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Ably

55
95
+ 1
74
PubNub

249
457
+ 1
238
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PubNub vs ably: What are the differences?

Introduction: In this Markdown code snippet, we will outline the key differences between PubNub and Ably, two popular real-time messaging platforms.

  1. Pricing Models: PubNub follows a "pay-as-you-go" model, where users are charged based on the number of messages sent/received. In contrast, Ably offers a tiered pricing structure with different plans based on usage and features.

  2. Protocol Support: PubNub primarily supports its proprietary PubNub Protocol for real-time communication, while Ably is built on open standards such as MQTT, WebSockets, and SSE, making it more adaptable and interoperable.

  3. Availability of SDKs: PubNub provides SDKs for a wide range of programming languages and platforms, including JavaScript, Python, iOS, and Android. Ably, on the other hand, has SDKs for fewer languages but emphasizes comprehensive documentation and support for developers.

  4. Message Durability: PubNub ensures message delivery through its Storage & Playback feature, allowing users to retrieve missed messages. Ably also offers message persistence through its History API but with some limitations based on the plan.

In Summary, the key differences between PubNub and Ably lie in their pricing models, protocol support, availability of SDKs, and message durability features.

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Pros of Ably
Pros of PubNub
  • 8
    WebSockets
  • 7
    Highly reliable
  • 6
    SSE
  • 6
    Massive scalability
  • 6
    Great technical support
  • 5
    Channel Presence
  • 5
    Free plan
  • 5
    Channel History
  • 5
    Message queueing
  • 5
    Global cloud network of data centers
  • 4
    WebHooks
  • 4
    MQTT
  • 4
    Consistently high performance
  • 4
    Third-party cloud integrations
  • 36
    Massively scalable & easy to use
  • 25
    Easy setup
  • 20
    Reliable
  • 19
    Great support
  • 14
    Flexible to integrate to custom applications
  • 13
    Sockets at Scale
  • 13
    99.999% availability guarantees
  • 13
    High-Performance
  • 12
    High-Reliability
  • 12
    Multiplexing
  • 7
    Scalability
  • 5
    High-Availability
  • 5
    70+ SDKs
  • 4
    Security
  • 4
    Azure Add-on
  • 3
    Heroku Add-on
  • 3
    Presence
  • 3
    Flexible
  • 3
    Easy to setup
  • 2
    Data Streams
  • 2
    Free Plan
  • 2
    Server-Side Cache
  • 2
    PhoneGap Plugin
  • 2
    AngularJS Adapter
  • 2
    Data Sync
  • 2
    Analytics
  • 2
    Support
  • 1
    Easy setup and very reliable
  • 1
    High cost, going up more in Summer '15
  • 1
    Cool
  • 1
    Angular 2+ integration
  • 1
    Documentation, easy to use, great people/service
  • 1
    CTO stephen also is A++++++
  • 1
    Real time and easy to use.
  • 1
    Easy integration with iOS apps

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Cons of Ably
Cons of PubNub
    Be the first to leave a con
    • 1
      Costly

    Sign up to add or upvote consMake informed product decisions

    - No public GitHub repository available -

    What is Ably?

    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.

    What is 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.

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    What companies use Ably?
    What companies use PubNub?
    See which teams inside your own company are using Ably or PubNub.
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    What tools integrate with Ably?
    What tools integrate with PubNub?

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    Blog Posts

    Jan 7 2020 at 5:09PM

    Ably Realtime

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    Oct 3 2019 at 7:13PM

    Ably Realtime

    JavaScriptPythonNode.js+8
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    Vue.jsSpring BootUnity+7
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    JavaScriptPythonPubNub+4
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    What are some alternatives to Ably and PubNub?
    Pusher
    Pusher is the category leader in delightful APIs for app developers building communication and collaboration features.
    Socket.IO
    It enables real-time bidirectional event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.
    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.
    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.
    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.
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