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Most buyers should pick Ably.
Choose Ably if you want a larger free MAU allowance and lower published paid entry price: its free plan covers up to 500 MAUs, and Pro is $29/month billed annually. Choose PubNub if message persistence, presence and channel-level security matter more; its Starter plan is $98/month and includes 1,000 MAUs. Both offer data sync and real-time messaging. Check your usage against the paid-tier limits, and note that PubNub Pro pricing varies by MAU package.
01Side by side
| Ably | PubNub | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Pro: $29/month, billed annually | Starter: $98/month |
| Free plan | Up to 500 MAUs | Up to 200 MAU or 1M transactions |
| Best for | Chat, collaboration and database-to-frontend sync | Interactive apps needing persistence and presence |
| Core strength | Message delivery, ordering and failover | Pub/sub messaging and managed global network |
| Learning curve | Ease-of-use review score: 6.5/10 | Ease-of-use review score: 6/10 |
| Integrations/data | Live Sync publishes database changes to clients | Persistence, data sync and presence |
| Team/seat costs | Seat pricing not published | Seat pricing not published |
| Support | Paid tiers list support SLAs under one business day | Support terms not published |
Ably Choose Ably if
- Choose Ably if you need up to 500 free MAUs.
- Choose Ably if $29/month billed annually fits your budget.
- Choose Ably if database-to-frontend sync is a priority.
PubNub Choose PubNub if
- Choose PubNub if message persistence helps reconnecting clients.
- Choose PubNub if presence and channel permissions matter.
- Choose PubNub if $98/month Starter fits your launch.
02Pricing compared
Ably has the lower published paid entry price: Pro is $29 per month when billed annually, with 1,000 MAUs included. Its free plan covers up to 500 MAUs. Business is $349 per month, also billed annually, and lists the same 1,000-MAU allowance; Enterprise pricing is custom.
PubNub’s free plan covers up to 200 MAUs or 1 million monthly transactions, with 1GB of storage for seven days. Starter costs $98 per month and includes 1,000 MAUs. Pro pricing is package-based: the pricing page gives examples of $550 per month for 10,000 MAUs and $2,100 per month for 50,000, while also saying 50,000-plus is custom. Annual Pro rates are not published. Compare your expected usage, not just the entry price.
03Features and depth
Both products provide publish/subscribe messaging and data sync for applications that need to keep connected users or devices up to date. Ably’s listed products extend into chat, AI transport for agent sessions, Live Objects for shared state, Spaces for collaboration, and Live Sync for sending database changes to frontend clients. Its overview also highlights message delivery, ordering, and failover.
PubNub’s listed strengths include message persistence, presence, and security controls. Persistence lets clients catch up after reconnecting; presence tracks who is online and their state. Its security features include per-user and per-channel permissions, encryption, audit logs, and SSO. PubNub also lists a global network with multi-region deployment and failover.
Choose by the capabilities your app needs. Ably has a broader named product set for chat, collaboration, and syncing. PubNub spells out more built-in controls for persistence, presence, and channel-level security. Both list data sync, so that feature alone may not settle the choice.
04Ease of use and learning curve
The published product information does not establish which platform is easier to implement, and we would not treat feature lists as proof of a shorter learning curve. The review scores point in different directions: Ably scores 6.5 for ease of use and PubNub 6, but those ratings do not explain what caused the difference.
For rollout planning, compare the products against your required workflows: messaging, reconnect handling, presence, security, and data sync. Also factor in support terms. Ably’s Pro and Business plans list an email support SLA under one business day; PubNub’s published plan details do not specify comparable response times. Ask both vendors to confirm implementation requirements and costs for your expected MAUs before switching.
Questions people ask
Is Ably cheaper than PubNub?
At the published entry prices, yes: Ably Pro is $29 per month when billed annually, while PubNub Starter is $98 per month. Both list 1,000 MAUs on those paid plans. Ably’s price depends on annual billing, and PubNub Pro pricing varies by MAU package.
Which platform has the larger free plan?
Ably’s free plan lists up to 500 MAUs. PubNub’s free plan lists up to 200 MAUs or 1 million transactions monthly, plus 1GB of storage for seven days. The MAU allowance is higher on Ably, but compare transaction volume and storage needs as well.
Does PubNub have features Ably does not list?
PubNub’s published feature list specifically includes message persistence, presence, per-user and per-channel permissions, encryption, audit logs, and SSO. Ably’s list emphasizes chat, AI transport, collaboration, and database-to-frontend sync. That is a comparison of the published lists, not a claim that either product lacks unlisted capabilities.
Which should we choose for a production app?
Choose based on required features and projected usage, not the word “production.” Ably Pro lists 1,000 MAUs and a 99.999% uptime SLO at $29 per month billed annually. PubNub Starter lists 1,000 MAUs at $98 monthly; Pro has custom packages and published price examples. Confirm limits and terms with each vendor.