TalkJS
Chat API and SDKs to build the best real-time messaging experiences
About TalkJS
TalkJS is a chat API with a pre-built, customizable chat UI that lets developers add real-time messaging to any website or mobile app in minutes. It ships SDKs for JavaScript, React, React Native, Flutter, and Vue, plus a REST API, and includes notifications, moderation, and analytics out of the box. Founded in 2016 in the Netherlands, it powers buyer-seller chat for marketplaces like Catawiki as well as in-app messaging for platforms and communities.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Pre-built chat UI gets a production-quality messaging experience running in minutes instead of months
- Frontend-first integration works with any language or framework, with official React, React Native, Flutter, and Vue SDKs
- Notifications (email, SMS, push) are built in, including reply-via-email synced back to the conversation
- Forever-free development mode with all features, so teams only pay when they launch
- Unlimited conversations, messages, and message retention on all paid plans
- Transparent MAU-based pricing with a public calculator, unlike many quote-only chat API vendors
Cons
- Starting price of $279/month is steep for small projects and hobby apps with modest user counts
- UI customization relies on predefined themes, which can fall short for heavily bespoke chat designs
- One subscription covers a single website or app; multiple products need multiple subscriptions
- Message search and real-time translation are locked behind the Growth plan
- SSO, SLA, and at-rest encryption guarantees require the Enterprise plan
Key Features
Pre-built chat UI
Fully featured, themeable chat interface with typing indicators, read states, file sharing, and location sharing that drops into any frontend
Cross-platform SDKs
Official SDKs for JavaScript, React, React Native, Flutter, and Vue, plus a REST API that works with any language or framework
Group chats
Group conversations with up to 100-300 participants depending on plan, with role management and guest access
Multi-channel notifications
Built-in email, SMS, push, and desktop notifications, including reply-via-email that syncs responses back into the chat
AI agent interface
Interface for connecting AI agents and autoresponders into conversations for automated replies and routing
Real-time message translation
Automatic message translation between languages on Growth and Enterprise plans
Moderation and analytics
Dashboard activity view for monitoring conversations, contact-information masking, and conversation analytics
Webhooks and REST API
Webhooks for message and conversation events plus a REST API for server-side control of users, conversations, and messages
Pricing
- All features free in development mode
- Test app with separate users and settings
- No credit card required until you go live
- 10,000 MAU included ($0.04 per additional MAU)
- Unlimited conversations and messages
- Group chats up to 100 participants
- Customizable UI and AI agent interface
- Email, SMS, and push notifications
- 1 webhook
- Chat support during office hours
- 25,000 MAU included ($0.03 per additional MAU)
- Everything in Basic
- Group chats up to 300 participants
- Real-time message translation
- Message and conversation search
- Custom notification emails and sender domain
- 3 webhooks
- Priority chat and email support
- Custom MAU volume
- SSO and domain masking
- Uptime and support SLA
- Guaranteed at-rest encryption and high-load performance
- Designated Solutions Engineer
- On-premise / private cloud add-on
Best For
Marketplace buyer-seller chat
Add private buyer-seller messaging to marketplaces with contact-information masking to keep transactions on-platform, as used by Catawiki.
In-app community and group messaging
Ship group chats and direct messages inside SaaS products, communities, or events platforms without building chat infrastructure.
On-demand and booking platforms
Connect customers with providers or couriers in real time, with push, SMS, and email notifications keeping both sides responsive.
AI-powered support and assistants
Plug AI agents and autoresponders into conversations through the AI agent interface for automated replies and routing.
Cross-platform mobile chat
Use the React Native and Flutter SDKs to ship a consistent chat experience across iOS, Android, and web from one codebase.
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