Realtime platform rankings
Compare offerings carefully — rankings and terms change. Verify details directly with each provider.
Scored on p99 fan-out, protocol coverage, market-data fitness, and public latency transparency. Editorial — not paid placement.
| # | Provider | Best for | Protocols | p99 | Score | Pricing | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RT/SOFT | Market-data fan-out | WS · SSE · MQTT | 42ms | 9.6 | Usage + reserved | OPEN |
| 2 | Ably | Global pub/sub | WS · SSE | 55ms | 9.1 | MAU / messages | OPEN |
| 3 | Pusher | App channels | WS | 68ms | 8.7 | Connections | OPEN |
| 4 | PubNub | IoT + presence | WS · MQTT | 72ms | 8.5 | Transactions | OPEN |
| 5 | Polygon.io WS | Equities ticks | WS | 48ms | 8.4 | Plan tiers | OPEN |
| 6 | Upstash Redis | Serverless streams | Redis · Kafka | 35ms | 8.2 | Pay-per-request | OPEN |
| 7 | Redis Cloud | Self-managed fan-out | Redis | 28ms | 8.0 | Cluster size | OPEN |
| 8 | Firebase RTDB | Mobile sync | WS | 120ms | 7.4 | GB stored | OPEN |
| 9 | Socket.IO Cloud | Custom rooms | WS · polling | 95ms | 7.1 | Self-host / SaaS | OPEN |
| 10 | Supabase Realtime | Postgres CDC | WS | 110ms | 6.9 | Project tiers | OPEN |
Rankings are editorial. Affiliate links (Stock Picks, Upstash) may earn a commission — see footer disclosure. See RT/SOFT fan-out in practice: stockspicks.org.