Upstash QStash: Pricing, Features & Alternatives
QStash by Upstash is a serverless messaging and scheduling service that delivers HTTP requests with retries, delays, and cron schedules, for triggering background work from serverless and edge functions. It has a free daily quota, per-message pricing and fixed monthly plans, so there are no servers or queues to manage.
Who it’s for: Serverless and edge apps that need delayed HTTP calls, retries and cron schedules without running a queue or worker.
Category
Background Jobs & Workflows
Pricing
Free tier available
Free tier
Yes
Best for
Background Jobs & Workflows — serverless, HTTP scheduling, cron
Upstash QStash at a Glance
- What it is
- Serverless HTTP message queue and scheduler
- Languages
- Any (delivers HTTP requests to your endpoint)
- What it runs on
- Upstash managed service
- How you pay
- Per message, or fixed monthly plans
- Free access
- 1,000 messages a day
Checked November 2026 against QStash pricing (Upstash).
Upstash QStash Pricing Plans (2026)
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| FreePopular | $0 |
| Pay as you go | $1 per 100K messages |
| Fixed 1M | $180 / month |
| Enterprise | Custom |
Pricing summary: Free · paid from $180/mo. Always confirm current pricing on the official site.
Key Upstash QStash Features
- Free: 1,000 messages a day, 10 active schedules and 1 MB maximum message size
- Pay as you go: $1 per 100,000 messages, with 1,000 active schedules included
- Fixed 1M plan: $180 a month for 1M messages a day
- Every delivery attempt, including each retry, is billed as a message
- Pay as you go allows delays up to 1 year and HTTP responses up to 2 hours
- Dead-letter queue kept 3 days on Free and 7 days on Pay as you go
Pros
- +Zero infrastructure to manage
- +Built for serverless and edge functions
- +Built-in cron scheduling
- +Cheap at low volume
Cons
- −HTTP-delivery model only
- −Tied to the Upstash platform
- −Less suited to heavy compute jobs
- −Each retry is billed as a message
Best Upstash QStash Alternatives
Compare allUpstash QStash Compared
Upstash QStash FAQ
What is Upstash QStash used for?⌄
Upstash QStash is a background jobs & workflows tool. Serverless message queue and HTTP-based scheduler — background jobs and cron without running any infrastructure.
Is Upstash QStash free?⌄
Yes — Upstash QStash has a free tier you can start with, and paid plans for more usage and features.
How much does Upstash QStash cost?⌄
Upstash QStash offers a free tier, with paid plans starting at $180/month. Some plans are usage-based (pay-as-you-go).
What are the best Upstash QStash alternatives?⌄
Popular Upstash QStash alternatives include Inngest, Trigger.dev, BullMQ, Graphile Worker, Hatchet. Compare pricing and features on our Upstash QStash alternatives page.
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