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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)

PlanPrice
FreePopular$0
Pay as you go$1 per 100K messages
Fixed 1M$180 / month
EnterpriseCustom

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

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Upstash 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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