Push Technology vs Sendbird

	Push Technology	Sendbird
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	4 / 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	How to build a realtime chat app with Diffusion Cloud Drawing board demo JSON Delta streaming demo	Developer Portal Getting Started Build a JavaScript chat app with Sendbird UIKit React Native Chat Tutorial #1 - Build a chat app using Sendbird More Sendbird demos & tutorials
Documentation Reviewed by 3+ independent developers Explore Ably's documentation for our pub/sub messaging platform	3.50 / 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 “Push Technology documentation for its Diffusion product consists of several components. First, we have a quick start guide, which is pretty decent. It’s structured to provide step-by-step guidance on how to set up Diffusion and use the APIs and the SDKs. The screen is split so that you can look at documentation and code snippets in parallel - a nice touch. Then, there’s an online manual, which is significantly more detailed, with code snippets throughout. Unfortunately, there aren’t any details in the guide about the quality of service or how to architect for scalability. There’s a detailed API reference for each SDK and comprehensive release notes. The design could be improved, as it’s a bit dry, and so could the navigation experience - some links return 404, and the various sections of the documentation aren’t cross-linked. There are just a few demos available, with no source code and only several tutorials.“	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 The documentation is comprehensive, detailed, and clear, with sample projects. It's easily navigable, and the written and video tutorials are in-depth, but there could be more of them. The different products that make up the Sendbird platform are clearly separated (e.g. Chat, Calls, UIKit, etc) before introducing the SDKs and API. This gives users an overview of the products before diving into its documentation. Each product has API reference documentation. The key functionalities of that product are listed out for easy access. Generally, in terms of comprehensiveness, readability, navigation, ease of use, and code quality, the documentation is very solid.
Dashboard or dev console Reviewed by 3+ independent developers Sign up for free and explore Ably's pub/sub messaging platform	4.67 / 5 Ease of use / 5 Stats and reports / 5 Functionality / 5 “The Service Dashboard is feature-rich, and it allows you to easily create, manage, and remove resources, configure settings, and view detailed stats, such as the number of messages, the CPU load, or the topic count. There’s also a nice section in the Dashboard that allows you to test your pipeline. The user experience is mostly intuitive, and the functionality is explained well (there are many tooltips throughout). However, the UI design could perhaps benefit from a refresh, as it’s a bit outdated.“	5 / 5 Ease of use / 5 Stats and reports / 5 Functionality / 5 The dashboard allows you to create and manage applications. It also enables you to see all the stats and reports you need about monthly and daily active users, and peak concurrent connections. It also enables you to create and manage chat channels and make calls, making it easy to test. It has a slick design and is quite intuitive to use, and it’s divided into five features; overview, users, settings, calls, chat. It also has moderation tools that you can use to protect your conversations directly from your dashboard.
SDKs Note: Only official SDKs were taken into account. Explore Ably's 25+ SDKs for our pub/sub messaging platform	7 SDKs Including: JavaScript Android .NET	5 SDKs Including: Android iOS JavaScript
API structure Reviewed by 3+ independent developers	3.25 / 5 API consistency across SDKs / 5 Well structured / 5 Intuitive / 5 Simple / 5 “Diffusion APIs are consistent across SDKs in the sense that operations are performed in the same order. However, the APIs are quite complex - there are tens of classes and methods, with some different naming conventions across some of the SDKs, such as JavaScript, Java, or C, which is counter-intuitive. The API references are structured and presented differently, which is not great; at least they are detailed and thorough. There are examples for all SDKs on GitHub, which is useful.”	5 / 5 API consistency across SDKs / 5 Well structured / 5 Intuitive / 5 Simple / 5 The API is pretty straightforward, consistent across SDKs, it’s also intuitive and easy to use provided you read the documentation. I found it easy to figure out what to do without a lot of help. I find the methods simple, easy to remember and easy to understand.

Push Technology

Sendbird

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

4 / 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

Developer Portal Getting Started Build a JavaScript chat app with Sendbird UIKit

React Native Chat Tutorial #1 - Build a chat app using Sendbird

More Sendbird demos & tutorials

Documentation

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

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

3.50 / 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

“Push Technology documentation for its Diffusion product consists of several components. First, we have a quick start guide, which is pretty decent. It’s structured to provide step-by-step guidance on how to set up Diffusion and use the APIs and the SDKs. The screen is split so that you can look at documentation and code snippets in parallel - a nice touch. Then, there’s an online manual, which is significantly more detailed, with code snippets throughout. Unfortunately, there aren’t any details in the guide about the quality of service or how to architect for scalability. There’s a detailed API reference for each SDK and comprehensive release notes. The design could be improved, as it’s a bit dry, and so could the navigation experience - some links return 404, and the various sections of the documentation aren’t cross-linked. There are just a few demos available, with no source code and only several tutorials.“

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

The documentation is comprehensive, detailed, and clear, with sample projects. It's easily navigable, and the written and video tutorials are in-depth, but there could be more of them. The different products that make up the Sendbird platform are clearly separated (e.g. Chat, Calls, UIKit, etc) before introducing the SDKs and API. This gives users an overview of the products before diving into its documentation. Each product has API reference documentation. The key functionalities of that product are listed out for easy access. Generally, in terms of comprehensiveness, readability, navigation, ease of use, and code quality, the documentation is very solid.

Dashboard or dev console

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

4.67 / 5

Ease of use / 5

Stats and reports / 5

Functionality / 5

“The Service Dashboard is feature-rich, and it allows you to easily create, manage, and remove resources, configure settings, and view detailed stats, such as the number of messages, the CPU load, or the topic count. There’s also a nice section in the Dashboard that allows you to test your pipeline. The user experience is mostly intuitive, and the functionality is explained well (there are many tooltips throughout). However, the UI design could perhaps benefit from a refresh, as it’s a bit outdated.“

5 / 5

Ease of use / 5

Stats and reports / 5

Functionality / 5

The dashboard allows you to create and manage applications. It also enables you to see all the stats and reports you need about monthly and daily active users, and peak concurrent connections. It also enables you to create and manage chat channels and make calls, making it easy to test. It has a slick design and is quite intuitive to use, and it’s divided into five features; overview, users, settings, calls, chat. It also has moderation tools that you can use to protect your conversations directly from your dashboard.

SDKs

Note: Only official SDKs were taken into account.

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

7 SDKs

Including:

JavaScript
Android
.NET

5 SDKs

Including:

Android
iOS
JavaScript

API structure

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

3.25 / 5

API consistency across SDKs / 5

Well structured / 5

Intuitive / 5

Simple / 5

“Diffusion APIs are consistent across SDKs in the sense that operations are performed in the same order. However, the APIs are quite complex - there are tens of classes and methods, with some different naming conventions across some of the SDKs, such as JavaScript, Java, or C, which is counter-intuitive. The API references are structured and presented differently, which is not great; at least they are detailed and thorough. There are examples for all SDKs on GitHub, which is useful.”

5 / 5

API consistency across SDKs / 5

Well structured / 5

Intuitive / 5

Simple / 5

The API is pretty straightforward, consistent across SDKs, it’s also intuitive and easy to use provided you read the documentation. I found it easy to figure out what to do without a lot of help. I find the methods simple, easy to remember and easy to understand.

Push Technology	Sendbird
// Publish session.topics.add('my-topic',diffusion.topics.TopicType.JSON); var value = { foo : 'bar' }; var result = session.topicUpdate.set('my-topic', diffusion.datatypes.json(), value); // Subscribe session.addStream('my-topic', diffusion.datatypes.json()).on('value', function(topic, specification, newValue, oldValue) { console.log(`New value for ${path}: ${newValue.get()}`); session.select('my-topic'); });	const SendBird = require('sendbird'); // Initialize SendBird instance to use APIs in your app. var sb = new SendBird({appId: APP_ID}); // Connect to user sb.connect(USER_ID, function(user, error) { if (error) { console.log(error); } console.log(user) // The user is connected to Sendbird server. }); sb.OpenChannel.createChannel(function(openChannel, error) { if (error) { console.log(error); } // An open channel is successfully created. openChannel.enter(function(response, error) { if (error) { console.log(error); } // The current user successfully enters the open channel and can chat with other users in the channel by using APIs. openChannel.sendUserMessage('hello-world', null, null, function(message, error) { if (err) { console.log(err); } console.log('message', message); // The message is successfully sent to the channel. }); }); }); // Receive message var channelHandler = new sb.ChannelHandler(); channelHandler.onMessageReceived = function(channel, message) { // message received };

Push Technology

Sendbird

"Hello world" code example

// Publish
session.topics.add('my-topic',diffusion.topics.TopicType.JSON);
var value = { foo : 'bar' };
var result = session.topicUpdate.set('my-topic', diffusion.datatypes.json(), value);

// Subscribe
session.addStream('my-topic', diffusion.datatypes.json()).on('value', function(topic, specification, newValue, oldValue) {
  console.log(`New value for ${path}: ${newValue.get()}`);
  session.select('my-topic');
});

const SendBird = require('sendbird');
// Initialize SendBird instance to use APIs in your app.
var sb = new SendBird({appId: APP_ID});


// Connect to user
sb.connect(USER_ID, function(user, error) {
if (error) {
console.log(error);
}
console.log(user)
// The user is connected to Sendbird server.      
});


sb.OpenChannel.createChannel(function(openChannel, error) {
if (error) {
console.log(error);
}
// An open channel is successfully created.
    openChannel.enter(function(response, error) {
if (error) {
console.log(error);    
}


// The current user successfully enters the open channel and can chat with other users in the channel by using APIs.
        openChannel.sendUserMessage('hello-world', null, null, function(message, error) {
if (err) {
console.log(err);    
}
            console.log('message', message);
// The message is successfully sent to the channel.
        });
    });
}); 


// Receive message
var channelHandler = new sb.ChannelHandler();


channelHandler.onMessageReceived = function(channel, message) {
    // message received
};

	Push Technology	Sendbird
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
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 Presence is only available for Sendbird Chat, but it's not supported by other products like Sendbird Desk and Sendbird Calls.
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	Limited Push Technology operates a recovery buffer of sent messages but if a message has been lost or is no longer in the recovery buffer the server will abort the reconnection.
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
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
Built-in integrations Which popular services & systems are Push Technology and Sendbird 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 Unlimited (only applies to Enterprise customers). Maximum number of connections Unknown	Publisher throughput Unknown Maximum message size Unknown Maximum number of topics Unknown Maximum number of connections Unknown

Supported development platforms, languages, open protocols and cloud models
Development platforms & operating systems Which popular development platforms and operating systems do Push Technology and Sendbird 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 Push Technology and Sendbird 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 Push Technology and Sendbird 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 Push Technology and Sendbird 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
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	Limited Only available for Enterprise customers.
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%	Unknown
Quality of Service What QoS guarantees do Push Technology and Sendbird 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 Push Technology and Sendbird 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 Push Technology and Sendbird 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 Push Technology and Sendbird 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 Push Technology and Sendbird 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 Push Technology and Sendbird consist of? Explore Ably's free package for our pub/sub messaging platform	The free package includes 3 million monthly messages, 100 peak connections, unlimited topics, access to all major features and adapters, and basic support.	No free package
Pricing model How are the Push Technology and Sendbird pricing models calculated? Explore Ably's pricing model for our pub/sub messaging platform	The basic pricing for the Business package starts at $49 per month. In addition, there are charges for the number of messages - $ 0.99 per million messages and for the number of connections - $ 0.01 per connection. It’s unclear how pricing is calculated for the Enterprise package.	Pricing is divided into two categories: Sendbird Chat and Sendbird Calls. Sendbird Chat is $399/month
Enterprise package What benefits do the Push Technology and Sendbird enterprise packages offer? Explore Ably's enterprise package for our pub/sub messaging platform	The Enterprise package benefits include enterprise scale and performance, cross-region replication, configurable cluster size, bespoke performance tuning, bespoke packages for all sizes.	Sendbird offers a Premium Support package called Sendbird Desk. You’ll need to fill out a form to get started.
Community Reviewed by 3+ independent developers Explore Ably's community support channel for our pub/sub messaging platform	1 / 5 Presence on multiple channels / 5 Size and activity / 5 “Push Technology has a community forum, but there’s a very small number of posts and an even smaller number of followers (a maximum of 11 followers per forum category). Similarly, there are maybe 20 threads on Stack Overflow, and basically no community activity on GitHub. No presence on Gitter or Discourse. It’s essentially a non-existent community.”	3 / 5 Presence on multiple channels / 5 Size and activity / 5 Sendbird has tiny but growing community presence on a few channels such as StackOverflow (less active) and their website (more active), with a fair number of users and engagement (but a small number of tutorials). Stackoverflow has some answered questions.
Support What types of support options and response times do Push Technology and Sendbird offer? Explore Ably's support options for our pub/sub messaging platform	General support options Email, web support, documentation, developer hub, phone (only for Platinum package), screenshare (Gold and Platinum packages). Enterprise support The Platinum package is the equivalent of enterprise support. It includes early access to beta features and a dedicated account manager. Response time 2 hours for Platinum package 3 hour minimum for Live Events package 24 hours for Gold package Best effort response times for the Basic package	General support options Email, support ticket, technical documentation, community support (e.g. forums or Stack Overflow). Enterprise support Sendbird offers an enterprise package, which includes 24/7 phone, email, and chat access via Slack (with extra payment), access to customer success manager and quarterly business review Response time < 24 hours for general guidance queries < 3 hours for key functionality impaired in production(only applies to L1, L2 and L3).

Pricing & Support

Free package

What do the free packages offered by Push Technology and Sendbird consist of?

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

The free package includes 3 million monthly messages, 100 peak connections, unlimited topics, access to all major features and adapters, and basic support.

No free package

Pricing model

How are the Push Technology and Sendbird pricing models calculated?

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

The basic pricing for the Business package starts at $49 per month.

In addition, there are charges for the number of messages - $ 0.99 per million messages and for the number of connections - $ 0.01 per connection.

It’s unclear how pricing is calculated for the Enterprise package.

Pricing is divided into two categories: Sendbird Chat and Sendbird Calls.

Sendbird Chat is $399/month

Enterprise package

What benefits do the Push Technology and Sendbird enterprise packages offer?

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

The Enterprise package benefits include enterprise scale and performance, cross-region replication, configurable cluster size, bespoke performance tuning, bespoke packages for all sizes.

Sendbird offers a Premium Support package called Sendbird Desk.

You’ll need to fill out a form to get started.

Community

Reviewed by 3+ independent developers

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

1 / 5

Presence on multiple channels / 5

Size and activity / 5

“Push Technology has a community forum, but there’s a very small number of posts and an even smaller number of followers (a maximum of 11 followers per forum category). Similarly, there are maybe 20 threads on Stack Overflow, and basically no community activity on GitHub. No presence on Gitter or Discourse. It’s essentially a non-existent community.”

3 / 5

Presence on multiple channels / 5

Size and activity / 5

Sendbird has tiny but growing community presence on a few channels such as StackOverflow (less active) and their website (more active), with a fair number of users and engagement (but a small number of tutorials). Stackoverflow has some answered questions.

Support

What types of support options and response times do Push Technology and Sendbird offer?

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

General support options

Email, web support, documentation, developer hub, phone (only for Platinum package), screenshare (Gold and Platinum packages).

Enterprise support

The Platinum package is the equivalent of enterprise support. It includes early access to beta features and a dedicated account manager.

Response time

2 hours for Platinum package

3 hour minimum for Live Events package

24 hours for Gold package

Best effort response times for the Basic package

General support options

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

Enterprise support

Sendbird offers an enterprise package, which includes 24/7 phone, email, and chat access via Slack (with extra payment), access to customer success manager and quarterly business review

Response time

< 24 hours for general guidance queries

< 3 hours for key functionality impaired in production(only applies to L1, L2 and L3).

Disclaimer: The information presented for Push Technology was last updated on 15 December 2020 and on 28 February 2021 for Sendbird. 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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