Open Source PubNub Alternatives
A curated collection of the 2 best open source alternatives to PubNub.
The best open source alternative to PubNub is Soketi. If that doesn't suit you, we've compiled a ranked list of other open source PubNub alternatives to help you find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternative to PubNub is Ethora.
PubNub alternatives are mainly Messaging & Event Streaming but may also be Networking & Connectivity or Automation. Browse these if you want a narrower list of alternatives or looking for a specific functionality of PubNub.
Pusher-compatible WebSockets server you self-host, giving existing Pusher client code real-time messaging without per-connection pricing or a metered plan.
Soketi speaks the Pusher protocol, so projects already built against Pusher move over by adding a host and port and swapping the credentials. That removes both the connection and message caps of a hosted plan and the friction of testing real-time features against a metered service.
The server is built on uWebSockets.js, a C application ported to Node.js, which the project cites as performing at 8.5 times the level of Fastify and at least 10 times that of Socket.IO. It holds thousands of active connections under heavy traffic on less than 1 GB of memory and a single CPU, which is a cheap cloud instance rather than a subscription tier.
A handful of pieces make it viable beyond a laptop.
- Pusher Protocol v7: existing client libraries connect with minimal code change.
- App-based access: define the apps that gate API and WebSocket access, storing their data in static arrays, DynamoDB or an SQL server such as Postgres.
- Redis scaling: coordinate several instances as traffic grows, from one container to tens of them.
- Prometheus metrics: scrape the built-in endpoint to monitor a deployment.
- Portable deployment: containers or monoliths, with documented installs for each.
Documentation lives on GitBook, one-click deploys exist for Railway and Cleavr, and community projects add a management UI, a Filament plugin and chat components for Laravel. The maintainer is candid that release frequency depends on the time available, that maintenance has been intermittent, and that sponsorship is what would change it.
A messaging SDK platform with AI bots for web, mobile and WordPress, for developers adding chat to an app they already have.
Ethora packages real-time messaging, AI bots and the backend behind them into SDKs you drop into an existing application. The repository itself is a monorepo that gathers every SDK, tool and sample app as a git submodule, so one clone gives you the whole ecosystem to navigate.
Messaging runs over XMPP with a REST API in front of it. A set of hosted services covers the web app, the API, the XMPP gateway and a playground for trying the React chat component and exporting code before writing any of your own. Every SDK also supports pointing at a self-hosted server.
The clients are published separately and tracked against a shared feature matrix.
- React: a JavaScript chat SDK for embedding conversations in any web app.
- React Native: one component covering iOS and Android.
- Android: a native Kotlin SDK.
- iOS: a native Swift SDK.
- WordPress: a plugin that adds a chat widget with no code.
- Bots and agents: an XMPP and LLM bot framework, RAG demos, a site crawler and an MCP server for IDE and agent integration.
Shared capabilities include sending, editing, deleting and replying to messages, reactions, typing and delivery indicators, paginated history, media, one to one and group rooms, unread counters, push notifications, prebuilt UI and an offline cache, with coverage varying by platform. A setup command scaffolds a project, and the matrix is reviewed monthly.
