# Ably vs PubNub

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** PubNub

| Attribute | Ably | PubNub |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 75 (73% (medium)) | 80.7 (61% (medium)) |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Ably is a platform providing APIs and SDKs for building real-time features including messaging and chat, with fully managed cloud infrastructure. It is indexed under Realtime Messaging Infra.","source":"https://ably.com","question":"What is Ably?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Ably offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $0.25. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://ably.com/pricing","question":"Is Ably free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Ably supports the web, macOS, iOS, Android and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://ably.com","question":"What platforms does Ably support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Ably, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://ably.com","question":"Can Ably be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 17 integrations for Ably, including AWS Lambda, Microsoft Azure Functions, Google Cloud Functions, Cloudflare Workers, AWS Kinesis, Kafka, RabbitMQ and AMQP, plus 9 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://ably.com/pricing","question":"What does Ably integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR for Ably. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Ably not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://ably.com/security-and-compliance","question":"What security certifications does Ably have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Ably is available in the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia. Its primary markets are the United Kingdom and the United States. The vendor is headquartered in the United Kingdom.","source":"https://ably.com/pricing","question":"Where is Ably available?","confidence":0.75}]` | `[{"answer":"Offers messaging infrastructure for application developers to add chat, presence tracking, and real-time collaboration features. Includes built-in message persistence, push notification delivery, access controls, and runs on a globally distributed network. It is indexed under Realtime Messaging Infra.","source":"https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/","question":"What is PubNub?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PubNub offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $98 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/","question":"Is PubNub free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"PubNub supports iOS and Android. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/","question":"What platforms does PubNub support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for PubNub, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/","question":"Can PubNub be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR for PubNub. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as PubNub not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/","question":"What security certifications does PubNub have?","confidence":0.6}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | Ably is a platform providing APIs and SDKs for building real-time features including messaging and chat, with fully managed cloud infrastructure. | PubNub provides a cloud-based pub/sub messaging service with integrated presence tracking, message playback, access control, and serverless functions running on a global network with 11 points of presence. The platform consolidates multiple communication services into a single SDK and billing model, with options for regional data residency. |
| features.capabilities | `{"presence":true,"deployment":"cloud-hosted","pricing_model":"MAU-metered","global_edge_network":true}` | `{"presence":true,"auth_model":"token/JWT","deployment":"cloud-hosted","pricing_model":"MAU-metered","global_edge_network":true,"message_history_replay":true,"push_notification_bridge":true,"offline_reconnect_catchup":true}` |
| integrations.count | 17 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"AWS Lambda"},{"name":"Microsoft Azure Functions"},{"name":"Google Cloud Functions"},{"name":"Cloudflare Workers"},{"name":"AWS Kinesis"},{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"AMQP"},{"name":"AWS SQS"},{"name":"Pulsar"},{"name":"Zapier"},{"name":"IFTTT"},{"name":"Datadog"},{"name":"BigQuery"},{"name":"Terraform"},{"name":"Netlify"},{"name":"HTTP Webhooks"}]` | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"ios":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"android":true,"windows":true}` | `{"ios":true,"android":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"Free","features":["All Ably products included","Community and email support","No commitment"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Proof of concept development","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"message_size":"64KiB","message_storage":"1 day","concurrent_connections":"200"}},{"free":false,"name":"Standard","summary":"$29/month plus usage charges","features":["1 day email support SLA"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":29,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"messages"},"kind":"metered","amount":2.5,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"channel_minutes"},"kind":"metered","amount":1,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.25,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Production deployment","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$399/month plus usage charges","features":["4 hour email support SLA","Datadog lite monitoring"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":399,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"messages"},"kind":"metered","amount":2.5,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"channel_minutes"},"kind":"metered","amount":1,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.25,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Business critical workloads","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing","features":["24/7 mission critical support","99.999% uptime SLA","Committed use discounts","Datadog integration","SSO and SCIM","CNAME custom domain","Architectural guidance","Regional data routing","Dedicated cluster"],"contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free tier available. Paid plans start at $29/month with per-million message and channel minute billing.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://ably.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-19T18:25:09.786Z","startingPrice":{"amount":29,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","features":["Presence tracking","Chat","Push notifications","Message history","Access control","File sharing"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Development and testing tier with basic features","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"MAU":"200","storage":"1GB for 7 days","function_calls":"1M/month","push_notifications":"1M/month"}},{"free":false,"name":"Starter","features":["User management","Insights","6-month chat history","Advanced analytics","99.999% SLA","Custom integrations","Standard support"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":98,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Production tier for live applications with core features and 6-month message history","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"MAU":"1000","chat_storage":"6 months"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","features":["Unlimited chat storage","Custom allowances","Volume discounts","Premium support options","All Starter features"],"components":[{"kind":"per_unit","unit":"MAU","amount":0.04,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Enterprise tier with usage-based pricing. Tier 1 (up to 10K MAU): $130 base + $0.04/MAU capped at $550. Tier 2 (10K-50K): $500 base + $0.035/additional MAU. Tier 3 (50K+): custom pricing with volume discounts.","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free tier with up to 200 MAU. Starter at $98/month for 1,000 MAU. Pro with tiered usage-based pricing starting around $370/month for 5,000 MAU.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-09-05T21:13:29.281Z","startingPrice":{"amount":98,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | high |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":29,"currency":"USD"}` | `{"amount":98,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.999 | 99.999 |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"ISO 27001","status":"active"},{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","status":"active"},{"name":"SOC 3","status":"active"}]` |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | yes |
| security.iso27001 | - | yes |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |

## Capabilities (Realtime Messaging Infra)

| Capability | Ably | PubNub |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Presence | ✓ | ✓ |
| Message history replay | - | ✓ |
| Delivery guarantee | - | - |
| Global edge network | ✓ | ✓ |
| Scaling model | - | - |
| Offline reconnect catchup | - | ✓ |
| Push notification bridge | - | ✓ |
| Auth model | - | Token/JWT |
| Self hostable | - | - |
| Mqtt support | - | - |
| Deployment | Cloud hosted | Cloud hosted |
| Pricing model | MAU metered | MAU metered |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:10:53.960Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*