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Pusher

Hosted WebSocket pub/sub (Channels) and push notification (Beams) APIs for adding realtime features.

Free plan + paidRealtime messaging APIs
Visit PusherSee 2 alternatives
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About Pusher

Pusher offers two hosted developer APIs. Channels is a managed WebSocket pub/sub service: your server publishes events to named channels and browsers or mobile apps subscribed to them receive the update instantly, which is used for live dashboards, notifications, chat, collaborative editing and in-app activity feeds. It includes presence channels to show who is online, private authenticated channels, webhooks and a query API. Beams is a separate cross-platform push notification API for iOS, Android and web. Pusher has been around since the early 2010s and is known for a simple API and client libraries for most languages, so it is often the first realtime service developers try. Channels pricing is tiered by daily messages and concurrent connections, starting with a free Sandbox plan and moving through fixed monthly plans. It is a cloud service; there is no self-hosted version, though open-source servers compatible with its protocol exist.

Best for: Developers adding live updates or presence to a web or mobile app with minimal setup.

Pros and cons

What works

  • Very simple publish/subscribe API
  • Presence and private channels built in
  • Free Sandbox plan for prototypes

Why people leave

  • Free plan allows only 100 concurrent connections
  • Fixed tiers jump in price as connections grow
  • No message history or delivery guarantees like Ably's

Top Pusher alternatives

See all 2
  1. 1Firebase logo
    Firebase

    Realtime Database and Firestore listeners push live updates to clients alongside auth and hosting.

    66.2
  2. 2Supabase logo
    Supabase

    Its Realtime feature broadcasts database changes and presence if you also want a hosted Postgres backend.

    52.6

Why people left Pusher

In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.

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Pusher: common questions

Is Pusher free?

Pusher has a free plan and paid plans. Free plan: Sandbox: 200k messages/day, 100 connections (checked on Pusher's own site).

Is Pusher open source?

No, Pusher is not open source. Open-source alternatives include Supabase.

What platforms does Pusher run on?

Pusher is available for Web.

What are the best alternatives to Pusher?

The highest-ranked Pusher alternatives right now are Firebase and Supabase. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 2 Pusher alternatives