If you need both polling and drop alerts, there are two ways to buy them: the combined REST + SSE plan, or two separate subscriptions, one REST snapshots and one SSE drop alerts. The combined plan is cheaper by a clear margin, and the cases for paying double are narrower than they look.
The arithmetic
The combined plan costs $149 a month, $379 for three months or $679 for six. The two separate plans cost $99 each monthly, so $198 together per month, or $249 each for three months, so $498 together, as the plan guide lists the terms, checked 2026-10-05. Monthly, the combined plan saves $49; at three months it saves $119; and over six months the separate route costs $449 for the REST term plus two three-month SSE terms at $249 each, $947 against the combined plan's $679.
The combined plan carries the same allowances as the parts it replaces: 10 requests a second on REST and the drop stream included, per the same plan table.
When combined is the obvious buy
Any single project that does both jobs belongs on the combined plan. A model that polls boards for state and reacts to drops, a site that shows live prices and posts alerts: one codebase, one key, one bill. The $49 a month is the price of nothing you need.
It is also the simpler evaluation path. One plan means one renewal date, one usage review, and no question about which subscription should carry the heavier half of the work.
When separate still wins
Two subscriptions make sense in exactly two cases. The first is separation by owner: two teams, two budgets, two renewal cycles that should not share a key. The second is a hard split of needs: if the polling half must never share a quota with the alerting half, the two halves must not share a plan. The SSE plan's own REST side is capped at 20 a minute and 100 a day, per the same plan guide, which is why the alerts-plus-heavy-polling combination belongs on the combined plan and not bolted onto an alerts-only plan.
The WebSocket add-on follows the base
One more identity to check before choosing: the raw WebSocket add-on attaches to the REST plans, including the combined one, at $99 per 30 days, and not to the SSE-only plan, per the WebSocket page's eligibility list, checked 2026-10-05. If raw frames are in your future, the combined plan keeps the door open; the alerts-only plan does not.
Add the numbers first, then check the ownership and quota cases. For most two-job projects, the combined plan is the arithmetic winner by $49 a month.