Ably Alternatives

If you're looking for another Ably alternative, PubNub is a good option. PubNub is a real-time communication service that lets you add chat, push notifications, location sharing and other real-time features to your apps, with tools to manage and optimize real-time apps. It handles more than 800 million connected devices and 3 trillion API calls per month, and has strong security and compliance features like end-to-end encryption and fine-grained access controls.

Another option is Stream, which is geared for building social networks, activity feeds and chat apps with a scalable API. Stream offers real-time updates, customizable ranking and advanced moderation controls, along with strong security. It offers four pricing tiers, including a free option for small-scale apps, so it's adaptable for a range of use cases.

For instant messaging and videoconferencing, QuickBlox is a flexible foundation. It's available for Android, iOS and web apps, with features like embedded chat, voice and video chat, and encrypted file transfer. With compliant APIs and a lot of customization options, QuickBlox is used by companies in health care, finance and other sensitive industries.

If videoconferencing and live streaming are your top priorities, Tencent RTC is another option. This real-time communication service spans multiple platforms and offers video and voice chat, live streaming and chat APIs. It's designed for global use with low latency and high availability, so it should work well for a variety of apps.