PubNub
Communication platform as a Service (cPaaS) platforms
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Event stream processing software
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- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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$98 per month
Free TrialFree version
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- Arts, entertainment, and recreation
- Media and communications
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What is PubNub
PubNub is a real-time communication and data streaming platform that provides publish/subscribe messaging, presence, and related APIs for building interactive applications. It is used by software teams to add real-time features such as chat, live updates, collaboration, IoT telemetry, and in-app notifications across web and mobile clients. The platform emphasizes globally distributed delivery, SDK support, and managed infrastructure so teams can avoid running their own real-time messaging backbone. PubNub also offers add-on capabilities such as message history, access control, and serverless-style event handling for stream processing use cases.
Mature realtime pub/sub APIs
PubNub provides established publish/subscribe messaging patterns with client SDKs for common languages and platforms. This supports typical real-time application needs such as chat-style messaging, live state updates, and presence/occupancy indicators. For teams comparing real-time messaging providers, the breadth of SDKs and core primitives reduces the amount of custom protocol and connection management work.
Globally distributed delivery model
The service is designed for low-latency fan-out to many concurrent clients without customers operating their own edge network. This is useful for geographically distributed user bases and event-driven applications that need consistent delivery behavior across regions. It can simplify architecture compared with self-managed messaging clusters and custom replication approaches.
Built-in security and governance controls
PubNub includes features commonly required in production real-time apps, such as token-based access control, channel-level permissions, and encryption options. These controls help teams implement least-privilege access patterns for multi-tenant applications. Governance features reduce the need to build custom authorization layers around real-time channels.
Not a general-purpose database
Although PubNub can retain message history and support state-like patterns, it does not replace a full operational database for complex queries, joins, or long-term analytical storage. Teams typically still need a separate database or data lake for durable system-of-record requirements. This can add integration work when positioning PubNub as part of a broader data platform.
Stream processing is limited
PubNub supports event-driven workflows and integrations, but it is not a full-featured stream processing engine for complex windowing, large-scale transformations, or advanced analytics pipelines. Organizations with heavy event-stream processing requirements may need additional tooling for enrichment, ETL, and downstream analytics. This increases architectural complexity for data engineering-centric use cases.
Cost and scaling predictability
Usage-based pricing models for real-time messaging can become difficult to forecast as message volume, connected devices, and fan-out patterns grow. Applications with bursty traffic or high-frequency telemetry may see costs rise quickly without careful design and monitoring. Teams often need to implement rate limiting, payload optimization, and channel design practices to manage spend.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | $0/month — Forever free | 200 MAU or 1M transactions; 1 GB data storage (7 days); Community support; Intended for testing/prototypes. |
| Starter | $98/month (monthly) | 1,000 MAU included; BizOps Workspace included; Up to 6 months data storage; Standard support (24/5); Designed for launching apps. |
| Pro | Custom pricing (contact sales) | Custom MAU packages with volume discounts; Unlimited data storage; Dedicated support team; Advanced analytics & monitoring; 99.999% uptime SLA; For production/scale. |
Additional (usage-based add-on): Events & Actions (from PubNub docs) Pricing model: Tiered usage (charged by events ingested) Tiers / list price examples: Intro: $50/month (price per 1M events = $25); Tier 1: $100/month ($25 per 1M events); Tier 2: $500/month ($20 per 1M events); Tier 3: $1,000/month ($15 per 1M events); Tier 4: $2,000/month ($10 per 1M events); Tier 5: $4,000/month ($8 per 1M events); Tier 6: Custom. Notes: If limits are exceeded, customers auto-upgrade to next tier or may request changes with 30 days notice. See PubNub Events & Actions pricing for details.
Seller details
PubNub, Inc.
San Francisco, CA, USA
2010
Private
https://www.pubnub.com/
https://x.com/PubNub
https://www.linkedin.com/company/pubnub/
