Knock
Knock is an API-first customer engagement infrastructure platform that enables product, engineering, and marketing teams to orchestrate notifications across email, SMS, push, chat, and in-app channels via workflow automation and AI messaging agents.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2021
- HeadquartersBrooklyn, United States
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Knock does
Knock is a customer engagement infrastructure platform that enables product, engineering, and marketing teams to send notifications across email, SMS, push, chat, and in-app channels from a single API-first system. Founded in 2021 and headquartered in Brooklyn, the company serves over 200 enterprises including Vercel, Webflow, Medium, Amplitude, and Gorgias, processing hundreds of millions of messages per month. The platform is purpose-built to replace fragmented notification infrastructure that teams typically assemble from multiple providers, with a hybrid product-led growth and enterprise field sales motion.
The core technology combines a visual workflow orchestration engine with multi-channel message delivery, component-first in-app messaging (Guides), and an AI Messaging Agents layer for real-time qualification and personalization. The platform exposes 60+ native integrations across channels (SendGrid, Twilio, APNS, Slack, Teams, WhatsApp), data sources (Segment, Hightouch, Census), and observability tools (Datadog, New Relic). Developer tooling includes SDKs in eight languages (Node, Python, Ruby, Go, Java, Dotnet, Elixir, PHP), a CLI, and a Model Context Protocol server for AI IDE integration. Knock holds SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR, and CCPA certifications, with multi-tenancy, white-labeling, and SCIM directory sync available on the Enterprise tier.
Knock operates a tiered subscription model: a free Developer tier ($0/month with 10K messages), a Starter tier at $250/month, and custom Enterprise contracts with volume-based pricing. Revenue is generated through base subscriptions plus usage-based charges for messages, guide active users, and AI agent credits beyond included volumes. The company has raised $18 million in total funding, comprising a $6 million seed round and a $12 million Series A led by Craft Ventures in February 2024, with additional participation from Afore Capital, Expa, Preface Ventures, Tokyo Black, and Worklife. Leadership includes CEO Sam Seely and CTO (CXO) Chris Bell.
Knock firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Knock
- Legal name
- Knock, Inc.
- Website
- https://knock.app
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2021
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- Knock is an API-first customer engagement infrastructure platform that enables product, engineering, and marketing teams to orchestrate notifications across email, SMS, push, chat, and in-app channels via workflow automation and AI messaging agents.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Knock industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Customer Engagement Infrastructure
- SIC
- Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Conversational AI Platforms (chat/voice bots, orchestration) (HDAAAFAC)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Enterprise/Team Messaging (BPAMACAB), Conversational Marketing & Chat Lead Capture (Chatbots, Live Chat) (BPAFAKAJ)
Keywords
Where Knock is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Brooklyn
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Markets served
Knock business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Platform Subscription + Usage: Subscription-based model with tiered pricing (Developer $0, Starter $250/mo, Enterprise custom) plus consumption-based charges for messages sent beyond included volume, guide active users, and AI agent credits. Revenue primarily from volume-based pricing at scale.
- Message Volume Billing: Usage-based billing for messages sent across workflows and broadcasts. Developer plan includes 10K messages free, Starter includes 50K messages at $0.005/each additional. Enterprise uses volume-based negotiated pricing.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Free tier for developers to test and evaluate the platform |
| Subscription | Monthly | Paid tier for teams scaling cross-channel notifications |
| Subscription | Annual | Custom enterprise pricing for high-volume organizations |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels5 records
Knock product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Knock is a customer engagement infrastructure platform that unifies product, marketing, and transactional messaging across email, SMS, push, in-app, and chat channels. Its product suite centers on Workflows (orchestration engine), Guides (component-first in-app messaging), Broadcasts (mass messaging), and Agents (AI messaging automation), supported by SDKs across eight languages, a CLI, and an MCP server. The platform enables engineering, product, and marketing teams to ship, version, and scale messaging without building in-house notification infrastructure.
Product overview
Knock is a customer engagement infrastructure platform that unifies product, marketing, and transactional messaging across email, SMS, push, chat, and in-app channels. The platform operates as a unified system with the core Workflows engine for orchestrating multi-channel messaging journeys, complemented by Guides for component-first in-app messaging, Broadcasts for one-time announcements, and Agents for AI-powered messaging automation. Supporting features include Template Management (AI-powered template creation), Preferences (notification management), and Observability + Analytics (monitoring and insights). The platform provides channel-specific solutions for in-app, email, SMS, push, and chat notifications, with dedicated developer tools (CLI, MCP Server, SDKs) and enterprise-grade features including tenant branding, internationalization, and SCIM provisioning. Pricing tiers include Developer (free), Starter ($250/month), and Enterprise (custom pricing).
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Knock Agents: AI-powered messaging agents that can be triggered from dashboard, Slack, Claude, and more for building, deploying, and iterating messaging workflows
- Knock Guides
- Knock CLI
Products and services
- Workflows
Quantifiable outcome
- 27% improvement in customer service first response time
- +4 more outcomes
Companies that use Knock
Customer profileNamed customers7 records
Segments3 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Knock technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- Yes
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration31 records
AI capability5 records
Feature7 records
Knock partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Knock competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Customer.io: Customer.io is a direct peer offering a customer engagement platform for sending behavior-driven emails, push notifications, in-app messages, and SMS using visual workflows. Like Knock, it targets product and growth teams with developer-friendly APIs and segment-based messaging, making it the closest functional comparable.
- OneSignal: OneSignal provides cross-channel messaging infrastructure (push, email, SMS, in-app) with developer-first APIs and SDKs. It directly competes with Knock's notification orchestration layer, particularly for mobile-first and SMB developers at similar price points.
- Iterable: Iterable is a cross-channel marketing and customer engagement platform with workflow orchestration, AI-driven content, and personalization. It directly competes with Knock for mid-market and enterprise messaging budgets, though Iterable operates at larger scale with broader journey orchestration.
- Attentive: Attentive is a direct peer in cross-channel messaging with a strong SMS-first focus, expanding into email and push. It competes for similar marketing-operations budgets and overlaps with Knock on multi-channel orchestration for retail and DTC use cases.
Broad incumbents
- Twilio: Twilio is the underlying infrastructure provider (via Segment and SendGrid) that Knock integrates with for message delivery. It competes broadly as a developer-first communications platform, though its core offering is raw APIs rather than orchestration — making it more of an incumbent infrastructure competitor.
- Braze: Braze is a public customer engagement platform with messaging across email, push, SMS, in-app, and content cards. As a much larger incumbent with deeper enterprise penetration and broader personalization capabilities, it competes with Knock for enterprise messaging workloads while offering a significantly wider product surface.
- Klaviyo: Klaviyo is a public customer engagement and marketing automation platform strong in ecommerce. It overlaps with Knock on email and SMS orchestration for growth and marketing teams, though it is a broader incumbent with stronger SMB and mid-market positioning.
Emerging players
- Cordial: Cordial is a cross-channel messaging platform focused on orchestrating email, SMS, push, and in-app with a data-first approach. It competes with Knock for marketing operations and growth team workloads, particularly with mid-market brands prioritizing data unification.
- MagicBell: MagicBell is an emerging notification infrastructure platform offering in-app, email, push, and SMS with a notification center focus. It overlaps with Knock's Knock Guides and in-app channel capabilities, making it a niche competitor particularly for product teams prioritizing in-app inbox experiences.
- Pusher (Beams): Pusher, with its Beams product, provides hosted push notifications for iOS, Android, and web alongside real-time messaging infrastructure. It overlaps with Knock's push channel capabilities and developer-first delivery model, though with a narrower feature surface than Knock's orchestration engine.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Knock social profiles
Digital presenceKnock compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance5 records
Knock financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Knock leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles3 records
Knock funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors6 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Knock M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Knock
What does Knock do?
Knock is a customer engagement infrastructure platform that unifies product, marketing, and transactional messaging across email, SMS, push, in-app, and chat channels. Its product suite centers on Workflows (orchestration engine), Guides (component-first in-app messaging), Broadcasts (mass messaging), and Agents (AI messaging automation), supported by SDKs across eight languages, a CLI, and an MCP server. The platform enables engineering, product, and marketing teams to ship, version, and scale messaging without building in-house notification infrastructure.
Is Knock a public or private company?
Knock is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Knock founded?
Knock was founded in 2021. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Knock based?
Knock is headquartered in Brooklyn, United States, in the North America region.
How does Knock make money?
Two revenue lines are on record. Platform Subscription + Usage is the primary driver. The others are message Volume Billing.
Who are Knock's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Customer.io, OneSignal, Iterable and Attentive. Broad incumbents are Twilio, Braze and Klaviyo. Emerging players are Cordial, MagicBell and Pusher (Beams).
Does Knock have an API?
Yes. Knock offers a Management API and client-facing API for triggering workflows, managing templates, preferences, users, and objects. The API supports typed schemas for data validation, workflow triggers, and full lifecycle management. Available SDKs in Node, Python, Ruby, Go, Java, Dotnet, Elixir, and PHP. Also features a CLI tool and MCP server for AI IDE integration. Developer documentation is at docs.knock.app.
What industry is Knock in?
Knock's product category is Customer Engagement Infrastructure. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HDAAAFAC, Conversational AI Platforms (chat/voice bots, orchestration), with a secondary code of BPAMACAB, Enterprise/Team Messaging. Its SIC code is 7372.