How does Apinator compare to Ably on features?

Apinator covers the core realtime primitives: WebSocket channels (public, private, presence), server-triggered events, client events, webhooks, and HMAC auth. Ably bundles extras like persistent message history and higher-level pub/sub abstractions. If your use case is event broadcasting and presence, Apinator covers it fully.

Is Apinator cheaper than Ably?

Yes — Ably bills per message, per peak connection, and per channel-minute, so costs scale with traffic. Apinator is free to use: your bill stays at zero whether you send 100,000 or 100,000,000 messages per month.

Does Apinator support pub/sub and presence the same way Ably does?

Yes. Channels are pub/sub under the hood — any publisher can trigger an event on a channel and every subscriber receives it. Presence channels track which members are currently connected, including their metadata, across tabs and devices.

Does Apinator have a free tier?

Apinator is free to use — not a trial, not a limited tier with a paid plan above it. The current free plan includes 500 concurrent connections, 500,000 messages per day (roughly 15 million per month), 100 channels, and presence tracking up to 500 members per channel. Presence, private channels, webhooks, multi-region, and HMAC auth are all included.

What happens during traffic spikes — will my bill jump?

No. There is no per-message overage, no peak-connection charge, no channel-minute billing. Apinator absorbs the spike on its side; your bill stays at zero.

Do you support HMAC token authentication?

Yes. Private channels use HMAC-SHA256 tokens signed by your backend, the same pattern Ably uses for token auth. Your existing auth endpoint usually only needs an import and key swap.

Does Apinator keep message history like Ably?

No — Apinator focuses on live event delivery, not persistence. Events are delivered to connected subscribers and are not stored for later replay. If your app needs durable history or rewind-from-a-point, keep that in your own datastore (or stay on Ably for that specific feature). For broadcasting and presence, Apinator covers the use case fully and for free.

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Q: Where is Apinator hosted and which regions are available?

Apinator is fully managed with data planes in the EU and the US. You choose the region per app so connections stay close to your users and payloads stay in the chosen jurisdiction. Contact us if you need another region.

No Per-Message Metering

Ably meters every message, every peak connection, and every channel-minute. Apinator does none of that — you send as many events as you need, free.

Free to Use

No credit card, no trial, no paid plan above it. Presence, private channels, webhooks, and HMAC auth are all included, not gated.

Comparable Features

WebSocket channels, presence tracking, HMAC auth, webhook delivery, and multi-region — without Ably's enterprise tier.

Predictable — $0/month

A bill that never changes, because it never starts. No surprise invoices from a viral launch or a traffic spike.

Multi-Region (EU + US)

Pick a region per app so connections stay close to your users and sensitive data stays in its jurisdiction.

HMAC Token Auth

Private channels use HMAC-signed tokens the same way Ably does. Your existing server-side auth pattern maps directly across.

Apinator vs Ably

Feature	Apinator	Ably
Pricing model	Free	Per-message + peak connection + channel-minutes
Free-tier messages / month	15M (500k/day)	6M
Free-tier peak connections	500	200
Pub/sub
Presence
Webhooks (integrations)
HMAC auth
Multi-region		Paid tiers
SDKs (client + server)	JS, Node, Python, Go, PHP, Swift, Kotlin	Broad
Regions	EU + US	Global (paid tiers)
Predictable monthly bill	Free — $0/mo

Quick Start

Connect, subscribe to a channel, and bind event handlers — similar to Ably, fully managed.

client.js
import { RealtimeClient } from '@apinator/client'

const client = new RealtimeClient('APP_KEY', {
  host: 'wss://rt.apinator.io'
})

// Subscribe to a channel and bind an event
const channel = client.subscribe('notifications')
channel.bind('alert', (data) => {
  showNotification(data.title, data.body)
})

// Publish from your server (Node.js, Python, Go, PHP, ...)
import { ApinatorServer } from '@apinator/server'
const apinator = new ApinatorServer({ appId, key, secret })
await apinator.trigger('notifications', 'alert', { title: 'New order', body: '#1042' })

Pricing: Three Meters vs. None

Ably bills on more axes than most realtime platforms. Here is the practical difference.

Ably meters realtime on three separate axes: messages, peak connections, and channel-minutes. Each one is a dial that turns as your app grows, and the monthly invoice is the sum of all three. That makes costs hard to predict — a single busy day or a long-lived presence channel can move the bill in ways that are difficult to explain after the fact.

Apinator has no meter at all. It is free to use: the current free tier covers 500 concurrent connections, roughly 15 million messages per month (500,000 per day), 100 channels, and presence up to 500 members per channel. There is no per-message charge, no peak-connection charge, and no channel-minute billing — the bill stays at $0 whether you send 100,000 or 100,000,000 messages.

Apinator deliberately focuses on the core realtime primitives rather than Ably's full breadth (see the trade-offs below). If you want the no-frills version, the free WebSocket server page is the quickest start; for region and residency detail see managed WebSocket infrastructure.

Step-by-Step Migration from Ably

Map Ably concepts onto Apinator: channels stay channels, and token auth stays HMAC token auth.

1. Swap the client and subscribe

Replace the Ably client with @apinator/client. A channel subscription and event binding map directly — instead of channel.subscribe(name, cb) you bind named events on a channel.

client.js
// Before — ably
import * as Ably from 'ably'
const realtime = new Ably.Realtime('API_KEY')
const channel = realtime.channels.get('alerts')
channel.subscribe('alert', (msg) => notify(msg.data))

// After — @apinator/client
import { RealtimeClient } from '@apinator/client'
const client = new RealtimeClient('APP_KEY', { host: 'wss://rt.apinator.io' })
const channel = client.subscribe('alerts')
channel.bind('alert', (data) => notify(data))

2. Publish from your server

Ably channel.publish() becomes apinator.trigger(channel, event, data). The server SDK is available for Node.js, Python, Go, and PHP.

publish.js
// Before — ably (server)
await realtime.channels.get('alerts').publish('alert', { id: 7 })

// After — @apinator/server
import { ApinatorServer } from '@apinator/server'
const apinator = new ApinatorServer({ appId, key, secret })
await apinator.trigger('alerts', 'alert', { id: 7 })

3. Move token auth to your HMAC endpoint

Ably token requests map to Apinator HMAC channel authorization. Your backend signs with the app secret and returns the auth payload — choose your region (EU or US) when you create the app, then deploy. Realtime events are transient, so there is no message history to migrate.

When to Choose Ably vs. Apinator

An honest read. Ably is a broad, mature realtime platform; Apinator is a focused, free-to-use one. Pick based on feature breadth versus predictable cost.

Stick with Ably when

You rely on persistent message history, message replay, or stream rewind from a point in time.
You need higher-level products Ably layers on top — like its data integrations, queues, or reactor rules.
You require a specific global region or compliance certification Apinator does not currently offer (today: EU and US data planes).

Switch to Apinator when

Your use case is event broadcasting and presence, and three separate meters (messages, connections, channel-minutes) are more billing complexity than you want.
You want a predictable $0 bill instead of cost that scales on three axes with traffic.
You need EU data residency without a paid tier, with presence, private channels, and webhooks all included.

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