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Google Cloud Pub/Sub

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Google Cloud Pub/Sub vs PubNub: What are the differences?

Introduction:

In this article, we will explore the key differences between Google Cloud Pub/Sub and PubNub, two popular messaging platforms. It is important to understand these differences in order to make an informed choice when selecting a messaging solution for your application.

  1. Scalability and Performance: Google Cloud Pub/Sub is designed as a highly scalable and reliable messaging service. It can handle massive amounts of data without compromising performance. On the other hand, PubNub is also designed for scalability but has limitations in terms of the maximum number of messages per second it can handle.

  2. Global Coverage: Google Cloud Pub/Sub has a global infrastructure that allows messages to be published and received from any location worldwide. This ensures low latency and high availability. In contrast, PubNub has multiple data centers globally but may not have the same level of global coverage as Google Cloud Pub/Sub.

  3. Integration with Other Google Cloud Services: Google Cloud Pub/Sub seamlessly integrates with other Google Cloud services, such as Cloud Functions, Dataflow, and BigQuery. This makes it easy to build complex workflows and data processing pipelines. PubNub, although it provides integration options, may not have the same level of compatibility with Google Cloud services.

  4. Security and Compliance: Google Cloud Pub/Sub offers advanced security features, including fine-grained access control, encryption at rest and in transit, and compliance certifications such as ISO, SOC, and HIPAA. PubNub also provides security features but may not have the same level of compliance certifications or granular access control as Google Cloud Pub/Sub.

  5. Message Retention and At-Least-Once Delivery: Google Cloud Pub/Sub retains messages for up to seven days by default, ensuring message durability and allowing late subscribers to receive missed messages. It also guarantees at-least-once delivery, meaning every message will be received by subscribers at least once. PubNub also provides message retention and delivery guarantees, but the specific retention period and delivery guarantees may vary.

  6. Pricing Model: Google Cloud Pub/Sub offers a pricing model based on data volume, number of operations, and network egress. This allows for cost optimization based on usage patterns. PubNub, on the other hand, uses a different pricing model based on the number of daily active devices and the amount of data transferred. The pricing models may differ in terms of cost predictability and scalability.

In summary, Google Cloud Pub/Sub and PubNub differ in terms of scalability, global coverage, integration with other services, security and compliance features, message retention and delivery guarantees, and pricing model. Understanding these differences will help you choose the messaging platform that best suits your application's requirements.

Advice on Google Cloud Pub/Sub and PubNub
Needs advice
on
AblyAblyPubNubPubNub
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PusherPusher

I am building an IoT application that will utilize connected air quality sensors to provide real-time indoor air quality in offices. I want to be able to share this data with a few different databases, etc.

Wondering if anyone has any advice on which real-time streaming API would be best for this sort of application, or even how I should think about it?

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Replies (2)
Ben Gamble
Recommends
on
AblyAbly

For IoT, we support MQTT along with websockets and SSE. The pattern you're suggesting that involves harvesting data from devices and soaking into a database is easy to achieve with one of the Ably integrations (Serverless functions/webhook) . Here are some tutorials to do things like this: https://ably.com/tutorials/reactor-event-zapier#step2-mqtt-ably

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Philip Rossen
Recommends
on
PusherPusher
at

We use Pusher at www.justlearn.com. It works fine. When you reach more users, Pusher gets expensive. We use Pusher for live chat between users. Their software is easy to use. We have had issues with auth on Pusher.

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Pros of Google Cloud Pub/Sub
Pros of PubNub
  • 9
    Easy to set-up and start with
  • 2
    A great choice for microservice architecture
  • 2
    Efficient and practical for complex systems
  • 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 Google Cloud Pub/Sub
Cons of PubNub
  • 2
    Need integration with stackdriver for monitoring
  • 1
    Costly

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What is Google Cloud Pub/Sub?

Cloud Pub/Sub is a fully-managed real-time messaging service that allows you to send and receive messages between independent applications. You can leverage Cloud Pub/Sub’s flexibility to decouple systems and components hosted on Google Cloud Platform or elsewhere on the Internet.

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 Google Cloud Pub/Sub?
What companies use PubNub?
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What tools integrate with Google Cloud Pub/Sub?
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What are some alternatives to Google Cloud Pub/Sub and PubNub?
Kafka
Kafka is a distributed, partitioned, replicated commit log service. It provides the functionality of a messaging system, but with a unique design.
RabbitMQ
RabbitMQ gives your applications a common platform to send and receive messages, and your messages a safe place to live until received.
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
It enables real-time bidirectional event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.
ws
It is a simple to use, blazing fast, and thoroughly tested WebSocket client and server implementation.
See all alternatives