Amazon SNS vs Parse server

	Amazon SNS	Parse server
Time to "hello world" Reviewed by 3+ independent developers Ratings were given based on the average amount of time it takes to sign up to a new account and publish the first message.	4 / 5 5 = <30 min 4 = 30 min - 1 h 3 = 1-2 h 2 = 2-4 h 1 = 4+ h View code example	5 / 5 5 = <30 min 4 = 30 min - 1 h 3 = 1-2 h 2 = 2-4 h 1 = 4+ h View code example
Demos / Tutorials A selection of online demos and tutorials so you can test and see the code in action. Explore Ably's tutorials for our pub/sub messaging platform	Send fanout event notifications with Amazon SNS and Amazon SQS Publish Amazon SNS messages privately Filter messages published to topics with Amazon SNS and Amazon SQS	Parse server guide: Gettings started Using push notifications in parse Deploying to Heroku and MongoDB Atlas
Documentation Reviewed by 3+ independent developers Explore Ably's documentation for our pub/sub messaging platform	4 / 5 Getting started guides / 5 Information architecture and developer journey / 5 API reference documentation / 5 Readability, design and navigation / 5 Quality of code / 5 Breadth and quality of tutorials / 5 "The Amazon documentation is comprehensive and, unlike many other products, clearly states what you can use Amazon SNS for. Several pages are dedicated to explaining in detail how FIFO topics (which provide superior quality of service) work. Overall, the developer guide might not deserve its name since it’s mostly a product guide. Its primary focus is on explaining things conceptually and performing operations in the AWS console. There’s a limited number of code snippets embedded in the dev guide, and only in a couple of languages. Fortunately, the API documentation is very detailed, although it’s inconsistently presented across languages, and you won’t always find code snippets in your language of choice. The official tutorials are poor, only cover some basics, and focus almost entirely on the AWS console."	4.33 / 5 Getting started guides / 5 Information architecture and developer journey / 5 API reference documentation / 5 Readability, design and navigation / 5 Quality of code / 5 Breadth and quality of tutorials / 5 P: “Documentation is detailed, with many examples and tutorials from how to set up the parse server, connect clients to it, using different databases and hosting on different platforms”. O: “The documentation is extensive and at the same time offers higher level explanations for the more detailed sections.” W: “While the documentation offers a lot of information, examples and tutorials it could have been organized in a more clear manner and made more readable.”
Dashboard or dev console Reviewed by 3+ independent developers Sign up for free and explore Ably's pub/sub messaging platform	4 / 5 Ease of use / 5 Stats and reports / 5 Functionality / 5 "Getting started with the SNS console as a new user can be a confusing and slightly painful experience (unless you look at the documentation in parallel). That’s because the website itself is clunky and not very easy to navigate. On the other hand, the console allows you to configure your pipeline down to the smallest details, so it’s hard to wrap up all the existing features in an easy to use package. The reporting available is good, but there’s always room for improvement. Analytics on message origin would be beneficial."	4 / 5 Ease of use / 5 Stats and reports / 5 Functionality / 5 P: “The dashboard is easy to set up. You get a good overview of the stored data, so you can easily manage the database. Features such as webhooks, jobs, logs, API console and push notifications are easily accessible. Lack of performance metrics is a downside.” O: “The dashboard has a clean and simple UI with management sections for the webhooks, jobs, logs, configs and API console. It also includes a browsing view.” W: “The dashboard UI is easy to understand and self-explanatory. On the downside there is no informative metrics available but on the upside there is a lot of functionality and configurations options and the API console where you can send HTTP and GraphQL queries is a nice feature.”
SDKs Note: Only official SDKs were taken into account. Explore Ably's 25+ SDKs for our pub/sub messaging platform	9 SDKs Including: Ruby .NET JavaScript	13 SDKs Including: Javascript REST Android
API structure Reviewed by 3+ independent developers	3.75 / 5 API consistency across SDKs / 5 Well structured / 5 Intuitive / 5 Simple / 5 "The API has a good naming convention, which makes it intuitive. Syntactically, the API structure is mostly uniform across different programming languages. The extensive API reference is an invaluable resource for getting started with Amazon SNS. It’s not the most straightforward service to use - for example, the opt-in process for e-mail and SMS notifications is cumbersome, and there aren’t enough debugging options."	4.50 / 5 API consistency across SDKs / 5 Well structured / 5 Intuitive / 5 Simple / 5 P: "The API across SDKs are mostly consistent, but support for Pub/sub is not available on all SDKs. Plenty of code examples of how to perform various operations”. O: “Most SDKs are well structured, simple and consistent. Although some are missing an API reference.” W: “The SDKs are intuitive and well structured for the most part. The SDKs could however have been more consistent.”

Amazon SNS

Parse server

Getting started and developer experience

Time to "hello world"

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

Ratings were given based on the average amount of time it takes to sign up to a new account and publish the first message.

4 / 5

5 = <30 min
4 = 30 min - 1 h
3 = 1-2 h
2 = 2-4 h
1 = 4+ h

View code example

5 / 5

5 = <30 min
4 = 30 min - 1 h
3 = 1-2 h
2 = 2-4 h
1 = 4+ h

View code example

Demos / Tutorials

A selection of online demos and tutorials so you can test and see the code in action.

Explore Ably's tutorials for our pub/sub messaging platform

Parse server guide: Gettings started

Using push notifications in parse

Deploying to Heroku and MongoDB Atlas

Documentation

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

Explore Ably's documentation for our pub/sub messaging platform

4 / 5

Getting started guides / 5

Information architecture and developer journey / 5

API reference documentation / 5

Readability, design and navigation / 5

Quality of code / 5

Breadth and quality of tutorials / 5

"The Amazon documentation is comprehensive and, unlike many other products, clearly states what you can use Amazon SNS for. Several pages are dedicated to explaining in detail how FIFO topics (which provide superior quality of service) work. Overall, the developer guide might not deserve its name since it’s mostly a product guide. Its primary focus is on explaining things conceptually and performing operations in the AWS console. There’s a limited number of code snippets embedded in the dev guide, and only in a couple of languages. Fortunately, the API documentation is very detailed, although it’s inconsistently presented across languages, and you won’t always find code snippets in your language of choice. The official tutorials are poor, only cover some basics, and focus almost entirely on the AWS console."

4.33 / 5

Getting started guides / 5

Information architecture and developer journey / 5

API reference documentation / 5

Readability, design and navigation / 5

Quality of code / 5

Breadth and quality of tutorials / 5

P: “Documentation is detailed, with many examples and tutorials from how to set up the parse server, connect clients to it, using different databases and hosting on different platforms”.

O: “The documentation is extensive and at the same time offers higher level explanations for the more detailed sections.”

W: “While the documentation offers a lot of information, examples and tutorials it could have been organized in a more clear manner and made more readable.”

Dashboard or dev console

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

4 / 5

Ease of use / 5

Stats and reports / 5

Functionality / 5

"Getting started with the SNS console as a new user can be a confusing and slightly painful experience (unless you look at the documentation in parallel). That’s because the website itself is clunky and not very easy to navigate. On the other hand, the console allows you to configure your pipeline down to the smallest details, so it’s hard to wrap up all the existing features in an easy to use package. The reporting available is good, but there’s always room for improvement. Analytics on message origin would be beneficial."

4 / 5

Ease of use / 5

Stats and reports / 5

Functionality / 5

P: “The dashboard is easy to set up. You get a good overview of the stored data, so you can easily manage the database. Features such as webhooks, jobs, logs, API console and push notifications are easily accessible. Lack of performance metrics is a downside.”

O: “The dashboard has a clean and simple UI with management sections for the webhooks, jobs, logs, configs and API console. It also includes a browsing view.”

W: “The dashboard UI is easy to understand and self-explanatory. On the downside there is no informative metrics available but on the upside there is a lot of functionality and configurations options and the API console where you can send HTTP and GraphQL queries is a nice feature.”

SDKs

Note: Only official SDKs were taken into account.

Explore Ably's 25+ SDKs for our pub/sub messaging platform

9 SDKs

Including:

Ruby
.NET
JavaScript

13 SDKs

Including:

Javascript
REST
Android

API structure

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

3.75 / 5

API consistency across SDKs / 5

Well structured / 5

Intuitive / 5

Simple / 5

"The API has a good naming convention, which makes it intuitive. Syntactically, the API structure is mostly uniform across different programming languages. The extensive API reference is an invaluable resource for getting started with Amazon SNS. It’s not the most straightforward service to use - for example, the opt-in process for e-mail and SMS notifications is cumbersome, and there aren’t enough debugging options."

4.50 / 5

API consistency across SDKs / 5

Well structured / 5

Intuitive / 5

Simple / 5

P: "The API across SDKs are mostly consistent, but support for Pub/sub is not available on all SDKs. Plenty of code examples of how to perform various operations”.

O: “Most SDKs are well structured, simple and consistent. Although some are missing an API reference.”

W: “The SDKs are intuitive and well structured for the most part. The SDKs could however have been more consistent.”

Amazon SNS	Parse server
//PUBLISH MESSAGE // Load the AWS SDK for Node.js var AWS = require('aws-sdk'); // Set region AWS.config.update({region: 'REGION'}); // Create promise and SNS service object var createTopicPromise = new AWS.SNS({apiVersion: '2010-03-31'}).createTopic({Name: "TOPIC_NAME"}).promise(); // Handle promise's fulfilled/rejected states createTopicPromise.then( function(data) { console.log("Topic ARN is " + data.TopicArn); }).catch( function(err) { console.error(err, err.stack); }); //SUBSCRIBE TO A TOPIC // Load the AWS SDK for Node.js var AWS = require('aws-sdk'); // Set region AWS.config.update({region: 'REGION'}); // Create subscribe/email parameters var params = { Protocol: 'EMAIL', /* required / TopicArn: 'TOPIC_ARN', / required */ Endpoint: 'EMAIL_ADDRESS' }; // Create promise and SNS service object var subscribePromise = new AWS.SNS({apiVersion: '2010-03-31'}).subscribe(params).promise(); // Handle promise's fulfilled/rejected states subscribePromise.then( function(data) { console.log("Subscription ARN is " + data.SubscriptionArn); }).catch( function(err) { console.error(err, err.stack); });	// START SERVER CODE var express = require("express"); var ParseServer = require("parse-server").ParseServer; var app = express(); var api = new ParseServer({ databaseURI: "mongodb://localhost:27017/dev", // Connection string for your MongoDB database cloud: "./cloud/main.js", // Path to your Cloud Code appId: "myAppId", masterKey: "myMasterKey", // Keep this key secret! fileKey: "optionalFileKey", serverURL: "http://localhost:1337/parse", // Don't forget to change to https if needed }); // Serve the Parse API on the /parse URL prefix app.use("/parse", api); app.listen(1337, function() { console.log("parse-server-example running on port 1337."); }); // NODE CLIENT CODE const Parse = require("parse/node"); Parse.initialize("myAppId"); Parse.serverURL = "http://localhost:1337/parse"; // Simple syntax to create a new subclass of Parse.Object. const Message = Parse.Object.extend("Message"); // Create a new instance of that class. const msg = new Message(); msg.set("value", "Hello World"); (async () => { const id = await new Promise(async (resolve, reject) => { msg.save().then( (msg) => resolve(msg.id), (error) => reject(error) ); }); const query = new Parse.Query(Message); const res = await new Promise(async (resolve, reject) => { query.get(id).then( (msg) => resolve(msg), (error) => reject(error) ); }); const { value } = res.attributes; console.log(value); // logs Hello World })();

Amazon SNS

Parse server

"Hello world" code example

//PUBLISH MESSAGE
// Load the AWS SDK for Node.js
var AWS = require('aws-sdk');
// Set region
AWS.config.update({region: 'REGION'});

// Create promise and SNS service object
var createTopicPromise = new AWS.SNS({apiVersion: '2010-03-31'}).createTopic({Name: "TOPIC_NAME"}).promise();

// Handle promise's fulfilled/rejected states
createTopicPromise.then(
  function(data) {
    console.log("Topic ARN is " + data.TopicArn);
  }).catch(
    function(err) {
    console.error(err, err.stack);
  });

//SUBSCRIBE TO A TOPIC
// Load the AWS SDK for Node.js
var AWS = require('aws-sdk');
// Set region
AWS.config.update({region: 'REGION'});

// Create subscribe/email parameters
var params = {
  Protocol: 'EMAIL', /* required */
  TopicArn: 'TOPIC_ARN', /* required */
  Endpoint: 'EMAIL_ADDRESS'
};

// Create promise and SNS service object
var subscribePromise = new AWS.SNS({apiVersion: '2010-03-31'}).subscribe(params).promise();

// Handle promise's fulfilled/rejected states
subscribePromise.then(
  function(data) {
    console.log("Subscription ARN is " + data.SubscriptionArn);
  }).catch(
    function(err) {
    console.error(err, err.stack);
  });

// START SERVER CODE
var express = require("express");
var ParseServer = require("parse-server").ParseServer;
var app = express();
 
var api = new ParseServer({
 databaseURI: "mongodb://localhost:27017/dev", // Connection string for your MongoDB database
 cloud: "./cloud/main.js", // Path to your Cloud Code
 appId: "myAppId",
 masterKey: "myMasterKey", // Keep this key secret!
 fileKey: "optionalFileKey",
 serverURL: "http://localhost:1337/parse", // Don't forget to change to https if needed
});
 
// Serve the Parse API on the /parse URL prefix
app.use("/parse", api);
 
app.listen(1337, function() {
 console.log("parse-server-example running on port 1337.");
});
 
// NODE CLIENT CODE
 
const Parse = require("parse/node");
 
Parse.initialize("myAppId");
Parse.serverURL = "http://localhost:1337/parse";
 
// Simple syntax to create a new subclass of Parse.Object.
const Message = Parse.Object.extend("Message");
 
// Create a new instance of that class.
const msg = new Message();
 
msg.set("value", "Hello World");
 
(async () => {
 const id = await new Promise(async (resolve, reject) => {
   msg.save().then(
     (msg) => resolve(msg.id),
     (error) => reject(error)
   );
 });
 const query = new Parse.Query(Message);
 const res = await new Promise(async (resolve, reject) => {
   query.get(id).then(
     (msg) => resolve(msg),
     (error) => reject(error)
   );
 });
 const { value } = res.attributes;
 console.log(value); // logs Hello World
})();

	Amazon SNS	Parse server
Pub/Sub messaging Pub/Sub is a design pattern that lets any number of publishers (producers) push messages to channels (also known as topics). Multiple subscribers (consumers) can subscribe to a channel to consume published messages. Explore Ably's pub/sub messaging implementation		Limited There is support for pub/sub messaging using LiveQueries in the Javascript SDK, which uses WebSockets to subscribe & publish to channels. But LiveQueries is limited to the Javascript SDK.
Message queues A message queue is a form of asynchronous service-to-service communication. Messages are stored on a queue until they are processed. Note that each message is only consumed by one subscriber (consumer). Explore Ably's message queues implementation	Limited Amazon SNS integrates with Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service) in order to offer traditional message queue functionality. However, Amazon SNS does not provide message queues by itself.
Presence Presence enables you to track the online and offline status of devices and end-users in real time and to store their state. Essential for chat apps and multiplayer games. Explore Ably's presence implementation		Limited One could keep track of online clients by using the LiveQuery triggers to know whether or not a client is connected. But there is no built functionality for this.
Message history Message history provides a means to retrieve previously published messages. For this to be possible, message data must be stored (persisted) somewhere. Explore Ably's message history implementation
Connection state recovery (stream resume) In the case of unreliable network conditions, clients may suddenly disconnect.Connection state recovery ensures that when they reconnect, the data stream resumes exactly where it left off. Explore Ably' s connection state recovery implementation	N/A
Guaranteed message ordering Ordering ensures that messages are delivered to consumers in the same order that producers publish them. Explore Ably' s guaranteed message ordering implementation	Limited Amazon SNS guarantees message ordering via FIFO topics. However, ordering is only guaranteed when sending messages to Amazon SQS FIFO queues.
Exactly-once semantics Exactly-once is a system-wide data integrity guarantee that ensures each message is delivered to consumers exactly-once. Explore Ably' s idempotent publishing implementation	Limited Amazon SNS guarantees exactly-once semantics via FIFO topics. However, it only supports exactly-once when sending messages to Amazon SQS FIFO queues.	Limited Idempodency enforcement exists, as an experimental feature that may not be appropriate for production.
Message delta compression Message delta compression enables you to only send the changes from the previous message to subscribers each time there’s an update, instead of the entire message. Useful for use cases where there is a significant degree of similarity between successive messages. Explore Ably' s message delta compression implementation
Native push notifications Native push notifications can be used to deliver messages even when clients are offline. Useful for geolocation updates or news alerts. Explore Ably's push notifications implementation
Webhooks Webhooks provide a mechanism to get messages and other types of events (such as clients entering or leaving channels) pushed to your servers over HTTP. Explore Ably's webhooks implementation
Serverless functions A serverless function is essentially an isolated, single-purpose piece of code that is only executed when it’ triggered by an event. For example, you can use serverless functions to send a welcome message to clients when they become present on chat channels. Note that serverless functions are usually fully managed by cloud vendors. Explore Ably's serverless functions implementation	Limited Can only invoke AWS Lambda Functions. Amazon SNS does not support other serverless platforms, such as Azure Functions or Google Cloud Functions.	Limited Cloud functions are used in parse server to run single-prupose piece of code. But is up to you to host the parse server, where the cloud functions are invoked from. The pricing model is different, since you are hosting the parse server yourself, you can invoke the cloud function for as many times as you like. Services like AWS Lambda charges you for the number of requests made and the duration of those requests.
Built-in integrations Which popular services & systems are Amazon SNS and Parse server integrated with? Explore Ably's library of integrations	Webhooks Custom IFTTT Zapier Serverless functions AWS Lambda Cloudflare Workers Google Cloud Functions Microsoft Azure Functions Streaming Apache Kafka Apache Pulsar Amazon Kinesis Amazon SQS RabbitMQ AMQP	Webhooks Custom IFTTT Zapier Serverless functions AWS Lambda Cloudflare Workers Google Cloud Functions Microsoft Azure Functions Streaming Apache Kafka Apache Pulsar Amazon Kinesis Amazon SQS RabbitMQ AMQP
Known limits and constraints Find out practical limits, such as the maximum message size, or the maximum number of concurrent connections. Explore the practical limits of the Ably pub/sub messaging platform	Publisher throughput Default quota of 20 SMS messages per second, and 10 email messages per second. Maximum message size 256 KB Maximum number of topics Default quota of 100.000 standard topics/account and 1.000 FIFO topics/account Maximum number of subscriptions Default quota of 12.500.000 subscriptions / standard topic and 100 subscriptions / FIFO topic	Publisher throughput N/A Maximum message size N/A Maximum number of topics N/A Maximum number of connections N/A

Amazon SNS

Parse server

Realtime features

Pub/Sub messaging

Pub/Sub is a design pattern that lets any number of publishers (producers) push messages to channels (also known as topics). Multiple subscribers (consumers) can subscribe to a channel to consume published messages.

Explore Ably's pub/sub messaging implementation

Limited

There is support for pub/sub messaging using LiveQueries in the Javascript SDK, which uses WebSockets to subscribe & publish to channels. But LiveQueries is limited to the Javascript SDK.

Message queues

A message queue is a form of asynchronous service-to-service communication. Messages are stored on a queue until they are processed. Note that each message is only consumed by one subscriber (consumer).

Explore Ably's message queues implementation

Limited

Amazon SNS integrates with Amazon SQS (Simple Queue Service) in order to offer traditional message queue functionality. However, Amazon SNS does not provide message queues by itself.

Presence

Presence enables you to track the online and offline status of devices and end-users in real time and to store their state. Essential for chat apps and multiplayer games.

Explore Ably's presence implementation

Limited

One could keep track of online clients by using the LiveQuery triggers to know whether or not a client is connected. But there is no built functionality for this.

Message history

Message history provides a means to retrieve previously published messages. For this to be possible, message data must be stored (persisted) somewhere.

Explore Ably's message history implementation

Connection state recovery (stream resume)

In the case of unreliable network conditions, clients may suddenly disconnect.Connection state recovery ensures that when they reconnect, the data stream resumes exactly where it left off.

Explore Ably' s connection state recovery implementation

N/A

Guaranteed message ordering

Ordering ensures that messages are delivered to consumers in the same order that producers publish them.

Explore Ably' s guaranteed message ordering implementation

Limited

Amazon SNS guarantees message ordering via FIFO topics. However, ordering is only guaranteed when sending messages to Amazon SQS FIFO queues.

Exactly-once semantics

Exactly-once is a system-wide data integrity guarantee that ensures each message is delivered to consumers exactly-once.

Explore Ably' s idempotent publishing implementation

Limited

Amazon SNS guarantees exactly-once semantics via FIFO topics. However, it only supports exactly-once when sending messages to Amazon SQS FIFO queues.

Limited

Idempodency enforcement exists, as an experimental feature that may not be appropriate for production.

Message delta compression

Message delta compression enables you to only send the changes from the previous message to subscribers each time there’s an update, instead of the entire message. Useful for use cases where there is a significant degree of similarity between successive messages.

Explore Ably' s message delta compression implementation

Native push notifications

Native push notifications can be used to deliver messages even when clients are offline. Useful for geolocation updates or news alerts.

Explore Ably's push notifications implementation

Webhooks

Webhooks provide a mechanism to get messages and other types of events (such as clients entering or leaving channels) pushed to your servers over HTTP.

Explore Ably's webhooks implementation

Serverless functions

A serverless function is essentially an isolated, single-purpose piece of code that is only executed when it’ triggered by an event. For example, you can use serverless functions to send a welcome message to clients when they become present on chat channels.

Note that serverless functions are usually fully managed by cloud vendors.

Explore Ably's serverless functions implementation

Limited

Can only invoke AWS Lambda Functions. Amazon SNS does not support other serverless platforms, such as Azure Functions or Google Cloud Functions.

Limited

Cloud functions are used in parse server to run single-prupose piece of code. But is up to you to host the parse server, where the cloud functions are invoked from. The pricing model is different, since you are hosting the parse server yourself, you can invoke the cloud function for as many times as you like. Services like AWS Lambda charges you for the number of requests made and the duration of those requests.

Built-in integrations

Which popular services & systems are Amazon SNS and Parse server integrated with?

Explore Ably's library of integrations

Webhooks

Custom
IFTTT
Zapier

Serverless functions

AWS Lambda
Cloudflare Workers
Google Cloud Functions
Microsoft Azure Functions

Streaming

Apache Kafka
Apache Pulsar
Amazon Kinesis
Amazon SQS
RabbitMQ
AMQP

Webhooks

Custom
IFTTT
Zapier

Serverless functions

AWS Lambda
Cloudflare Workers
Google Cloud Functions
Microsoft Azure Functions

Streaming

Apache Kafka
Apache Pulsar
Amazon Kinesis
Amazon SQS
RabbitMQ
AMQP

Known limits and constraints

Find out practical limits, such as the maximum message size, or the maximum number of concurrent connections.

Explore the practical limits of the Ably pub/sub messaging platform

Publisher throughput

Default quota of 20 SMS messages per second, and 10 email messages per second.

Maximum message size

256 KB

Maximum number of topics

Default quota of 100.000 standard topics/account and 1.000 FIFO topics/account

Maximum number of subscriptions

Default quota of 12.500.000 subscriptions / standard topic and 100 subscriptions / FIFO topic

Publisher throughput

N/A

Maximum message size

N/A

Maximum number of topics

N/A

Maximum number of connections

N/A

Supported development platforms, languages, open protocols and cloud models
Development platforms & operating systems Which popular development platforms and operating systems do Amazon SNS and Parse server support via official SDKs? Explore the development platforms supported by Ably	Android Java / JVM iOS macOS iPadOS tvOS watchOS Mono .NET	Android Java / JVM iOS macOS iPadOS tvOS watchOS Mono .NET
Languages Which popular programming languages do Amazon SNS and Parse server support via offical SDKs? Explore the programming languages supported by Ably	JavaScript Node.js TypeScript Java Objective-C Swift Go PHP Python Ruby Flutter Clojure Scala	JavaScript Node.js TypeScript Java Objective-C Swift Go PHP Python Ruby Flutter Clojure Scala
Open protocols Which popular open protocols do Amazon SNS and Parse server support? Explore the open protocols supported by Ably	WebSocket HTTP AMQP MQTT STOMP SSE Webhooks	WebSocket HTTP AMQP MQTT STOMP SSE Webhooks
Cloud models Which popular cloud models do Amazon SNS and Parse server support?	Self-hosted Cloud-managed Serverless Globally-distributed	Self-hosted Cloud-managed Serverless Globally-distributed

Global and reliable edge service
Edge messaging network with latency-based routing Latency-based routing ensures that clients are always routed to the nearest datacenter and point of presence. Explore Ably's routing mechanism that mitigates network and DNS issues		N/A
Multi-region data replication (message durability) Multi-region data replication (storage) protects against single points of failure and ensures message data durability. Learn how Ably ensures message durability		N/A
Uptime SLAs Here’s what the most common SLAs amount to in terms of downtime over a calendar year: 99.999% SLA = 5m 15s downtime per year 99.99% SLA = 52m 35s downtime per year 99.95% SLA = 4h 22m 58s downtime per year 99.9% SLA = 8h 45m 56s downtime per year 99% SLA = 3d 15h 39m 29s downtime per year Source: https://uptime.is/	99.9%	N/A
Quality of Service What QoS guarantees do Amazon SNS and Parse server provide natively? Explore Ably's availability and uptime guarantees for our pub/sub messaging platform	Multi-region data replication (storage) Exactly-once semantics Guaranteed message ordering Connection state recovery (stream resume)	Multi-region data replication (storage) Exactly-once semantics Guaranteed message ordering Connection state recovery (stream resume)

Security
API key authentication The simplest way to authenticate. Involves using private API keys that you can usually create and edit via a dashboard. Recommended to be used server-side, as private API keys shouldn’t be shared with untrusted parties. Explore Ably's implementation of API key authentication
Token-based authentication Which popular token-based authentication mechanisms do Amazon SNS and Parse server support? Note that token-based authentication is usually the recommended strategy on the client-side as it provides more fine-grained access control and limits the risk of credentials being compromised. Explore Ably's implementation of token-based authentication	Ephemeral tokens JWTs	Ephemeral tokens JWTs
Configurable rules and permissions Which types of configurable rules and permissions do Amazon SNS and Parse server support? Explore Ably's configurable rules and permissions	API keys rules and permissions Operation rules and permissions Admin rights	API keys rules and permissions Operation rules and permissions Admin rights
Message encryption Which types of message encryption do Amazon SNS and Parse server support? Explore Ably's message encryption mechanisms	Encrypted at rest Encrypted in transit Message payload encryption	Encrypted at rest Encrypted in transit Message payload encryption
Formal certifications Which formal certifications are Amazon SNS and Parse server compliant with? Explore Ably's security and compliance for our pub/sub messaging platform	SOC 2 TYPE I SOC 2 Type II HIPAA EU GDPR	SOC 2 TYPE I SOC 2 Type II HIPAA EU GDPR

Pricing & Support
Free package What do the free packages offered by Amazon SNS and Parse server consist of? Explore Ably's free package for our pub/sub messaging platform	Each month, Amazon SNS offers the following for free, but only for Standard topics: - 1 million requests per month - 100 SMS notifications (sent to US phone numbers) -1.000 Email/JSON notifications - 100.000 HTTP/s notifications Note: with the exception of SMS messages, each 64KB chunk of delivered data is billed as 1 delivery. For example, a single notification with a 256KB payload is billed as four deliveries.	N/A
Pricing model How are the Amazon SNS and Parse server pricing models calculated? Explore Ably's pricing model for our pub/sub messaging platform	Amazon SNS pricing is usage-based. Standard topics Once you deplete the free tier usage, the pricing is: - $0.50 per million Amazon SNS requests - $0.50 per million mobile push notifications - $2 per 100.000 email/JSON notifications - $0.60 per million HTTP/s notifications FIFO topics Pricing is calculated based on the number of published messages, the number of subscribed messages, and payload data: - publish requests are $0.30 per 1 million and $0.017 per GB of payload data - subscription messages are $0.01 per 1 million and $0.001 per GB of payload data Data transfer out of Amazon SNS is also charged. Pricing varies depending on the volume of data. For example, the first 1 GB per month is free, while the next 9.999 TB costs $0.09 per GB. Note that we have used US East (Ohio) as a reference point, but the pricing values differ across regions.	N/A
Enterprise package What benefits do the Amazon SNS and Parse server enterprise packages offer? Explore Ably's enterprise package for our pub/sub messaging platform	There is no Amazon SNS-specific enterprise package.	N/A
Community Reviewed by 3+ independent developers Explore Ably's community support channel for our pub/sub messaging platform	4 / 5 Presence on multiple channels / 5 Size and activity / 5 “The global AWS community is present on a multitude of platforms, ranging from Stack Overflow and GitHub to Medium, Discourse, and even Reddit. Of course, the SNS community is significantly smaller in size, but objectively speaking, still pretty big. To be more specific, there seem to be a lot of people interested in the product. If you look at the AWS SNS forum, you can see that some of the threads have even 20.000 or 30.000 views. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of questions without an answer. You can find some cool stuff on GitHub, such as an extended client library for Java that enables you to publish messages bigger than 256 KB.“	4 / 5 Presence on multiple channels / 5 Size and activity / 5 P: “Parse platform has 18k stars on github and 18k questions on Stack Overflow. It’s safe to say there is a solid community. There exist plenty of SDKs developed by the community.” O: “Parse platform has an extensive community with a lot of activity on both Github and StackOverflow, it also has a presence on Twitter.” W: “Parse has an active community with 18k stars on GitHub and there is also a substantial amount of questions about Parse Server on StackOverflow. There is a gitter for ParsePlatform but it doesn't seem quite as active.”
Support What types of support options and response times do Amazon SNS and Parse server offer? Explore Ably's support options for our pub/sub messaging platform	General support options Email, support ticket, phone, technical documentation, community support (e.g. forums or Stack Overflow). Enterprise support Amazon offers an enterprise package, which includes 24/7 phone, email, and chat access to Cloud Support Engineers, Infrastructure Event Management support, and a designated technical account manager. Response time < 24 hours for general guidance queries < 1 hour for Production system down incidents (only applies to Business & Enterprise support packages).	N/A

Pricing & Support

Free package

What do the free packages offered by Amazon SNS and Parse server consist of?

Explore Ably's free package for our pub/sub messaging platform

Each month, Amazon SNS offers the following for free, but only for Standard topics:

- 1 million requests per month

- 100 SMS notifications (sent to US phone numbers)

-1.000 Email/JSON notifications

- 100.000 HTTP/s notifications

Note: with the exception of SMS messages, each 64KB chunk of delivered data is billed as 1 delivery. For example, a single notification with a 256KB payload is billed as four deliveries.

N/A

Pricing model

How are the Amazon SNS and Parse server pricing models calculated?

Explore Ably's pricing model for our pub/sub messaging platform

Amazon SNS pricing is usage-based.

Standard topics

Once you deplete the free tier usage, the pricing is:

- $0.50 per million Amazon SNS requests

- $0.50 per million mobile push notifications

- $2 per 100.000 email/JSON notifications

- $0.60 per million HTTP/s notifications

FIFO topics

Pricing is calculated based on the number of published messages, the number of subscribed messages, and payload data:

- publish requests are $0.30 per 1 million and $0.017 per GB of payload data

- subscription messages are $0.01 per 1 million and $0.001 per GB of payload data

Data transfer out of Amazon SNS is also charged. Pricing varies depending on the volume of data. For example, the first 1 GB per month is free, while the next 9.999 TB costs $0.09 per GB.

Note that we have used US East (Ohio) as a reference point, but the pricing values differ across regions.

N/A

Enterprise package

What benefits do the Amazon SNS and Parse server enterprise packages offer?

Explore Ably's enterprise package for our pub/sub messaging platform

There is no Amazon SNS-specific enterprise package.

N/A

Community

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

Explore Ably's community support channel for our pub/sub messaging platform

4 / 5

Presence on multiple channels / 5

Size and activity / 5

“The global AWS community is present on a multitude of platforms, ranging from Stack Overflow and GitHub to Medium, Discourse, and even Reddit. Of course, the SNS community is significantly smaller in size, but objectively speaking, still pretty big. To be more specific, there seem to be a lot of people interested in the product. If you look at the AWS SNS forum, you can see that some of the threads have even 20.000 or 30.000 views. Unfortunately, there seem to be a lot of questions without an answer. You can find some cool stuff on GitHub, such as an extended client library for Java that enables you to publish messages bigger than 256 KB.“

4 / 5

Presence on multiple channels / 5

Size and activity / 5

P: “Parse platform has 18k stars on github and 18k questions on Stack Overflow. It’s safe to say there is a solid community. There exist plenty of SDKs developed by the community.”

O: “Parse platform has an extensive community with a lot of activity on both Github and StackOverflow, it also has a presence on Twitter.”

W: “Parse has an active community with 18k stars on GitHub and there is also a substantial amount of questions about Parse Server on StackOverflow. There is a gitter for ParsePlatform but it doesn't seem quite as active.”

Support

What types of support options and response times do Amazon SNS and Parse server offer?

Explore Ably's support options for our pub/sub messaging platform

General support options

Email, support ticket, phone, technical documentation, community support (e.g. forums or Stack Overflow).

Enterprise support

Amazon offers an enterprise package, which includes 24/7 phone, email, and chat access to Cloud Support Engineers, Infrastructure Event Management support, and a designated technical account manager.

Response time

< 24 hours for general guidance queries

< 1 hour for Production system down incidents (only applies to Business & Enterprise support packages).

N/A

Disclaimer: The information presented for Amazon SNS was last updated on 30 November 2020 and on 28 February 2021 for Parse server. It is possible that some details may now be out of date. If you think that’s the case, please let us know so we can update them. In any case, you should not rely solely on the information presented here and must check with each provider before deciding to integrate or buy any of these two solutions.

The Ably Platform

Products

Technology

Solutions

Industry

Why companies choose Ably

Explore

Quick links

The Ably Platform

Products

Technology

Solutions

Industry

Why companies choose Ably

Explore

Quick links

Amazon SNS vs Parse server

View more comparisons

Amazon SNS vs Firebase

Amazon SNS vs Sendbird

Firebase vs Parse server

Parse server vs Sendbird

More to explore

About Ably

Documentation

Compare our tech

Try our APIs for free

Talk to our technical team