Knock vs ReadMe
Notifications-as-a-service: in-app feeds, email, push, SMS, chat via one API
vs. Developer hub: interactive API reference + guides with usage analytics
Pricing tiers
Knock
Developer
Free forever. 10K messages, 500 guide users, 500 AI credits/month.
$0 base (usage-based)
Starter
$250/mo. 50K messages, 2.5K guide users, 2K AI credits. Remove branding.
$250/mo
Enterprise
Custom pricing. White-label, i18n, data warehouse, Datadog, SCIM, SAML, HIPAA/BAA.
Custom
ReadMe
Free
$0. 1 project. ReadMe branding. Public docs only. Basic features. Intended for evaluation.
Free
Startup
$99/mo. 1 project. Custom domain, remove branding, 3 admins, API Explorer.
$99/mo
Business
$399/mo. Unlimited projects, SSO, usage analytics (Metrics Starter), versioning.
$399/mo
Enterprise
Custom (typically $10k+/yr). SLA, SAML, advanced metrics, large teams, localization.
Custom
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing starter on Knock vs free on ReadMe.
| Metric | Knock | ReadMe |
|---|---|---|
| guide users | 2500 users | — |
| guide users overage | $0.05/user USD/user | — |
| messages monthly | 50000 messages/mo | — |
| messages overage | $0.005/message USD/message | — |
Features
Knock · 13 features
- AI Agents — Autonomous notification drafting & workflow generation.
- Batch + Digest — Group notifications into digests on schedule or window.
- Chat — Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord.
- Email — Send via SendGrid/Postmark/Resend/Mailgun/AWS SES as relays.
- Guides — In-product messaging, announcements, modals, banners.
- i18n / Localization — Translate templates by user locale.
- In-App Feed — Notification inbox with React/Vue/iOS/Android drop-in components.
- Multi-tenancy — Per-tenant branding, preferences, quiet hours.
- Outbound Webhooks — Subscribe to delivery events.
- Preferences — User + tenant preference center with granular controls.
- Push — iOS (APNs), Android (FCM), Expo, Web Push.
- SMS — Twilio, MessageBird, Telnyx, Vonage as providers.
- Workflows — Visual notification orchestration (branch, batch, delay, throttle).
ReadMe · 15 features
- API Reference — OpenAPI → interactive reference.
- Changelog — Versioned release notes.
- Custom Branding — Logo, colors, fonts.
- Custom Domain — docs.yourco.com.
- Discussion Forum — Developer community.
- Guides — Markdown-style conceptual docs.
- Interactive Tutorials — Guided walkthroughs.
- Localization — Multi-language docs (Enterprise).
- Metrics — API usage logging + analytics.
- Recipes — Multi-step tutorials.
- Search — Full-text search.
- SSO — SAML + OIDC.
- Suggested Edits — Community-contributed edits.
- Try It Console — In-browser request runner.
- Versioning — Multi-version docs.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Knock | ReadMe |
|---|---|---|
| CLI | Knock CLI | rdme CLI |
| SDK | knockapi (Python), knockapi (Ruby), knock-elixir, knock-go, knock-java, @knocklabs/node, @knocklabs/react | Metrics SDK |
| REST | Knock REST API | ReadMe API v2 |
| MCP | Knock MCP Server | — |
| OTHER | Outbound Webhooks | OpenAPI Upload, ReadMe Dashboard, ReadMe Webhooks |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Some links to Knock and ReadMe may be affiliate links — Staxly may earn a commission if you sign up through them, at no extra cost to you. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.
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