# EMQX vs PubNub

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** PubNub

| Attribute | EMQX | PubNub |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 65.2 (74% (medium)) | 80.7 (61% (medium)) |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"An enterprise MQTT broker and platform that enables scalable, real-time data collection and routing from IoT devices across edge, cloud, and on-premises deployments. It provides native integrations with AI platforms, databases, and cloud services, along with advanced features like rule engines and flexible authentication. It is indexed under Realtime Messaging Infra.","source":"https://www.emqx.com/en/pricing","question":"What is EMQX?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"EMQX offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $234 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.emqx.com/en/pricing","question":"Is EMQX free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"EMQX supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.emqx.com/en/pricing","question":"What platforms does EMQX support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. EMQX can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.emqx.com/en/pricing","question":"Can EMQX be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 23 integrations for EMQX, including Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, AWS, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini and ClickHouse, plus 15 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.emqx.com/en/pricing","question":"What does EMQX integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR for EMQX. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as EMQX not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.emqx.com/zh/security-and-trust-center","question":"What security certifications does EMQX have?","confidence":0.7}]` | `[{"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,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | EMQX is an MQTT-based message broker designed to connect and manage millions of IoT devices in real time. It supports multiple deployment models (cloud-hosted, self-managed, and bring-your-own-cloud), comprehensive protocol support beyond MQTT, and integrations with 50+ external systems for data routing and processing. | 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 | `{"mqtt_support":true,"pricing_model":"connections-metered","scaling_model":"native-cluster","self_hostable":true,"delivery_guarantee":"exactly-once","global_edge_network":true,"message_history_replay":true,"offline_reconnect_catchup":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 | 50 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Microsoft Azure"},{"name":"Google Cloud"},{"name":"Oracle Cloud"},{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Anthropic"},{"name":"Google Gemini"},{"name":"ClickHouse"},{"name":"Snowflake"},{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"Pulsar"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"InfluxDB"},{"name":"TDengine"},{"name":"TimescaleDB"},{"name":"BigQuery"},{"name":"S3"},{"name":"Azure Blob"},{"name":"Confluent Cloud"},{"name":"Webhook"},{"name":"Amazon S3","native":true,"category":"storage","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Azure Blob Storage","native":true,"category":"storage","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Azure","native":true,"category":"cloud"}]` | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"ios":true,"android":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Serverless","summary":"Free quota, pay-as-you-go overage","features":["Up to 1000 connections","TLS/SSL encryption","Basic monitoring & alerts","8/5 support"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Fully managed, pay-as-you-go MQTT broker with generous free monthly quota","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"connections":"1000","free_monthly_quota":"sessions, traffic, rule actions"}},{"free":false,"name":"Dedicated Flex","summary":"$234/month with included traffic allowance","features":["Dedicated isolated cluster","VPC peering & private link","40+ integrations","99.99% uptime SLA","24/7 premium support"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":234,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Single-tenant isolated cluster with hourly billing and included traffic","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"tenant_isolation":"dedicated VPC","traffic_allowance":"included"}},{"free":false,"name":"BYOC","summary":"Custom pricing based on requirements","features":["Deployed in your VPC","Custom data plane & control plane","Managed upgrades and observability","Compliance tailored to your needs"],"description":"EMQ-managed service running in your cloud infrastructure","contactSales":true},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing for self-managed deployments","features":["Deploy anywhere (on-prem, edge, cloud)","Custom plugins & extensions","Professional services","Priority feature requests"],"commitment":"annual","description":"Self-managed deployment for full infrastructure control","contactSales":true}],"summary":"From free tier to $234/month managed, or custom enterprise pricing","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.emqx.com/en/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-09-05T21:09:09.294Z","freeTrialDays":14,"startingPrice":{"amount":234,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` | `{"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 | high | high |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":234,"currency":"USD"}` | `{"amount":98,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | 99.999 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.certifications | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type 1","status":"active"},{"name":"SOC 2 Type 2","status":"active"},{"name":"ISO/IEC 27001:2022","status":"active"},{"name":"ISO/IEC 27701:2019","status":"active"},{"name":"ISO/IEC 20000-1:2018","status":"active"},{"name":"ISO 9001:2015","status":"active"},{"name":"VDA-TISAX AL2","status":"active"}]` | `[{"name":"ISO 27001","status":"active"},{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","status":"active"},{"name":"SOC 3","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | yes |
| security.iso27001 | yes | yes |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |
| security.trust_center | https://www.emqx.com/ja/security-and-trust-center | - |

## Capabilities (Realtime Messaging Infra)

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

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:18:42.017Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*