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# Signal Is Free Forever. Only Backup Storage Costs Money.
- URL: https://efreedirectory.com/signal-free-plan-limits/
- Published: 2026-10-20T05:35:14.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-20T06:57:16.000Z
- Description: Signal gave away the entire product and charged for one thing: keeping your message history past 45 days. That is the whole pricing model of a nonprofit messenger.
- Author: Rohit Bhadani
- Tags: tool, Privacy & Security

**Signal costs nothing for messaging, voice and video calls, groups of up to 1,000 people, file transfers up to 100MB and linked desktop devices. There is no advertising and no tracking. The single paid feature is Secure Backups at $1.99 a month, which raises backup storage from 100MiB and 45 days of media to 100GB with no time limit.**[1](#sources)

The free plan here is not a limited version of a paid product. It is the product, funded by donations and grants through the Signal Foundation, a nonprofit.

That structure is why the pricing question has a strange answer: there are only two tiers, and the only difference between them is how long your own message history survives.

## What the free plan actually includes

|                         | Free          | Backups paid  |
| ----------------------- | ------------- | ------------- |
| Price                   | $0            | $1.99/mo      |
| Messages and calls      | Unlimited     | Unlimited     |
| Group size              | 1,000 members | 1,000 members |
| File transfer           | 100MB         | 100MB         |
| Linked devices          | 5             | 5             |
| Backup storage          | 100MiB        | 100GB         |
| Media history in backup | 45 days       | Unlimited     |
| Text history in backup  | All           | All           |
| Ads or tracking         | None          | None          |

Backups are opt-in and end-to-end encrypted with a 64-character recovery key that only you hold. Signal cannot read them, and cannot help you recover them if the key is lost.

## The backup limit is the only meter

Free keeps all of your text messages and the last 45 days of media, up to 100MiB of compressed storage. Messages are compressed before archiving, so a heavy text user still fits comfortably.

What falls off is media older than 45 days. Photos, videos and voice notes from two months ago are not in the free backup, and restoring to a new phone will not bring them back.

For most people that is a fair trade against not paying anything. For anyone using Signal as a photo-sharing channel with family, it is the thing that eventually pushes them to $1.99.

## No username needed, but a phone number is

Registration requires a phone number that can receive a verification code. It does not have to be the number in the device, so a landline or VoIP number works if a second device can take the code, and usernames have been available since 2024 so you never have to share the number itself.

There is no password and no email, which removes two common attack surfaces and also removes two recovery routes. Losing the phone number entirely means losing the account unless you have changed it in advance.

Only one mobile device can hold an account at a time. Additional devices are linked, and they depend on the primary.

## A phone must come online every 30 days

Linked devices, meaning the desktop and tablet clients, are unlinked if the primary phone has not been online in 30 days. A linked device that is itself inactive for 45 days is also unlinked.

This is a privacy feature rather than a billing one: it stops an old laptop from holding a stale copy of your messages indefinitely. It also means Signal is not a service you can set up on a phone and then forget for two months.

Up to five linked devices are supported, which is generous for a category where most competitors offer two or three.

## What Signal will not do

No channels or broadcast lists for large audiences. No bot platform for customer support. No cloud storage of plaintext messages. No calling ordinary phone numbers.

Its group ceiling of 1,000 is far below Telegram's or WhatsApp's, and there is no equivalent of a business API. If your use case is reaching customers rather than talking to people, Signal is the wrong tool at every price.

## Why there is no paid messaging tier

The Signal Foundation funds development from grants and individual donations, including a founding loan from Brian Acton. It is not structured to be acquired, and it states that plainly.

That removes the pressure that produces most freemium design, where the free tier is deliberately uncomfortable enough to push people upward. Signal's free tier is deliberately complete, and the paid tier exists because storing 100GB of encrypted history for years costs actual money.

## When the free plan is enough

Almost always. Messaging, calling, group chats, desktop use and end-to-end encryption at zero cost, indefinitely.

If you do not enable backups at all, you are not using the metered feature and there is nothing to outgrow. The account behind it is worth protecting with [Bitwarden's free vault](https://efreedirectory.com/bitwarden-free-plan-limits/), which covers hardware-key login without a subscription.

## When it stops being enough

When you restore to a new phone and discover the photos from three months ago are gone. $1.99 a month fixes it.

Anyone making that decision is already paying for secure storage elsewhere, and it is worth comparing against [Mullvad's position](https://efreedirectory.com/mullvad-free-plan-limits/) on the same question: a privacy tool with no free tier at all, funded entirely by people who chose to pay.

## Frequently asked questions

**Is Signal completely free?**  
Yes for messaging, calls, groups and file transfers. The only paid feature is extended backup storage at $1.99 a month.

**What are Signal's free backup limits?**  
100MiB of storage holding all text messages and the last 45 days of media, encrypted with a recovery key only you hold.

**Does Signal have ads or tracking?**  
No. Signal is run by a nonprofit and states that it has no advertising, affiliate marketing or tracking.

**Does Signal need a phone number?**  
Yes, for registration. A username can be used afterwards so the number is not shared.

**How many devices can I link to Signal?**  
Up to five linked devices, which stay linked only while the primary phone comes online at least once every 30 days.

*Features, backup limits and pricing verified against Signal's support documentation and its backup announcements on 20 October 2026.*

## Sources

1. Signal support: cost to use Signal: [support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/5286774014362-Cost-to-use-Signal](https://support.signal.org/hc/en-us/articles/5286774014362-Cost-to-use-Signal?ref=efreedirectory.com). Used for: Confirmation that messaging, calls and groups are free with no ads.

*All sources are the vendor's own plan or documentation pages, checked on 20 October 2026\. Plan terms change without notice, so confirm current limits before you rely on them.*