Adding chat to a React Native app sounds simple until you list what production messaging actually needs: real time delivery, offline queueing, push notifications, media uploads, read states, moderation, and a backend that survives more than a demo. A chat SDK packages most of that. This guide compares the main options for React Native in 2026, including where each one makes sense and where it does not.
Full disclosure before we start: we build one of the products on this list, Ethora. We have tried to keep the comparison honest, including the cases where a competitor is the better pick. Judge for yourself.
What a chat SDK actually gives you
Most “chat SDKs” are really three layers, and vendors differ in which layers they sell:
- UI components: message list, input bar, threads, typing indicators. Saves weeks of fiddly UI work.
- Client SDK: connection management, offline cache, optimistic sends, reconnection logic. This is the hard part that looks easy.
- Backend: message storage, fan-out, presence, push delivery, moderation APIs. Either hosted by the vendor or self-hosted by you.
When you evaluate options, decide early whether you need all three layers, and whether the backend must run on your infrastructure. That single question, hosted versus self-hosted, filters the list faster than any feature matrix.
The evaluation checklist
- Pricing model: per monthly active user (MAU), per seat, or flat. MAU pricing is cheap at 500 users and painful at 500,000.
- Self-hosting: can you run the server yourself for compliance (HIPAA, data residency) or cost control?
- React Native support: a real RN SDK, not just a JavaScript SDK you glue in yourself.
- Push notifications: built in or your problem?
- Extensibility: custom message types, webhooks, bots, AI agents.
- Exit path: if you leave, do you keep your message history?
1. Ethora (our product)
Ethora is an open source chat and AI SDK platform. It ships a React Native SDK, a React web chat component (@ethora/chat-component on npm), and a backend you can either self-host or use as a managed cloud. Under the hood it runs on XMPP, a protocol that has carried billions of messages in production systems for two decades, with a REST API layer on top so you never have to touch XMPP directly.
What makes it different from the hosted vendors below:
- Self-hosting is a first-class path, not an enterprise-only upsell. Healthcare and finance teams run it on their own AWS accounts for data ownership.
- AI agents are built in: RAG bots and LLM-backed assistants can join rooms as participants, which matters if your roadmap includes AI features next to chat.
- Open source: the code is on GitHub, so the exit path is “keep running it”.
Honest downsides: the ecosystem is smaller than Stream’s or Sendbird’s, the docs are improving but not yet as polished, and if you want a fully hands-off hosted service with an enterprise SLA and a large support team, the big vendors are ahead. Where Ethora wins is data ownership, cost predictability, and chat plus AI in one stack. You can try it at ethora.com.
2. Stream Chat
Stream is probably the most popular commercial choice for React Native today. The RN SDK is mature, well documented, and the UI components are genuinely good. Offline support and threading work out of the box, and the developer experience is the best in the category.
The tradeoffs: it is a hosted service with MAU-based pricing, so costs scale with your user base whether or not those users generate revenue for you. Self-hosting is not on the menu. For a venture-funded consumer app that needs to ship fast and can absorb the bill, Stream is a strong default.
3. Sendbird
Sendbird targets the enterprise end: large deployments, compliance documentation, moderation tooling, and support contracts. The React Native support is solid via its UIKit. If you are a bank-sized organization that wants a vendor to point at contractually, Sendbird belongs on your shortlist.
The tradeoffs are the enterprise ones: pricing is opaque and negotiated, the free tier is tight, and you are deeply locked into their backend. Smaller teams often find the cost structure hard to justify.
4. CometChat
CometChat sits in the middle: cheaper entry point than Sendbird, decent RN support, prebuilt UI kits, and voice/video bundled in. It is a reasonable choice for marketplaces and dating-style apps that want chat plus calls without assembling pieces.
Watch for: the UI kits are more opinionated than Stream’s, so heavy customization can turn into fighting the framework. Again, hosted only.
5. TalkJS
TalkJS optimizes for one shape of product: buyer-to-seller inbox chat, like a marketplace messaging center. If that is exactly what you need, you can be live in a day, and the prebuilt inbox UI is excellent. If you need group chat, channels, or custom message types beyond its model, you will outgrow it.
6. react-native-gifted-chat (plus your own backend)
Gifted Chat is the long-standing open source UI library for RN chat screens, though note it entered maintenance mode, with active development continuing in community forks. It gives you the message list and input UI for free, and nothing else: no backend, no delivery, no offline sync, no push. Teams pair it with Firebase or a custom WebSocket server.
This path looks cheapest and frequently is not. The UI was never the hard part. Reconnection, ordering, offline queues, and push routing are where chat projects sink time. Budget for that honestly before choosing this route. Our team wrote up the hidden work in the true cost of building in-app chat.
7. Fully DIY: WebSockets, Matrix, XMPP
Building on raw WebSockets or an open protocol server (Matrix Synapse, ejabberd, Prosody) gives maximum control and zero license cost. It is the right call for teams with infrastructure experience and unusual requirements. For everyone else it is a six-month detour. If you go this way in React Native, understand the client side first: connection lifecycle, reconnection with backoff, and message ordering are all on you. We are publishing a full WebSockets in React Native guide on this site shortly.
Comparison table
| SDK | Hosting | Open source | RN SDK | Pricing model | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ethora | Self-hosted or cloud | Yes | Yes | Free self-hosted; paid cloud/SLA | Data ownership, regulated apps, chat + AI |
| Stream | Hosted | No (SDKs open) | Yes, excellent | Per MAU | Fast-moving consumer apps |
| Sendbird | Hosted | No | Yes | Enterprise contracts | Large enterprises |
| CometChat | Hosted | No | Yes | Tiered + MAU | Marketplaces needing chat + calls |
| TalkJS | Hosted | No | Via JS SDK | Per MAU | Buyer-seller inbox chat |
| Gifted Chat + DIY | Yours | Yes (UI only) | Yes (UI only) | Free UI, infra costs | Simple chat, existing backend team |
How to choose
- Shipping a consumer app fast, cost is secondary: Stream.
- Regulated industry, data must stay on your servers: Ethora self-hosted, or DIY on an open protocol if you have the team.
- Enterprise procurement wants a big vendor: Sendbird.
- Marketplace inbox only: TalkJS.
- Chat and AI agents on the same roadmap: Ethora, since agents are native to the platform rather than a bolt-on.
- Just a chat screen over Firebase: Gifted Chat, with clear eyes about the backend work.
FAQ
What is the best free chat SDK for React Native?
For a free UI layer, react-native-gifted-chat. For a free full stack including the backend, Ethora self-hosted is the most complete open source option.
Can I switch chat SDKs later?
Migrating live message history between hosted vendors is painful and sometimes impossible. This is the strongest argument for either open source or a vendor with a documented export path. Check the exit path before you sign, not after.
Do these SDKs work with Expo?
Stream and Ethora both work in Expo projects (config plugins or prebuild for native modules). Check each vendor’s current Expo notes, since this changes between releases.