubs. Notification Hubs handles the rest:

• Routes notifications to the correct platform push service (APNs, FCM, WNS, ADM, Baidu, HMS)
• Handles platform-specific formatting for each push service
• Manages credentials and certificates for each platform
• Delivers to millions of devices simultaneously

Without Notification Hubs, your backend would maintain separate integrations with each platform's push service — a significant ongoing engineering burden.

Azure Notification Hubs Pricing

Notification Hubs has three pricing tiers based on monthly push volume and active device count:

| Tier | Monthly Cost | Pushes/Month | Active Devices | Scheduled Pushes | Telemetry | |---|---|---|---|---|---| | Free | $0 | 1 million | 500 | No | Basic | | Basic | $10 | 10 million | 200,000 | No | Basic | | Standard | $25 | 10 million | Unlimited | Yes | Rich |

Additional pushes beyond the included monthly allowance are charged per million. Check the Azure pricing calculator for overage rates at your expected volume.

Key Features

• Cross-platform delivery — Single API sends to iOS, Android, Windows, Kindle, and Baidu without separate backend integrations.
• Tag-based targeting — Register devices with tags (user ID, location, subscription tier) and push to specific segments — not all users.
• Template-based notifications — Define notification templates in Notification Hubs. Backend sends a single payload that Notification Hubs formats for each platform.
• Broadcast — Send to all registered devices in seconds. Scales to tens of millions of devices.
• Scheduled pushes (Standard) — Schedule notifications for a future time. Common for marketing campaigns and time-sensitive alerts.
• Telemetry (Standard) — Delivery success/failure tracking per device and per platform. Debug failed deliveries.
• Integration — Connects to Azure Functions, Logic Apps, App Service, and any backend via REST API.

Notification Hubs vs. Azure Communication Services

Both handle notifications but serve different scenarios:

• Azure Notification Hubs — Best for mobile app push notifications at scale. Abstraction layer over APNs, FCM, WNS. Low cost for high-volume pushes.
• Azure Communication Services (ACS) — Best for multi-channel communications: SMS, email, voice, video, and chat. Higher cost per message but supports richer channels.

Use Notification Hubs for pure push. Use ACS when you also need SMS, email, or voice in the same communication platform.

Industry Use Cases

• Healthcare — Patient engagement apps push appointment reminders, prescription refill alerts, and test result notifications. HIPAA-compliant when combined with appropriate Azure security controls.
• Financial services — Customer-facing banking apps send transaction alerts, fraud notifications, and low balance warnings. SOC 2-compliant configurations available.
• Manufacturing — Field service apps push equipment alerts, maintenance due notifications, and work order assignments to mobile technicians.
• Retail and e-commerce — Push promotional offers, order status updates, and shipping notifications to customers at scale.
• Government — Emergency alert systems push critical public safety notifications to all registered users simultaneously.

Frequently asked questions

What is Azure Notification Hubs?

Azure Notification Hubs is a managed push notification service. It sends push notifications to iOS (APNs), Android (FCM), Windows (WNS), Kindle (ADM), Baidu, and Huawei (HMS) devices from a single backend API — without maintaining separate integrations for each platform.

How much does Azure Notification Hubs cost?

Free tier: 1 million pushes/month with up to 500 active devices. Basic tier: $10/month for 10 million pushes and 200,000 devices. Standard tier: $25/month for unlimited devices, scheduled pushes, and rich telemetry.

What is the difference between Azure Notification Hubs and Azure Communication Services?

Notification Hubs is optimized for mobile push notifications at high scale. Azure Communication Services supports SMS, email, voice, video, and chat in addition to push. Use Notification Hubs for pure push. Use ACS when you need multiple communication channels from one platform.

Can Azure Notification Hubs send to iOS and Android from the same API?

Yes. That is Notification Hubs' primary purpose. Your backend sends one API call. Notification Hubs routes and formats the notification for APNs (iOS) and FCM (Android) separately — managing the platform credentials and formatting on your behalf.

Is Azure Notification Hubs HIPAA compliant?

Azure Notification Hubs can be included in HIPAA-compliant architectures when combined with appropriate Azure security controls (encryption, private endpoints, Entra ID access control). Push notification content should not include PHI in the notification payload itself.

Build your mobile push notification architecture

Talk to an EPC Group architect about Azure Notification Hubs integration with your mobile application. Call (888) 381-9725 or request a 30-minute discovery call.