PubNub vs TalkJS
Discover how PubNub compares to TalkJS, and understand which is right for your use case, based on dimensions such as scalability, pricing, security, and their chat features.
What is PubNub?
PubNub is a developer API platform that powers the realtime infrastructure in apps to build engaging Virtual Spaces where online communities can connect. It can serve as the foundation for online chat, live events, geolocation, remote IoT control, and realtime updates.
What is TalkJS?
TalkJS provides a chat API with customizable UIs for 1-on-1 messaging, group chats. It includes notifications and supports integration across web and mobile platforms via SDKs.
Compare PubNub and TalkJS
Let’s compare PubNub and TalkJS, looking at key elements of their offering such as their scalability, pricing, security and chat feature set.
Scalability | |||
Concurrent connections | Number of users that can be supported in a single chat. | PubNub 10,000 users can be supported in a single chat. They recommend you limit the number of online users in a single chat room or space to 10,000 users for optimal performance. | TalkJS 300 users can be supported in a single chat. Limits for Enterprise plan are unknown. |
Connections | Number of connections that can be handled across the platform. | PubNub Unlimited. Overages apply if you exceed plan quota - $0.15 per additional user. | TalkJS 25,000 connections can be handled across the platform. Users would need to opt for the Enterprise plan for higher rates. |
Channels / rooms | Number of channels or rooms that can be handled across the platform. | PubNub Unlimited. | TalkJS Unlimited. |
Messages | Number of messages that can be handled across the platform. | PubNub Unlimited. Overages apply if you exceed 3000 per user - $43 per additional 1M transactions. | TalkJS Unlimited. |
Message throughput | Number of messsages that can be published per second. | PubNub 10-15 messages per second can be published. Read more | TalkJS 9 messages/second rate limit. Read more |
Data integrity | |||
Guaranteed message delivery | Ensures messages are never lost during transmission, even in the presence of network disruptions. | PubNub No | TalkJS No |
Guaranteed message ordering | Maintains the sequence of messages as they were sent. This is particularly important in apps where the chronological order of messages is essential for meaningful communication. | PubNub No | TalkJS No |
Exactly-once message delivery | Guarantees that each message is processed exactly once, preventing data inconsistencies that can arise from duplicate processing or missing messages. | PubNub No | TalkJS Yes TalkJS guarantees that messages are sent exactly-once via an idempotency key regardless of any number of retries. |
Performance & availability | |||
Uptime Guarantee | An uptime guarantee instills confidence in the reliability of the service and protects your business from the negative impacts of downtime. | PubNub PubNub offers a 99.999% uptime SLA for its users. | TalkJS TalkJS guarantees an uptime of 99.9%/month, only available for Enterprise customers. |
Global edge network | By bringing servers (Points of Presence, or PoP) geographically closer to the devices of end users, and routing requests to the nearest PoP, global latency is reduced to a minimum. | PubNub Yes | TalkJS No TalkJS servers are only located in the European Union. |
Multi-region data replication (message durability) | By replicating data across multiple regions, the risk of data loss or downtime is greatly mitigated since if data is lost or a server fails in one region, the information can be retrieved from another. | PubNub Yes PubNub supports multi-region data replication across different points of presence except for file sharing. Read more | TalkJS |
No single point of failure or congestion | Having no single point of failure means a system is resilient and can continue to operate even if one part fails. Avoiding a single point of congestion ensures messages flow efficiently across the system and avoids bottlenecks that could lead to performance issues under load. | PubNub No | TalkJS No |
Latency | Low latency is crucial for realtime apps as it ensures swift and efficient data transmissions, providing a smoother and more responsive user experience. | PubNub <100 milliseconds delivery. | TalkJS Unknown. |
Server-side batching | Reduces the overall message count, lowers costs, and mitigates the risk of hitting rate limits during high-throughput scenarios. | PubNub No | TalkJS No |
Connection state recovery | Automatically re-establish failed connections and replay missed messages. | PubNub Yes PubNub supports connection state recovery and has an automatic reconnection process to handle brief network interruptions. PubNub message delivery page | TalkJS No |
Ecosystem support | |||
Supported realtime protocols | Support for multiple protocols provides the flexibility to choose a protocol that best suits your project’s requirements. | PubNub
PubNub uses HTTP as the transport for their client libraries. A WebSocket compliant interface is provided in some libraries, however this is just a wrapper around an underlying HTTP transport. | TalkJS WebSocket only. |
Supported languages | Supporting multiple languages and platforms offers greater flexibility when building cross-platform realtime apps. | PubNub
| TalkJS
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Chat room types | |||
Multi-type chat support (group, DM, supergroups) | Enables chat experiences to be tailored to various user needs, from one-on-one to large, scalable group discussions. | PubNub Yes PubNub supports:
| TalkJS TalkJS JavaScript SDK allows you to implement three chat room types:
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Chat room management | |||
Presence | Maintaining a view of which users are connected, and their associated metadata, enables their online status to be updated in realtime. | PubNub Yes Read more | TalkJS Yes |
Occupancy | High-level metrics about the clients currently connected to a channel make it simple to show things such as connected user count, or display which channels are the most popular. | PubNub Yes PubNub's Presence API allows developers to access and integrate occupancy information into their applications. Read more | TalkJS No |
Typing indicators | Show when others are typing in a chat room, enhancing realtime communication flow. | PubNub Yes Read more | TalkJS Yes |
Room reactions | Customize the chat environment with reactions and other shared room states. | PubNub No | TalkJS No |
Chat message attributes | |||
Message edits and deletes | Allow users to modify or remove messages. | PubNub Yes PubNub stores all messages in a time-series database and doesn’t expose an API to directly update a message. Users can delete or edit messages using the Message Reactions feature. | TalkJS Yes You can delete or edit messages using TalkJS UI and configure which roles are allowed to do these operations. |
Message reactions & emoticons | Boost engagement by enabling users to quickly express emotions or feedback on messages. | PubNub Yes | TalkJS Yes |
Rich text support | Enhance messages with rich text formatting in chat. | PubNub No | TalkJS Yes |
Media attachments | Support for sharing images, videos, and files in chat. | PubNub Yes | TalkJS Yes Read more |
Chat application and user state | |||
In-app notifications | Notify users of important events from other chat rooms without them leaving the current chat, keeping them engaged and informed. | PubNub Yes PubNub supports in-app notifications through its mobile push gateway. | TalkJS No |
Role-based permissions | Control user roles and permissions to ensure proper access and moderation. | PubNub Yes | TalkJS Yes TalkJS allows you to select the appropriate roles and permissions of a user from the Chat UI. The user can have a single role at a time within the chat. Read more |
UI kit | Customizable UI elements for a seamless chat integration. | PubNub No | TalkJS Yes TalkJS provides pre-built UI to help you add chat easily. |
Storage and history | |||
Synchronous - automated moderation | Detect and manage harmful content automatically, before the message is broadcast to participants. | PubNub Yes Integration with 3rd party moderation tools via Functions. | TalkJS No |
Asynchronous - automated moderation | Detect and manage harmful content automatically, after the message is broadcast to participants. | PubNub Yes Integration with 3rd party moderation tools via Functions. | TalkJS No |
Manual moderation via dashboards | Tools for moderators to detect harmful messages and manage them effectively. | PubNub Yes PubNub offers a Moderation Dashboard that allows admins to manually moderate chat app users through the Users view. | TalkJS Yes The TalkJS dashboard enables you to manually address and remove any unwanted content that may appear in your chats. |
Ban users | Remove problematic users from the chat to maintain a healthy environment. | PubNub Yes PubNub users can automatically disable default access to channels, channel groups, and other users' metadata through the access manager and admin portal. | TalkJS Yes TalkJS allows you to remove users in a conversation via its REST API. After you have removed a user from a conversation, you can ban them by setting up identity verification and turning off browser synchronization. Read more |
Dev tools | |||
Programmatic management | Enables the automation of provisioning, management, and testing of service resources, simplifying integration with existing development workflows such as CI. | PubNub Yes | TalkJS Yes TalkJS supports programmatic management through its API. |
Pricing | |||
Pricing model | The pricing model should align with your project's expected load, usage patterns, and budget in order to be cost-effective and efficient. | PubNub PubNub offers Free, Starter, and Pro packages. Their support packages, separate from their standard plans, also include an Enterprise option. Their pricing model is based on monthly active users (MAUs). See the pricing page | TalkJS |
Pricing illustration | An example price based on 5 live streaming chat events and 50K attendees. | PubNub $23,048.00
Note: Assumes same users attend each event to keep MAU at minimum. PubNub pricing page | TalkJS It isn't clear if 25K users could be supported in a single live stream chat. TalkJS restrictions would mean only 1250 could 'participate' in an event at any one time. |
Free plan | With a free plan, you can test the service’s functionality and compatibility with your project before committing to a paid plan. | PubNub Yes | TalkJS Yes |
Pricing plans | The pricing plans offered by cost. | PubNub Starter: $98/month/MAU: Up to 1000 MAUs, and up to 3000 transactions per MAU. Pro packages: Custom pricing Their support packages, separate from their standard plans, also include an Enterprise option. Overages apply:
| TalkJS
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Support for additional realtime features | |||
Pub/Sub messaging | Reduces communication code complexity, simplifying the process of building highly functional and architecturally complex realtime apps. | PubNub Yes | TalkJS No |
Collaboration capabilities | Enables you to quickly integrate realtime collaborative features like live cursors, member location, avatar stacks, and component locking. | PubNub Partial PubNub's collaboration capabilities are largely powered by its Presence feature. There is no dedicated collaboration SDK. | TalkJS No |
Database sync capabilities | Database sync capabilities enable realtime updates between your database and UI, ensuring the UI reflects changes in the database instantly, with data consistency, and without the need for polling. | PubNub No | TalkJS No |
Notifications | Send notifications directly to users screens, from chat responses to news alerts, or game updates, whether or not an application is open and running. | PubNub Yes | TalkJS Yes TalkJS supports email notifications, SMS notifications, browser notifications, and mobile push notifications. |
Asset tracking | State-of-the-art asset tracking across last mile logistics, food delivery applications, and urban mobility services. | PubNub Yes PubNub can be used to track and trace assets, their locations, and status through its realtime visibility feature. Read more | TalkJS No |
Integrations & interoperability | |||
AI models | Allows you to integrate AI models, like GPT, into your app. | PubNub Yes PubNub integrates with OpenAI's ChatGPT model. | TalkJS No |
Serverless functions | Enables integration with third-party cloud providers by facilitating the execution of custom code against messages to perform business logic like on-the-fly translation. | PubNub PubNub operates its own serverless architecture through its feature called PubNub Functions. | TalkJS No |
Streaming & queueing | Provides a dependable method to reroute messages from the service to third-party streams and queues for further processing. | PubNub Egress:
Ingress:
| TalkJS No |
Observability services | Enables realtime monitoring and troubleshooting by offering insights into service behavior directly in your observability platform of choice. | PubNub Yes PubNub provides integrations with Datadog and NewRelic. | TalkJS No |
Security & compliance | |||
API key authentication | Simplifies the authentication code on trusted servers compared to requesting, managing, and refreshing tokens. | PubNub Yes | TalkJS No TalkJS does not rely on API key authentication to secure user sessions or communication with its APIs. Instead, it uses token-based authentication (JWT). |
Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication | SSO streamlines login processes, boosts security by minimizing password use, and meets compliance needs for secure data access management. | PubNub Yes PubNub implements SAML SSO authentication. | TalkJS No TalkJS does not directly support Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication. Instead, it uses JSON Web Tokens (JWT) for authentication. Read more |
Rules for permissions and operations | Provides control over which users can subscribe and publish to certain channels. | PubNub Yes PubNub supports rules for permissions and operations through its Access Manager. See Access Manager docs | TalkJS Yes Read more |
End-to-end encryption | Ensures that the data transmitted between the client and the API server remains confidential and secure while in transit. | PubNub | TalkJS No |
Compliance | Compliance with regulations can impact your ability to meet legal obligations in your industry. | PubNub PubNub is compliant with five policies for the security and privacy of its services:
| TalkJS TalkJS only complies with the GDPR by acting as a data processor. TalkJS privacy page |
Disclaimer: This comparison was created based on documentation and resources freely available online about PubNub and TalkJS. The content was last updated on 30 Apr 2025 for PubNub and on 1 May 2025 for TalkJS. Be sure to double-check everything before you make any decisions. If you do find anything incorrect or out of date, then please let us know.
Alternatives to PubNub and TalkJS
While both PubNub and TalkJS are worth considering as options for realtime experiences, they aren’t without their limitations. We suggest evaluating them against the following alternatives to make sure you find the right solution for your needs.
Alternatives to PubNub
Pusher is a first-generation pub/sub messaging service that provides bi-directional hosted APIs for adding realtime features to applications.
Socket.IO is a library that provides realtime, bi-directional communication between clients and servers. It allows the management of connections, sending and receiving messages, and more.
SignalR is an open-source library that simplifies adding real-time web functionality to ASP.NET Core web apps.
Alternatives to TalkJS

Stream is a realtime chat and activity feeds platform, offering easy integration through APIs and SDKs for enhanced user engagement

CometChat provides rich messaging solutions for apps with features like text, voice, video chat, robust SDKs, and UI kits.

Sendbird offers APIs and SDKs for live chat, realtime messaging, push notifications, and calls with WebSocket connections, UI kits, and backend integrations.
Discover how PubNub and TalkJS stack up against Ably
Ably is the definitive realtime experience platform of the internet. See how we compare to PubNub and TalkJS on key dimensions such as core features, pricing, integrations, QoS, performance, and security and compliance.
Try Ably for free to discover the benefits for yourself
Ably has built reliable realtime infrastructure so you don’t have to. On our free plan you benefit from:
- 6M monthly messages
- 200 concurrent channels
- 200 concurrent connections