Pubb
A focused realtime layer
For apps that keep durable data in their own backend and want a fixed monthly price for live events within a defined capacity.
Pubb vs Pusher vs Ably
Realtime messaging.
A price you can plan around.
Choosing a realtime pub/sub service? Compare the pricing, capacity and integration trade-offs. Pubb gives your app live events with a focused API and fixed monthly capacity plans.
Sources checked . USD monthly pricing. View sources & scope
Keep your backend.
Add realtime.
Notifications, live dashboards, shared activity and presence. Publish an event over HTTP; Pubb sends it to connected WebSocket subscribers. Your application keeps control of authentication and durable data.
Explore the Pubb integrationPubb Starter
$9/ month
No monthly message quota.
No usage overage fees.
- Concurrent connections
- 500
- Operations / second
- 1,000
- Event bandwidth
- 1 MiB/s
Capacity is shared across your workspace. Publications and delivery attempts count toward the operation rate. Limits still apply.
See all plans and capacity detailsWhat changes between the three?
Starting prices sit alongside their limits. These plans have different capacities and billing units; they are not equivalent bundles.
On a small screen, scroll the table horizontally to compare all three providers. Keyboard users can focus the table and use the arrow keys.
| What you’re comparing | Pubb | Pusher Channels | Ably |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Fixed monthly capacity plans No usage overage fees. Connection, operation-rate and bandwidth limits apply. | Fixed plan tiers Daily message allowances and concurrent connection caps. | Package fee + usage Per-minute or monthly active user (MAU) pricing. |
| Free tier | 1,000,000 messages / month 100 concurrent connections. Calendar-month reset. | 200,000 messages / day Sandbox: 100 concurrent connections. | 6 million messages / month 200 concurrent connections; 500 messages / second. |
| Entry paid plan | Starter: $9 / month No monthly message quota. | Startup: $49 / month 1 million messages / day. | Standard: $29 / month + usage The package fee is not the total bill. |
| Entry paid connections | 500 concurrent Shared across the workspace’s applications. | 500 concurrent | 10,000 concurrent A capacity cap; usage charges still apply. |
| Other capacity to budget for | 1,000 operations / second on Starter 1 MiB/s event bandwidth. Publications and delivery attempts consume capacity. | Daily message allowance Count API messages plus deliveries to subscribers. | Messages, connection & channel minutes Per-minute billing meters all three; additional bandwidth can also be charged. |
| Restricted channel access | Private channels Your backend checks access and authorizes subscriptions. | Private channels Also offers private encrypted channels. | Channel capabilities Scope permissions such as publish and subscribe. |
| Presence | Presence channels Authenticated membership and membership events. | Presence channels | Presence sets & events |
| Message history & catch-up | Keep history in your database Events reach connected subscribers. Reconnect, resubscribe and refresh state from your backend. | Last-event cache channels Cache TTL is up to 30 minutes; this is not a general message history store. | History API & connection recovery Storage duration depends on configuration and package limits. |
| Integration path | Native WebSocket + HTTP API Public docs and AI integration guides. Dedicated SDK releases are currently marked coming soon. | Client & server libraries Language-specific libraries and HTTP API. | Realtime & REST SDKs Publish from a server and subscribe from connected clients. |
Pusher means Pusher Channels. Ably means its core pub/sub offering. Daily and monthly allowances are shown as published, without converting one into the other. Listed prices exclude any applicable tax.
Count the audience,
not just the publish.
One event can create many billable messages or capacity operations. Model your subscriber count, connection peaks and event rate before choosing a plan.
1publication100delivery attempts101Pubb operations
This is a capacity example, not a price estimate or delivery guarantee. Disconnected or slow clients can miss events.
Read the unit behind the price
Pusher counts incoming API messages and outgoing deliveries against its allowance.
Ably’s per-minute model lists $2.50 per million messages, plus $1 per million connection minutes and $1 per million channel minutes, on top of the package fee. Additional bandwidth may cost extra; volume discounts and a separate MAU model are available.
Pubb paid plans remove the monthly message quota. Choose enough connection, operation-rate and bandwidth capacity for your peak workload, and handle limit responses in your application.
Choose around your application.
A useful comparison includes the reasons to choose each option.
Pusher Channels
Channel messaging with fixed tiers
For teams that prefer Pusher’s client and server libraries, private and presence channels, and daily message allowances.
Ably
Pub/sub with recovery and history
For teams that need message catch-up, configurable storage and channel capabilities, and can budget for a usage-based model.
Moving an existing app to Pubb? Adapt your publishing, subscription and authorization flows to the Pubb API. Similar channel concepts do not imply drop-in protocol compatibility.
Before you choose.
Is Pubb an alternative to Pusher and Ably?
Yes, for realtime pub/sub messaging such as notifications, live dashboards and presence. Pubb connects HTTP publishing to WebSocket subscribers, with private and presence channels. Evaluate the differences in history, client libraries and capacity against your application’s needs.
Does unlimited messaging mean unlimited capacity?
No. Pubb’s paid plans have no monthly message quota, but capacity is bounded. Starter includes 500 concurrent connections, 1,000 operations per second and 1 MiB/s of event bandwidth across the workspace. Rate limits can reject publications; no automatic usage overage charges are added.
Which service costs less for my app?
Compare a representative workload, not just the starting price. Pubb uses fixed capacity plans, Pusher includes a daily message allowance, and Ably combines a package fee with usage. Subscriber fan-out, peak connections, traffic rate and message size affect which plan fits. A lower entry price does not establish equal capacity or a lower total cost for every workload.
Can I switch by changing only the endpoint?
Do not assume protocol or SDK compatibility. A move to Pubb requires adapting the connection, subscription, publishing and authorization flows to Pubb’s documented API. Test presence handling, reconnects and state recovery with your own application before switching production traffic.
Where should I store messages and application state?
With Pubb, keep durable state and message history in your database and refresh it after reconnecting. Pusher’s cache channels retain the latest event for up to 30 minutes. Ably offers a History API and configurable message storage; its history feature is not a substitute for a long-term application database.
Sources & comparison scope
Prepared by Pubb using its published pricing and integration documentation, plus the official Pusher and Ably pages linked below. Last checked . Pricing and features can change; confirm current terms with each provider.
This page compares published capabilities and plan limits. It is not an independent benchmark, an uptime comparison or a claim that every feature is equivalent. Pusher and Ably are trademarks of their respective owners; no affiliation is implied.
Your next event starts here.
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