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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Platform as a Service
  4. Realtime Backend API
  5. Back4App vs ably

Back4App vs ably

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Ably
Ably
Stacks63
Followers98
Votes96
GitHub Stars351
Forks63
Back4App
Back4App
Stacks31
Followers120
Votes18

ably vs Back4App: What are the differences?

Developers describe ably as "A platform that makes it easy for you to add realtime messaging, notifications and streaming data to your applications". It enables any internet enabled device on the planet to publish data streams to any number of subscribers in milliseconds. Our infrastructure spans over 20 data centres globally ensuring low latency performance, redundant storage of all data and commitment to meet our guaranteed quality of service promise. On the other hand, Back4App is detailed as "An easy-to-use, flexible and scalable backend based on Parse Platform". It allows developers to create apps faster building the backend with no code, host with no infrastructure hassles and scale with no technical locks.

ably and Back4App belong to "Realtime Backend / API" category of the tech stack.

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CLI (Node.js)
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Manual

Detailed Comparison

Ably
Ably
Back4App
Back4App

Ably offers WebSockets, stream resume, history, presence, and managed third-party integrations to make it simple to build, extend, and deliver digital realtime experiences at scale.

Back4app accelerates backend development, improves development productivity, reduces time to market, and let you scale applications without managing infrastructure.

Pub/Sub Channels API: built-in user presence, message history, token auth, guaranteed message ordering, stream continuity; Protocol Adapters API: stream data over open protocols like WebSockets, MQTT, SSE, and more; Reactor API: link your other systems to Ably so you can use your existing compute to queue and consume high volumes of realtime messages in bulk, transform or filter messages by executing functions on them, or pass messages on to other systems for onward processing; A unified API to provide native push notifications using APNS and GCM; Data Stream Network: Ably's cloud network of 16+ datacenters and 175+ PoPs.
Database API Serveless Functions Authentication Notifications
Statistics
GitHub Stars
351
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Forks
63
GitHub Forks
-
Stacks
63
Stacks
31
Followers
98
Followers
120
Votes
96
Votes
18
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 10
    WebSockets
  • 9
    Highly reliable
  • 8
    Massive scalability
  • 8
    SSE
  • 8
    Great technical support
Pros
  • 3
    Graphql support
  • 2
    Great documentation
  • 2
    Fastest and most complete backend as a service
  • 2
    Open source backend as a service
  • 2
    Easily clone an app
Integrations
PHP
PHP
Java
Java
Objective-C
Objective-C
React Native
React Native
Swift
Swift
Unity
Unity
Ruby
Ruby
Node.js
Node.js
JavaScript
JavaScript
.NET
.NET
Objective-C
Objective-C
Swift
Swift
Xamarin
Xamarin
JavaScript
JavaScript
GraphQL
GraphQL
Android OS
Android OS

What are some alternatives to Ably, Back4App?

Firebase

Firebase

Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications. Simply add the Firebase library to your application to gain access to a shared data structure; any changes you make to that data are automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients within milliseconds.

Socket.IO

Socket.IO

It enables real-time bidirectional event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.

PubNub

PubNub

PubNub makes it easy for you to add real-time capabilities to your apps, without worrying about the infrastructure. Build apps that allow your users to engage in real-time across mobile, browser, desktop and server.

Pusher

Pusher

Pusher is the category leader in delightful APIs for app developers building communication and collaboration features.

SignalR

SignalR

SignalR allows bi-directional communication between server and client. Servers can now push content to connected clients instantly as it becomes available. SignalR supports Web Sockets, and falls back to other compatible techniques for older browsers. SignalR includes APIs for connection management (for instance, connect and disconnect events), grouping connections, and authorization.

Syncano

Syncano

Syncano is a backend platform to build powerful real-time apps more efficiently. Integrate with any API, minimize boilerplate code and control your data - all from one place.

NATS

NATS

Unlike traditional enterprise messaging systems, NATS has an always-on dial tone that does whatever it takes to remain available. This forms a great base for building modern, reliable, and scalable cloud and distributed systems.

SocketCluster

SocketCluster

SocketCluster is a fast, highly scalable HTTP + realtime server engine which lets you build multi-process realtime servers that make use of all CPU cores on a machine/instance. It removes the limitations of having to run your Node.js server as a single thread and makes your backend resilient by automatically recovering from worker crashes and aggregating errors into a central log.

deepstream.io

deepstream.io

Scalable Server for Realtime Web Apps with JSON structures that can be read, manipulated and listened to, messages that can be sent to one or more subscribers, and request response workflows, between two clients or servers.

8base

8base

A cloud service designed to power enterprise-grade web and mobile applications that require support for large numbers of users, complex data and transactional requirements, comprehensive role-based security and a modern look-and-feel.

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