# PubNub vs Pusher Channels

**Leader by Vioscale score:** PubNub

| Attribute | PubNub | Pusher Channels |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 74.5 (51% (medium)) | 56.2 (62% (medium)) |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | PubNub 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. | Pusher Channels provides cloud-based WebSocket infrastructure that allows developers to build real-time features such as live dashboards, presence awareness, and collaborative editing without managing underlying network complexity. |
| integrations.count | - | 2 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Librato"},{"name":"Datadog"}]` |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"GB","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"ios":true,"web":true,"android":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"Free forever for development","features":["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"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For development and testing purposes","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"mau":"200","data_storage_gb_days":"1GB (7 days)","function_calls_per_month":"1M","push_notifications_per_month":"1M"}},{"free":false,"name":"Starter","summary":"$98/month including 1,000 MAU","features":["1,000 Monthly Active Users included","99.999% uptime SLA","SAML SSO","HIPAA compliance with BAA","Bizops Workspace for user and channel management","Advanced analytics and monitoring","Custom integrations","Standard support"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":98,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Production-ready with user and channel management","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"mau":"1000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"Tier 1 (up to 10K MAU): $370–$550/month. Tier 2 (10K–50K): from $750/month. Tier 3 (50K+): custom pricing with volume discounts. Annual billing available.","features":["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","Mobile Push Notifications","Access Manager with fine-grained access control","Functions for programmable infrastructure","Event Management for third-party integrations","Real-time analytics and automated decisioning","Content moderation and fraud detection capabilities","Unlimited chat storage","Premium support options"],"description":"Enterprise-scale with tiered usage-based pricing on Monthly Active Users","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Illuminate"}],"summary":"Free 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.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-19T18:27:51.026Z","startingPrice":{"amount":98,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` | `{"type":"subscription","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Sandbox","summary":"Free","features":["Standard support"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"messages_per_day":"200k","concurrent_connections":"100"}},{"free":false,"name":"Startup","summary":"$49/month","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":49,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"messages_per_day":"1 million","concurrent_connections":"500"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"$99/month","features":["Monitoring integrations"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":99,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"messages_per_day":"4 million"}},{"free":false,"name":"Business","summary":"$299/month","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":299,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"messages_per_day":"10 million"}},{"free":false,"name":"Premium","summary":"$499/month","features":["Premium support"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":499,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"messages_per_day":"20 million","concurrent_connections":"10,000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Growth","summary":"$699/month","features":["Annual price discount"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":699,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"messages_per_day":"40 million","concurrent_connections":"15,000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Plus","summary":"$899/month","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":899,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"messages_per_day":"60 million","concurrent_connections":"20,000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Growth Plus","summary":"$1,199/month","features":["Premium customer support"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":1199,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"messages_per_day":"90 million","concurrent_connections":"30,000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing","features":["Custom plan","Outstanding uptime","Top-tier support"],"description":"For applications requiring 10+ million concurrent connections and 100+ billion messages","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Priority Support","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":3000,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"From $49/month for Startup plan. Free Sandbox tier available.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://pusher.com/channels/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-19T18:23:22.878Z","startingPrice":{"amount":49,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | high | mid |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":98,"currency":"USD"}` | `{"amount":49,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.999 | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | yes |
| security.iso27001 | - | yes |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |

## Capabilities (Realtime Messaging Infra)

| Capability | PubNub | Pusher Channels |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Presence | - | - |
| Message history replay | - | - |
| Delivery guarantee | - | - |
| Global edge network | - | - |
| Scaling model | - | - |
| Offline reconnect catchup | - | - |
| Push notification bridge | - | - |
| Auth model | - | - |
| Self hostable | - | - |
| Mqtt support | - | - |
| Deployment | - | - |
| Pricing model | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T14:47:18.845Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*