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Kaazing WebSocket Gateway vs Parse server

This Kaazing WebSocket Gateway vs Parse server comparison was created based on reviews from developers and our best attempts to perform analysis by looking at documentation and other publicly available resources.

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Kaazing WebSocket Gateway

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.

2 / 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

Documentation

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

Explore Ably's documentation for our pub/sub messaging platform
2.50 / 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 documentation is overall disappointing. The API reference, some comprehensive FAQs, and some decent writing for SDK-specific guides are noteworthy highlights. However, the rest is not great. There is no navigation sidebar; all the various sections of the docs are individual articles that are listed on a menu page. Furthermore, the sections are not organized in a logical manner; it’s unclear where to start, and often hard to understand how the topics connect.  There are only a few GitHub tutorials, with some brief steps, but certainly not enough details. Overall, you get the feeling the documentation fails to deliver relevant bits of information, and getting started with Kaazing was far from easy.”

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
1 / 5

Ease of use / 5

Stats and reports / 5

Functionality / 5

"Kaazing WebSocket Gateway does not provide a developer console or dashboard."

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

5 client SDKs

Including:

  • iOS

  • JavaScript

  • .NET

13 SDKs

Including:

  • Javascript

  • REST

  • Android

API structure

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

4 / 5

API consistency across SDKs / 5

Well structured / 5

Intuitive / 5

Simple / 5

“Kaazing offers SDKs in several different programming languages, and for different operating systems. The naming conventions make the APIs reasonably intuitive and simple to understand, and the extensive API references help a lot. The APIs are mostly consistent at a class level, which makes sense, since the WebSocket ones are basically modeled around the standard WebSocket API. Note that the client SDKs also provide additional protocol capabilities, such as AMQP and JMS, which is quite useful.” 

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.”

Kaazing WebSocket Gateway

Parse server

"Hello world" code example
// Create client
var client = UniversalClientDef('amqp');
// Establish connection
var connectionInfo = {
  url: 'wss://demos.kaazing.com/amqp', // URL to Kaazing's public sandbox for WebSocket testing
  username: 'guest',
  password: 'guest'
};
// Manage connection
var connectionInfo = {
  url: 'wss://demos.kaazing.com/amqp', // URL to Kaazing's public sandbox for WebSocket testing
  username: 'guest',
  password: 'guest'
};
// Subscribe
var subscription = {};

var onSubscribe = function(sub) {
  subscription = sub;
  log('Subscribed');
  ...
};

var onConnect = function(conn) {
  log('Connected');
  conn.subscribe(
    'getting-started',    // Topic to send messages
    'getting-started',    // Topic to receive messages
    onMessage,            // Callback function to process received messages
    false,                // noLocal flag - 'false' allows you to receive your own messages
    onSubscribe           // Callback function once subscribed
  );
};
// Receive messages
var onMessage = function(msg) {
  console.log('Received: ' + msg.message);
};
// Publish
subscription.sendMessage({ message: 'Hello, world!' });
// 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
})();

Kaazing WebSocket Gateway

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

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

Limited

You can configure Kaazing WebSocket Gateway to hold recent messages for a topic in a last value cache. However, you are required to use a JMS-compliant message broker, such as RabbitMQ.

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

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

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 

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

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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway 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 

Unknown

Maximum message size

Unknown

Maximum number of topics

Unknown

Maximum number of concurrent connections

Unknown

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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway 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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway 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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway 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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway 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

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

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/

N/A

N/A

Quality of Service

What QoS guarantees do Kaazing WebSocket Gateway 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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway 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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway 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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway 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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway 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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway and Parse server consist of?

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

N/A

N/A

Pricing model

How are the Kaazing WebSocket Gateway and Parse server pricing models calculated?

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

N/A

N/A

Enterprise package

What benefits do the Kaazing WebSocket Gateway and Parse server enterprise packages offer?

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

N/A

N/A

Community

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

Explore Ably's community support channel for our pub/sub messaging platform
1.50 / 5

Presence on multiple channels / 5

Size and activity / 5

“Kaazing is present on a few platforms, such as StackOverflow, Gitter, and GitHub. However, all discussions and GitHub issues seem to date back from 2018. All in all, there’s nothing to indicate Kaazing has an active and thriving community. There only seem to be a few projects made by the community, and almost no community-made content (blogs, tutorials).”

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 Kaazing WebSocket Gateway and Parse server offer?

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

There is only one level of support - Platinum Level, available 24/7.

Support channels

Chat, email, phone, self-service web portal, documentation

Response time

Within 1 hour for urgent / high severity issues

Within 1 business day for normal severity issues

Within 5 business days for low priority issues

N/A

Disclaimer: The information presented for Kaazing WebSocket Gateway was last updated on 31 March 2021 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.


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