Comparison

EMQX vs Pusher Channels

On the evidence we track, EMQX leads this comparison with a composite score of 65/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
★EMQX65
Pusher Channels51
Score
vioscaleAI score
EMQX65 / 100medium · 74%
Pusher Channels51 / 100medium · 61%
Pricing
Free tier
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✓
Model
Pusher Channelsfreemium
Price level
EMQXhigh
Pusher Channelsmid
Starting price
EMQX$234
Pusher Channels$49
Transparent
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✓
Integrations
Count
EMQX50
Pusher Channels2
Security
Disclosure policy
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels–
Gdpr
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✓
Hipaa
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✓
Iso27001
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✓
Soc2
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels–
Trust center
Reliability
Sla pct
EMQX99.99
Pusher Channels–
Status page
EMQX–
Pusher Channels✓
Market
Content
Faq
Pusher Channels6 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for realtime messaging infra. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capabilities
Presence
EMQX-
Pusher Channels-
Message history replay
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels-
Delivery guarantee
EMQXExactly once
Pusher Channels-
Global edge network
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels-
Scaling model
EMQXNative cluster
Pusher Channels-
Offline reconnect catchup
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels-
Push notification bridge
EMQX-
Pusher Channels-
Auth model
EMQX-
Pusher Channels-
Self hostable
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels-
Mqtt support
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels-
Deployment
EMQX-
Pusher Channels-
Pricing model
EMQXConnections metered
Pusher Channels-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

EMQX

Leader

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.

Independently observed

Pusher Channels

A platform delivering APIs that enable real-time communication and collaboration functionality in applications, with SDKs available for web browsers, mobile devices, and backend servers.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

EMQX

Leader
from $234/moHybridFree tier14-day trial

From free tier to $234/month managed, or custom enterprise pricing

  • ServerlessFree
    • Up to 1000 connections
    • TLS/SSL encryption
    • Basic monitoring & alerts
    • 8/5 support
  • Dedicated Flex$234/month with included traffic allowance
    • Dedicated isolated cluster
    • VPC peering & private link
    • 40+ integrations
    • 99.99% uptime SLA
    • 24/7 premium support
  • BYOCContact sales
    • Deployed in your VPC
    • Custom data plane & control plane
    • Managed upgrades and observability
    • Compliance tailored to your needs
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • Deploy anywhere (on-prem, edge, cloud)
    • Custom plugins & extensions
    • Professional services
    • Priority feature requests
as of verify ↗

Pusher Channels

from $49/moSubscriptionFree tier

From $49/month for Startup plan. Free Sandbox tier available.

  • SandboxFree
    • Standard support
  • Startup$49/month
  • Pro$99/month
    • Monitoring integrations
  • Business$299/month
  • Premium$499/month
    • Premium support
  • Growth$699/month
    • Annual price discount
  • Plus$899/month
  • Growth Plus$1,199/month
    • Premium customer support
  • EnterpriseContact sales
    • Custom plan
    • Outstanding uptime
    • Top-tier support
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✓
iOS
EMQX✗
Pusher Channels✓
Android
EMQX✗
Pusher Channels✓
CLI
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✗
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✓
Self-hosted
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✗
On-premise
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✗
Hybrid
EMQX✓
Pusher Channels✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

EMQX

Leader
26 total
  • 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
  • Amazon S3
  • +2 more
Independently observed

Pusher Channels

2 total
  • Librato
  • Datadog
Independently observed
Still deciding?

EMQX or Pusher Channels: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.