StackShareStackShare
Follow on
StackShare

Discover and share technology stacks from companies around the world.

Follow on

© 2025 StackShare. All rights reserved.

Product

  • Stacks
  • Tools
  • Feed

Company

  • About
  • Contact

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Platform as a Service
  4. Realtime Backend API
  5. Pusher vs actioncable

Pusher vs actioncable

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Pusher
Pusher
Stacks618
Followers1.4K
Votes234
actioncable
actioncable
Stacks26
Followers2
Votes1

Pusher vs actioncable: What are the differences?

Introduction:

Pusher and ActionCable are both real-time web technologies that facilitate communication between clients and servers. However, there are key differences between the two that developers need to consider when choosing between them.

  1. Protocol Support: Pusher uses its proprietary protocol, while ActionCable is based on the WebSocket protocol. This means that developers may have more flexibility and control over the communication process when using ActionCable, as it follows a standard protocol widely supported by modern browsers.

  2. Scalability: Pusher is a hosted service that offers scalability out of the box, while ActionCable requires developers to set up their own infrastructure for scalability. This means that developers using Pusher can rely on the service's infrastructure to handle high loads, whereas developers using ActionCable need to implement their own scaling solutions.

  3. Cost: Pusher is a paid service with different pricing tiers based on usage, while ActionCable is free and open source as part of the Ruby on Rails framework. While Pusher may offer more features and support, this comes with a cost that may not be feasible for all projects.

  4. Ease of Use: Pusher is known for its ease of use and minimal setup required to get started with real-time communication, making it a popular choice for developers looking for a quick integration. On the other hand, setting up and configuring ActionCable may require more effort and technical knowledge, especially for developers new to the technology.

  5. Customization: Pusher offers a wide range of real-time features and integrations, making it suitable for a variety of use cases. ActionCable, being open source, allows for more customization and flexibility in implementing specific real-time communication features tailored to the project's needs.

  6. Community Support: ActionCable benefits from being part of the larger Ruby on Rails community, with resources, tutorials, and forums readily available for developers. Pusher, while having its own community and support channels, may not offer the same level of resources and expertise as the larger Ruby on Rails community supporting ActionCable.

In Summary, Pusher and ActionCable offer different approaches to real-time web communication, with Pusher providing ease of use and scalability out of the box at a cost, while ActionCable offers customization, protocol support, and community support for free as part of the Ruby on Rails framework.

Share your Stack

Help developers discover the tools you use. Get visibility for your team's tech choices and contribute to the community's knowledge.

View Docs
CLI (Node.js)
or
Manual

Detailed Comparison

Pusher
Pusher
actioncable
actioncable

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

Ruby on Rails

Easily build scalable in-app notifications, chat, realtime graphs, geotracking and more in your web & mobile apps with our hosted pub/sub messaging API.;Send programmable push notifications to iOS and Android devices with delivery and open rate tracking built in.;Easily add 1-1 and group Chat to your web & mobile apps. Presence, message storage, rich media, notifications, typing indicators and more.;Embed a realtime collaborative editor in your app in seconds to empower your users to do more, together.
-
Statistics
Stacks
618
Stacks
26
Followers
1.4K
Followers
2
Votes
234
Votes
1
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 55
    An easy way to give customers realtime features
  • 40
    Websockets
  • 34
    Simple
  • 27
    Easy to get started with
  • 25
    Free plan
Cons
  • 11
    Costly
Pros
  • 1
    Websockets
Integrations
Slack
Slack
Datadog
Datadog
Librato
Librato
No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Pusher, actioncable?

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.

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.

Ably

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.

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.

Related Comparisons

Bootstrap
Materialize

Bootstrap vs Materialize

Laravel
Django

Django vs Laravel vs Node.js

Bootstrap
Foundation

Bootstrap vs Foundation vs Material UI

Node.js
Spring Boot

Node.js vs Spring-Boot

Liquibase
Flyway

Flyway vs Liquibase