Compare / Push and messaging

OneSignal sends the messages. grovs also brings people into the app.

OneSignal is a messaging platform for push, in-app, email, SMS and journeys, run in OneSignal's cloud. grovs covers push, in-app and journeys, and adds deep links, product analytics and purchase validation on your own servers.

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Checked against OneSignal's public docs and pricing · 16 October 2026

grovs

Links, analytics, engagement, revenue, data

Built for: The channels you own, end to end
Runs in: Your cloud, or grovs Cloud
Ad attribution: Not an MMP
Pricing: Flat yearly

OneSignal

Push and messaging

Built for: Push campaigns
Runs in: OneSignal's cloud
Ad attribution: Not an MMP
Pricing: Free tier, then $19 a month plus per-MAU, or quote

What OneSignal is

Push first.

Sends push to your users, usually with in-app, email or SMS added on.

Built for: Push campaigns
Reports: Delivery, opens and clicks per message
Data goes to: The vendor's cloud
Doesn't do: Hosted or deferred deep links, self-hosting

The differences, in short.

Deep links included

grovs has deferred deep links, smart banners and QR codes on your domain. OneSignal opens a screen from a message, but has no link product of its own.

Your cloud, not a vendor's

grovs can run on your own servers, with every event in your database. OneSignal runs in OneSignal's cloud and streams message events out.

Flat, not per user

grovs is free to 10K monthly users, then a flat yearly price. OneSignal's Growth plan charges $0.012 per mobile MAU on top of $19 a month, and larger plans are quoted.

What each one has that the other doesn't.

No tool does everything. Here's the honest list, both ways.

OneSignal has, grovs doesn't

Email and SMS/RCS sending
Web push
iOS Live Activities
A free self-serve tier

grovs has, OneSignal doesn't

Deep links and deferred deep links
Smart banners and QR codes
Owned-channel attribution
App Store and Google Play purchase validation
Self-hosted in your cloud
Open-source core

In the product

Every push measured in revenue.

Variants against a control group: conversions, revenue per person and confidence.

Real grovs screen, sample data.

Feature by feature.

From OneSignal's public documentation and pricing pages. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we'll fix it.

Featuregrovs

OneSignal

What it is

Mobile measurement partner (MMP)NoNo

Links

Deep links and deferred deep links

Smart banners and QR codes

Attribution

Owned-channel attribution

Analytics

Events, retention and cohortsPartial1

Events written to your own databaseExport2

Engagement

Push notifications

In-app messages and surveys

Journeys across push, in-app and email

Email and SMS sending

Experiments with control groups

Revenue

App Store and Google Play purchase validation

Data and hosting

Self-hosted in your cloud

Open-source core

Pricing

PricingFlat yearlyFree tier, then $19 a month plus per-MAU, or quote

1
Events, retention and cohorts. OneSignal has custom events on paid plans and a retention chart that follows users active on a chosen day; its analytics are built around messaging.
2
Events written to your own database. OneSignal Event Streams send message events such as sent, clicked and opened to webhooks, S3, BigQuery, Snowflake and others; limited on Free, fuller on paid plans.

Partial: some of it, with limits. Export: you can get the data out, but it isn't written to your database as it happens.

Last checked 16 October 2026

Pricing, side by side.

OneSignal's list prices, as published. The estimate shows what companies report paying, from public contract data.

grovs

Flat yearly price, by monthly active users

Free: $0, up to 10K MAU
Growth: $2,500 a year up to 250K MAU, $5,000 up to 500K
Scale: $12,000 a year, up to 1M MAU
Enterprise and self-hosted: Flat yearly licence, unlimited users and events

Source: grovs.io/pricing, October 2026

OneSignal

Mobile push by MAU, web push by subscriber, email and SMS by send

Free: $0
Growth: From $19 a month, plus $0.012 per mobile MAU
Professional: Quote, annual
Enterprise: Quote, annual

What customers actually pay · estimate

$18,870 a year

Median contract, range $7K to $66K. Source: vendr.com/marketplace/onesignal

Source: onesignal.com/pricing, October 2026

Compare costs for your app size

Which one fits.

OneSignal is good at what it does. Here is an honest split.

Choose OneSignal if

You want a free tier and a self-serve start for push, email and SMS.
You also need web push and iOS Live Activities.

Choose grovs if

Deep links and deferred deep links matter to how you acquire users.
Your data has to stay on your own servers.
You want a flat yearly price that doesn't grow with every active user.

Migration plan

Moving from OneSignal.

Your events, users and journeys move with the SDK.

Stays with OneSignal

Historical data (export it first)
Email and SMS sending

You'll need

An app release with the grovs SDK

Moves to grovs

Events and user traits
The same events and traits, from the day the SDK goes live
Segments
Rebuilt from those events, in your own database
Push audience
Devices register for push as users update to the new release
Journeys and in-app messages
Rebuilt one at a time, each checked against a control group

Going back: Nothing to roll back: both run side by side until you remove the old SDK.

The steps

Your teamgrovsTogether

1
Add the grovs SDK next to it
Send the same events and user traits to both while you move.
Your team
Your team
2
Rebuild your segments
Recreate the audiences your campaigns use, from events in your own database.
Your team
Your team
3
Let push tokens build up
The grovs SDK registers each device for push when the app opens with the new release.
Your team
Your team
4
Move journeys one at a time
Start with one high-volume journey, run it against a control group, compare results, then move the next.
Together
Together
5
Keep email where it is
If you send email or SMS through OneSignal, keep a sending provider for that.
Your team
Your team

Plan the move with an engineer.

A call with an engineer who has done it before. You leave with a plan, not a sales pitch.

Book a migration call

What the call covers

Your current setup: SDKs, link domains, events and campaigns
What moves, what you'd keep, and in what order
Anything that needs an app release, so you can plan it
A written plan afterwards, with the steps and who does each

Questions, answered.

Something else? Talk to an engineer.

Can grovs replace OneSignal?

For most teams, yes. Check the table above for the features you rely on; where OneSignal has something grovs doesn't, it's marked.

What moves over from OneSignal?

Your tracking moves with the SDK, and you rebuild the reports and campaigns you use. History stays in OneSignal; export it if you need it.

Can we run grovs and OneSignal side by side?

Yes. Both SDKs can run in the same app while you move, so you can compare numbers before switching anything off.

How long does it take to move?

It depends mostly on your app release cycle: anything that touches links or push needs a new build, and users need to update before you switch. The migration plan above lists which steps need a release.

How does pricing compare with OneSignal?

grovs is free up to 10K monthly users, then a flat yearly price: $2,500 up to 250K and $12,000 up to 1M. OneSignal's pricing is free tier, then $19 a month plus per-mau, or quote.

Where does our data live?

On grovs Cloud, in the EU. Self-hosted, in your own cloud or data centre, in databases you run. grovs staff have no access to self-hosted data.