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

Ably vs ws

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Ably
Ably
Stacks63
Followers98
Votes96
GitHub Stars351
Forks63
ws
ws
Stacks1.2K
Followers190
Votes0
GitHub Stars22.5K
Forks2.5K

Ably vs ws: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Ably and ws are both protocols used for real-time communication over the web. Here are the key differences between Ably and ws:

  1. Message Queuing: Ably offers message queuing as a built-in feature, allowing messages to be queued and delivered in the correct order even when clients reconnect. On the other hand, ws does not provide built-in message queuing capabilities, making it less suitable for applications that require strict ordering of messages.

  2. Presence Information: Ably provides presence information out of the box, which allows clients to know who else is connected to a channel. In contrast, ws does not have native support for presence information, making it harder for applications to manage user presence in real-time scenarios.

  3. Scalability: Ably is designed for high scalability by providing a globally distributed network of data centers for low-latency messaging. While ws can be used in scalable setups, it does not offer the same level of global scalability as Ably.

  4. Reliability: Ably guarantees message delivery using a combination of redundant infrastructure and failover mechanisms. In comparison, ws is a simple WebSocket protocol that does not provide built-in mechanisms for ensuring message delivery reliability.

  5. Authentication and Authorization: Ably offers robust authentication and authorization mechanisms, allowing developers to control access to channels and messages effectively. Conversely, ws is a basic WebSocket protocol that lacks advanced authentication features provided by Ably.

  6. SDK Support: Ably provides SDKs for various programming languages and platforms, making it easier for developers to integrate real-time messaging into their applications. On the other hand, ws is a protocol that requires developers to handle low-level WebSocket communications without the convenience of SDKs for different environments.

In Summary, Ably offers advanced features such as message queuing, presence information, scalability, reliability, authentication, and SDK support, which set it apart from the basic WebSocket protocol ws.

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Detailed Comparison

Ably
Ably
ws
ws

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.

It is a simple to use, blazing fast, and thoroughly tested WebSocket client and server implementation.

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.
Simple to use;Blazing fast;WebSocket client and server for Node.js
Statistics
GitHub Stars
351
GitHub Stars
22.5K
GitHub Forks
63
GitHub Forks
2.5K
Stacks
63
Stacks
1.2K
Followers
98
Followers
190
Votes
96
Votes
0
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 10
    WebSockets
  • 9
    Highly reliable
  • 8
    Massive scalability
  • 8
    SSE
  • 8
    Great technical support
No community feedback yet
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
Node.js
Node.js

What are some alternatives to Ably, ws?

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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