OneSignal has been a go-to push notification service for years. It supports multiple platforms, handles billions of messages, and offers a free tier that attracted a massive user base. For developers building custom apps, it's a solid choice.
But if you run a WordPress site, OneSignal comes with trade-offs that become harder to ignore as your audience grows. Your subscriber data lives on someone else's servers. The WordPress integration relies on a community plugin. Pricing scales with your subscriber count. And the platform's complexity — designed for enterprise use cases — often means you're paying for features you'll never touch.
More WordPress site owners are looking for alternatives. Here's why — and what they're switching to.
The Problem with OneSignal for WordPress
OneSignal works. Nobody disputes that. But "works" and "works well for WordPress" are different things. Let's look at the specific pain points WordPress users face.
Your data lives on OneSignal's servers
When you use OneSignal, every subscriber token, every campaign, every analytics event is stored on OneSignal's infrastructure. You don't own that data — you rent access to it.
This creates several problems:
- Vendor lock-in. If you ever want to leave OneSignal, you can't take your subscriber list with you. Push notification tokens are platform-specific — they're tied to the service that generated them. Switching means starting from zero.
- GDPR and privacy compliance. OneSignal is a US-based company. If you serve EU visitors, you're sending their data to a third-party processor in another jurisdiction. That adds complexity to your GDPR compliance — data processing agreements, cookie consent flows, and risk assessment.
- No offline access. If OneSignal goes down or changes their API, you lose access to your subscribers. Your audience is only reachable through their platform.
For many WordPress site owners, this is the dealbreaker. WordPress was built on the principle of data ownership — your content, your database, your control. OneSignal's model is the opposite.
The WordPress plugin is a community effort
OneSignal's official WordPress plugin exists, but it has historically been maintained with less priority than their core platform. Updates can lag behind WordPress releases, and the plugin occasionally introduces compatibility issues with themes or other plugins.
More importantly, the plugin is essentially a bridge to an external service. It requires you to create a OneSignal account, generate API keys, configure your app in OneSignal's dashboard, and then connect it to WordPress. The setup process involves bouncing between two platforms — your WordPress admin and OneSignal's web dashboard.
Compare this to a WordPress-native solution where everything — from configuration to campaign creation to analytics — lives inside your WordPress admin. The difference in workflow is significant, especially if you manage multiple sites.
Pricing scales with your subscriber count
OneSignal's free tier supports up to 10,000 subscribers with unlimited sends. That's generous for getting started. But as your list grows, costs escalate quickly.
OneSignal's paid plans are based on subscriber volume and feature access. Once you cross the free tier threshold, you're looking at plans that can run $50 to $100+ per month for moderate subscriber counts, with enterprise pricing reaching significantly higher. And because push notification lists tend to grow faster than email lists (thanks to lower opt-in friction), you can hit those thresholds sooner than expected.
The per-subscriber pricing model also creates a perverse incentive: the more successful your push strategy becomes, the more it costs. Your biggest expense grows in direct proportion to your achievement.
Feature complexity you don't need
OneSignal is built to serve mobile apps, web apps, and enterprise use cases. It supports in-app messaging, email, SMS, and has a sophisticated API designed for developer-heavy teams.
If you run a WordPress blog, news site, or WooCommerce store, most of this is irrelevant. You need web push notifications that work reliably with WordPress. You need segmentation, scheduling, and analytics. You don't need a multi-channel messaging platform with journeys, data tags, and A/B experiments designed for product teams.
The complexity isn't just unused — it's a cognitive tax. Every time you log in to create a campaign, you're navigating a dashboard designed for a very different user.
What to Look for in a OneSignal Alternative
If you've decided to explore other options, here's the criteria that matter most for WordPress sites:
- Self-hosted data. Your subscriber data should live in your WordPress database, not on a third party's servers. This gives you true ownership, simplifies compliance, and eliminates vendor lock-in.
- WordPress-native integration. The solution should be a proper WordPress plugin — not a bridge to an external platform. Configuration, campaign creation, and analytics should all happen inside your WordPress admin.
- Flat, predictable pricing. Subscriber-based pricing punishes growth. Look for plans with flat monthly rates where the only variable is your subscriber tier — and where all features are available at every level.
- All features on every plan. Segmentation, scheduling, analytics, and unlimited campaigns shouldn't be locked behind premium tiers. These are table-stakes features for any push notification tool.
- Minimal performance impact. The push notification script should load asynchronously and have zero measurable impact on your Core Web Vitals.
EasyPusher: Built for WordPress from Day One
EasyPusher is a self-hosted WordPress push notification plugin designed to address every pain point WordPress users have with services like OneSignal.
100% self-hosted — your data never leaves your server
When a visitor subscribes to your push notifications through EasyPusher, their subscription token is stored directly in your WordPress database. Not on a third-party server. Not in someone else's cloud. Your database, your control.
This means you own your subscriber list permanently. There's no vendor lock-in. If you ever deactivate the plugin, your data stays. If you migrate hosting providers, your subscribers come with you. And for GDPR compliance, the data processing relationship is straightforward — it's your server, your data, your responsibility.
True WordPress-native experience
EasyPusher isn't a wrapper around an external API. Everything runs inside WordPress:
- Install from the WordPress plugin directory in one click
- Configure your opt-in prompt from the WordPress admin — no external dashboard
- Create and schedule campaigns from a familiar WordPress interface
- View subscriber analytics and campaign performance without leaving your site
- Segment your audience using WordPress user data
There are no API keys to copy, no external accounts to create, and no dashboards to learn. If you can use WordPress, you can use EasyPusher.
Free for 20,000 subscribers — with every feature
EasyPusher's free tier includes 20,000 subscribers — double OneSignal's free limit. But the real difference is what's included: unlimited campaigns, segmentation, scheduling, and full analytics. There's no "upgrade to unlock" for core features.
When you do need to scale, pricing is flat and predictable:
- Free: Up to 20,000 subscribers, all features
- Pro ($4.99/mo): Up to 50,000 subscribers
- Business ($9.99/mo): Up to 100,000 subscribers
- Agency ($19.99/mo): Unlimited subscribers
At every tier, the feature set is identical. The only variable is how many subscribers you can have. No feature gates, no per-send charges, no surprise costs.
Zero performance impact
EasyPusher's script loads asynchronously and registers a lightweight service worker. It has no measurable impact on page load time, Largest Contentful Paint, or any other Core Web Vital. Your site stays fast.
OneSignal vs EasyPusher: Feature Comparison
| Feature | OneSignal | EasyPusher |
|---|---|---|
| Data hosting | OneSignal's servers | Your WordPress database |
| Free subscribers | 10,000 | 20,000 |
| WordPress integration | Plugin + external dashboard | Fully native (one-click install) |
| Unlimited campaigns (free) | Yes | Yes |
| Segmentation (free) | Limited | Full |
| Scheduling (free) | Limited | Full |
| Analytics (free) | Basic | Full |
| Pricing model | Per subscriber (tiered) | Flat monthly |
| 50K subscribers cost | ~$50–$100+/mo | $4.99/mo |
| 100K subscribers cost | ~$100–$200+/mo | $9.99/mo |
| GDPR compliance | Requires DPA with third party | Self-hosted (simplified) |
| Vendor lock-in | Yes (tokens tied to platform) | No (data in your database) |
| External account required | Yes | No |
| Performance impact | Minimal (external script) | Zero (async, lightweight) |
Who Should Switch from OneSignal to EasyPusher?
EasyPusher is the right move if you:
- Run a WordPress site and want push notifications that feel like a native part of your workflow
- Care about data ownership and don't want your subscriber list locked in a third-party platform
- Need GDPR-friendly infrastructure without the complexity of third-party data processing agreements
- Want predictable costs that don't punish you for growing your audience
- Don't need multi-channel messaging (email, SMS, in-app) from your push notification tool
- Manage multiple WordPress sites and want a consistent, WordPress-native experience across all of them
When OneSignal might still be the better fit
To be fair, OneSignal has strengths that EasyPusher doesn't try to replicate:
- If you need push notifications for a native mobile app (iOS/Android), OneSignal supports that. EasyPusher is web push only.
- If you want email, SMS, and push in a single platform, OneSignal offers multi-channel messaging.
- If you're building a custom web app (not WordPress) and need API-driven push, OneSignal's developer tools are extensive.
But if your primary platform is WordPress and your primary goal is web push notifications, EasyPusher is purpose-built for you.
How to Switch from OneSignal to EasyPusher
Migrating from OneSignal to EasyPusher is straightforward, though there's one important thing to know: push notification tokens are tied to the service that generated them. You can't export your OneSignal subscriber list and import it into EasyPusher. This is a limitation of the Web Push Protocol, not any specific tool.
Here's the practical migration path:
- Step 1: Install and activate EasyPusher on your WordPress site.
- Step 2: Configure your opt-in prompt and notification settings.
- Step 3: Deactivate the OneSignal plugin. New visitors will now subscribe through EasyPusher.
- Step 4: Your existing OneSignal subscribers will see the EasyPusher opt-in prompt on their next visit and can re-subscribe with one click.
Most sites rebuild their subscriber base within a few weeks, often exceeding their OneSignal numbers thanks to EasyPusher's higher free tier and simpler opt-in flow.
The Bottom Line
OneSignal is a capable platform — but it's not built for WordPress. It treats your site as one of many integration points, stores your data on external servers, and charges you more as you grow.
EasyPusher takes the opposite approach. It's built for WordPress, stores everything in your database, and gives you every feature on every plan. For the vast majority of WordPress site owners, it's a simpler, cheaper, and more private alternative.
Ready to make the switch? Start free with up to 20,000 subscribers — no credit card, no external account, no lock-in.