EMQX vs PubNub
On the evidence we track, PubNub leads this comparison with a composite score of 75/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for realtime messaging infra. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
EMQX
An MQTT-based infrastructure platform that enables real-time communication between numerous IoT devices and cloud systems, with built-in data processing, 50+ integrations to enterprise backends, and AI agent capabilities for autonomous device monitoring and control.
PubNub
LeaderPubNub provides APIs and SDKs for building real-time interactive application features. It manages cloud infrastructure for messaging, presence tracking, and push notifications while handling compliance, security, and global scaling requirements.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
EMQX
Free tier available. Tiered subscription model with different SLA levels (99.9% and 99.99%). Pricing not transparently displayed.
- Standard-
- Enterprise-
PubNub
LeaderFree tier for development (200 MAU). Starter at $98/month (1,000 MAU). Pro uses tiered monthly active user pricing from $370/month with annual discounts available.
- FreeFree
- Up to 200 Monthly Active Users
- 1 million function calls per month
- 1GB data storage (7 days retention)
- 1 million push notifications per month
- No credit card required
- Starter$98/month including 1,000 MAU
- 1,000 Monthly Active Users included
- 99.999% uptime SLA
- SAML SSO
- HIPAA compliance with BAA
- Bizops Workspace for user and channel management
- +3 more
- ProContact sales
- Usage-based pricing: Tier 1 (up to 10K MAU), Tier 2 (10K-50K MAU), Tier 3 (50K+ MAU)
- Enterprise features included
- 99.999% uptime SLA
- SAML SSO
- HIPAA compliance
- +8 more
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
EMQX
- Microsoft Azure
- Google Cloud
- Oracle Cloud
- AWS
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- Google Gemini
- ClickHouse
- Snowflake
- Kafka
- Pulsar
- RabbitMQ
- MySQL
- PostgreSQL
- MongoDB
- InfluxDB
- TDengine
- TimescaleDB
- BigQuery
- S3
- Azure Blob
- Confluent Cloud
- Webhook
PubNub
LeaderNot documented yet.
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.