Pusher vs Quickblox
Discover how Pusher compares to Quickblox, and understand which is right for your use case, based on dimensions such as scalability, pricing, security, and their chat features.
What is Pusher?
Pusher is a first-generation pub/sub messaging service that provides bi-directional hosted APIs for adding realtime features to applications. Pusher offers two products:
- Channels - Build scalable realtime features
- Beams - Programmatic push notifications
What is Quickblox?
QuickBlox provides APIs and SDKs for building realtime chat, voice, and video communication apps. It includes chat UI kits, AI-powered assistants, push notifications, and custom video conferencing options.
Compare Pusher and Quickblox
Let’s compare Pusher and Quickblox, 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. | Pusher Unknown. | Quickblox Limit on pre-enterprise plans is 25,000. There is no specified limit on Enterprise. Read more |
Connections | Number of connections that can be handled across the platform. | Pusher 30k per month Growth Plus plan - custom plans may support higher number of connections. Pusher pricing page | Quickblox Unknown. |
Channels / rooms | Number of channels or rooms that can be handled across the platform. | Pusher Unlimited. | Quickblox Unlimited. |
Messages | Number of messages that can be handled across the platform. | Pusher | Quickblox Unknown. |
Message throughput | Number of messsages that can be published per second. | Pusher 10 messages per second. Limited to 10 messages per second per client connection. | Quickblox |
| Data integrity | |||
Guaranteed message delivery | Ensures messages are never lost during transmission, even in the presence of network disruptions. | Pusher No | Quickblox 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. | Pusher No | Quickblox 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. | Pusher No | Quickblox No |
| 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. | Pusher Channels SLA: API will be made available with an Annual API Uptime Percentage of 99.95%. Pusher will use commercially reasonable efforts to make Pusher Beams available with an Annual Uptime Percentage of > 99.95%. Read more | Quickblox Unknown. |
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. | Pusher No | Quickblox No |
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. | Pusher No Pusher apps are located in a single data center rather than distributed across multiple data centers. Any latency issues that occur in that data center will affect all apps hosted there. | Quickblox No |
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. | Pusher No Pusher apps are located in a single data center rather than distributed across multiple data centers. If that data center goes offline then all apps hosted there are affected. | Quickblox 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. | Pusher Not shared. Because apps exist in only one region, message latencies increase for clients the further they are from your chosen data center. | Quickblox Unknown. |
Server-side batching | Reduces the overall message count, lowers costs, and mitigates the risk of hitting rate limits during high-throughput scenarios. | Pusher Partial Pusher provides a Batch Events API for server-side batching, allowing developers to send multiple events in a single API call. | Quickblox No |
Connection state recovery | Automatically re-establish failed connections and replay missed messages. | Pusher Partial Pusher provides some level of connection state recovery but doesn't offer built-in, automatic recovery. | Quickblox Yes QuickBlox Chat SDKs support automatic reconnection and offline message queuing, which ensures that when the connection is lost, messages are held on the server and delivered once the connection is re-established. Read more |
| Ecosystem support | |||
Supported realtime protocols | Support for multiple protocols provides the flexibility to choose a protocol that best suits your project’s requirements. | Pusher
| Quickblox
|
Supported languages | Supporting multiple languages and platforms offers greater flexibility when building cross-platform realtime apps. | Pusher
| Quickblox QuickBlox uses multiple programming languages for its UI kits and SDKs, including:
|
| 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. | Pusher Pusher does not offer predefined features for chat rooms, but you can use Pusher Channels API to build:
| Quickblox
|
| 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. | Pusher Yes | Quickblox Yes QuickBlox SDK sends application-level pings to a user or server, allowing you to track user presence updates and check user status. Read more |
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. | Pusher | Quickblox No |
Typing indicators | Show when others are typing in a chat room, enhancing realtime communication flow. | Pusher Partial Pusher does not provide built-in typing indicators natively, but you can implement typing indicators using Pusher Channels or Presence Channels by sending custom events to notify users when someone is typing. | Quickblox Yes |
Room reactions | Customize the chat environment with reactions and other shared room states. | Pusher Partial Pusher does not provide built-in support for room reactions or managing room states directly. However, you can implement these features using Pusher Channels by creating your custom logic. | Quickblox No |
| Chat message attributes | |||
Message edits and deletes | Allow users to modify or remove messages. | Pusher No | Quickblox Yes |
Message reactions & emoticons | Boost engagement by enabling users to quickly express emotions or feedback on messages. | Pusher No | Quickblox No |
Rich text support | Enhance messages with rich text formatting in chat. | Pusher No | Quickblox Yes QuickBlox UI kits support text formatting for text customization directly within the UI Kit components. Read more |
Media attachments | Support for sharing images, videos, and files in chat. | Pusher No | Quickblox Yes QuickBlox provides file-sharing functionality through its iOS, Android, and React UI kits. Its Chat API also allows file uploads but doesn't offer a dedicated "media attachment" feature. 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. | Pusher Yes | Quickblox No |
Role-based permissions | Control user roles and permissions to ensure proper access and moderation. | Pusher Partial Pusher itself does not directly provide built-in role-based permissions. However, you can implement it in Pusher Channels using Pusher's user authentication and authorizing mechanics. Read more | Quickblox Partial QuickBlox supports role-based permissions to some extent. However, the permissions are limited in scope as they primarily cover basic chat and user management actions. Read more |
UI kit | Customizable UI elements for a seamless chat integration. | Pusher No | Quickblox Yes |
| Storage and history | |||
Synchronous - automated moderation | Detect and manage harmful content automatically, before the message is broadcast to participants. | Pusher No | Quickblox Yes |
Asynchronous - automated moderation | Detect and manage harmful content automatically, after the message is broadcast to participants. | Pusher No | Quickblox No |
Manual moderation via dashboards | Tools for moderators to detect harmful messages and manage them effectively. | Pusher No | Quickblox Partial QuickBlox Trust and Safety (TnS) chat moderation is only available for Enterprise plan users. Read more |
Ban users | Remove problematic users from the chat to maintain a healthy environment. | Pusher Partial Pusher supports banning users through its server SDKs but only terminates the user’s active connections. | Quickblox Yes |
| Dev tools | |||
Programmatic management | Enables the automation of provisioning, management, and testing of service resources, simplifying integration with existing development workflows such as CI. | Pusher Yes Pusher supports programmatic management of its services via APIs, Webhooks, SDKs, and serverless functions for Pusher Channels. Read more | Quickblox Yes |
| 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. | Pusher Pusher has free, flexible, and Enterprise plans based on number of messages and concurrent connections. See more information | Quickblox Monthly subscription. QuickBlox's pricing is based on the total number of users registered in your app, whether they are active or not. Read more |
Pricing illustration | An example price based on 5 live streaming chat events and 50K attendees. | Pusher $1199 minimum. Could not calculate exactly. Would need a custom enterprise plan as Growth Plan Plus only supports 90M messages a day. | Quickblox Because non-Enterprise Quickblox only supports up to 25k concurrent connections, we are unable to provide a scaled pricing illustration. |
Free plan | With a free plan, you can test the service’s functionality and compatibility with your project before committing to a paid plan. | Pusher Partial Only in 'sandbox', which is a free plan which gives you 200,000 messages and up to 100 concurrent connections per day. | Quickblox |
Pricing plans | The pricing plans offered by cost. | Pusher Pricing is based around the number of messages per day and concurrent connections.
Source: Pusher pricing page | Quickblox QuickBlox's pricing is based on the total number of users registered in your app, whether they are active or not: Starter: $107/month for up to 10,000 active/inactive registered users. Growth: $269/month for up to 25,000 active/inactive registered users. HIPAA Cloud: $430/month for up to 20,000 active/inactive registered users. Enterprise: From $647 for a custom number of total registered users. :cta:Learn more: |
| Support for additional realtime features | |||
Pub/Sub messaging | Reduces communication code complexity, simplifying the process of building highly functional and architecturally complex realtime apps. | Pusher Yes | Quickblox No |
Collaboration capabilities | Enables you to quickly integrate realtime collaborative features like live cursors, member location, avatar stacks, and component locking. | Pusher No | Quickblox 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. | Pusher No | Quickblox 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. | Pusher Yes Pusher supports push notifications through its Pusher Beams API. | Quickblox Yes QuickBlox supports push notifications for iOS and Android apps by integrating with FCM and APNs. Read more |
Asset tracking | State-of-the-art asset tracking across last mile logistics, food delivery applications, and urban mobility services. | Pusher Yes Pusher supports asset tracking. Pusher Channels can be used to display the current location of assets on a map in realtime. | Quickblox No |
| Integrations & interoperability | |||
AI models | Allows you to integrate AI models, like GPT, into your app. | Pusher No | Quickblox 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. | Pusher Yes | Quickblox No |
Streaming & queueing | Provides a dependable method to reroute messages from the service to third-party streams and queues for further processing. | Pusher No | Quickblox No |
Observability services | Enables realtime monitoring and troubleshooting by offering insights into service behavior directly in your observability platform of choice. | Pusher Yes Pusher provides Datadog and Librato integrations. | Quickblox No |
| Security & compliance | |||
API key authentication | Simplifies the authentication code on trusted servers compared to requesting, managing, and refreshing tokens. | Pusher Yes | Quickblox Yes |
Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication | SSO streamlines login processes, boosts security by minimizing password use, and meets compliance needs for secure data access management. | Pusher Yes Pusher supports authentication with Github SSO. | Quickblox |
Rules for permissions and operations | Provides control over which users can subscribe and publish to certain channels. | Pusher Partial Pusher provides a mechanism for implementing rules and permissions primarily through its Channels service. It requires you to implement an endpoint which they will call to check if an operation is allowed. | Quickblox Yes |
End-to-end encryption | Ensures that the data transmitted between the client and the API server remains confidential and secure while in transit. | Pusher Yes | Quickblox No QuickBlox does not natively provide E2EE for messaging out of the box. Its realtime chat is secured through TLS to protect data in transit. |
Compliance | Compliance with regulations can impact your ability to meet legal obligations in your industry. | Pusher
| Quickblox |
Disclaimer: This comparison was created based on documentation and resources freely available online about Pusher and Quickblox. The content was last updated on 8 May 2025 for Pusher and on 16 May 2025 for Quickblox. 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 Pusher and Quickblox
While both Pusher and Quickblox 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 Pusher
Ably is the definitive realtime experience platform of the internet. Serving more WebSocket connections than any other pub/sub platform on earth. Businesses trust us to power their critical applications - reliably, securely and at serious scale.
Firebase Realtime Database is a cloud-hosted database by Google, allowing developers to build realtime applications for web and mobile.
PubNub is a developer API platform that powers the realtime infrastructure in apps to build engaging Virtual Spaces where online communities can connect.
Alternatives to Quickblox
PubNub is a developer API platform that powers the realtime infrastructure in apps to build engaging Virtual Spaces where online communities can connect.
Sendbird offers APIs and SDKs for live chat, realtime messaging, push notifications, and calls with WebSocket connections, UI kits, and backend integrations.
CometChat provides rich messaging solutions for apps with features like text, voice, video chat, robust SDKs, and UI kits.
Discover how Pusher and Quickblox stack up against Ably
Ably is the definitive realtime experience platform of the internet. See how we compare to Pusher and Quickblox 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
