Cross-platform push notifications and data messages for Android, Apple and web apps, at no cost on every Firebase plan, including Spark, which needs no payment details. Sending is rate-limited to a default 600,000 messages a minute per project.
Verified ·Oct 15, 2026
Free allowance
What the free plan includes, as the provider states it.
- downstream messages per project / minute
- 600K
- Default quota of the HTTP v1 send API, counting messages rather than requests over unaligned one-minute windows. One Android device takes at most 240 messages a minute and 5,000 an hour; Apple devices follow APNs limits. Payloads are at most 4,096 bytes (2,048 for topics).
- topic subscription changes per project / second
- 3K
- Adding or removing topic subscriptions. Above this rate FCM answers 429 RESOURCE_EXHAUSTED.
- concurrent message fanouts per project
- 1K
- A fanout sends one message to many devices: a topic, a device group, or a Notifications composer audience. Past 1,000 in progress, FCM may reject or defer new fanout requests. Google says a fanout rate of 10,000 QPS for one project is not uncommon but is not guaranteed.
- message lifespan (TTL)
- 28 d
- How long FCM stores and keeps trying to deliver a message on Android and the web; 28 days (four weeks) is also the default. Apple devices use the APNs expiration header instead. On Android, at most 100 messages can be stored without collapsing; past that, all stored messages are discarded.
- monthly active users
- Unlimited
- No cap on users or devices: FCM is no-cost on every plan, in production apps and with millions of users.
The fine print
Each verdict links to the quote it rests on.
- Free for
- As long as you stay within the limits
- At the limit
- Usage is slowed down
- Spending cap
- None needed: the free plan cannot bill you
- Idle projects
- No pause rule documented
- Data retention
- No deletion rule documented
- Card at sign-up
- Not requiredAndroid devices need Android 7.0 or later with the Google Play Store app installed. Sending to Apple devices needs an APNs authentication key, created in the Apple Developer Member Center and uploaded to Firebase.
- Identity check
- An email address
- Commercial use
- AllowedFCM is free on every plan, even in production apps; users agree that their Firebase use is for purposes related to their trade, business, craft or profession. FCM falls under the Google APIs Terms of Service, which let Google use submitted content only to provide, secure and improve the APIs and related services, and under the Firebase Data Processing and Security Terms.
- Mainland China
- BlockedGreatFire reports fcm.googleapis.com, the host of the FCM HTTP v1 send API, as blocked over both HTTPS and HTTP. Delivery to Android devices, which runs through Google Play services, was not assessed.
- Sign-up regions
- No restrictions documented
- Quotas apply per
- Project
Alternatives
Other free plans for the same need, ranked by the same neutral rules.
Changes
- CorrectionBreaking
Worse: Mainland China reachability corrected: not verified → blocked
- New
Changed: Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) added to the catalog
- Oct 15, 2026
- Awaiting review
- No-cost