--- title: PubNub Reviews meta\_title: 'PubNub Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 24 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how PubNub works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.4 review\_count: 24 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-07' parent\_category: name: Big Data url: https://www.g2.com/categories/big-data --- ### PubNub Pros and Cons: Top 5 Advantages and Disadvantages #### Quick AI Summary Based on G2 Reviews Generated from real user reviews Users value the **secure chat functionality** of PubNub, enhancing interactive communication and file sharing efficiently. [(3 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1866206&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users praise the **responsive customer support** of PubNub, emphasizing its helpful guidance during setup and queries. [(3 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1867669&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users praise the **easing API integration** with PubNub, simplifying real-time app development and cross-platform data sharing. [(2 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1867696&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users value the **high-quality APIs** from PubNub, facilitating seamless real-time communication and easy integration. [(2 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1866139&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users highlight the **robust data security** of PubNub, enabling secure file sharing and real-time communication. [(2 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1866479&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users find the **billing notice period too short** , as a 30-day warning for changes is inadequate. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2010530&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users express concerns over **short notice periods** for data management changes, impacting trust and preparedness. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1867662&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users feel that PubNub has **data management issues** , particularly concerning short notice for data deletion changes. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1866986&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users find the **difficult navigation** in PubNub's documentation leads to frustrating coding delays and queries. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1867778&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users express concern about the **high costs** of PubNub, which can escalate quickly, impacting long-term use. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1866861&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) ### 5 Pros or Advantages of PubNub ##### 1. Chat Functionality Users value the **secure chat functionality** of PubNub, enhancing interactive communication and file sharing efficiently. [ See 3 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1866206&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews JK Josh K. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4.5/5 "Not disappointing!" What do you like about PubNub? Their extensive range of customer service features, including as live chat, group collaboration tools, and expert IoT device management, stand out rem ![Steven M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Steven M.") SM Steven M. Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "Faster API to create" What do you like about PubNub? With PubNub's real-time streaming capabilities we can stay more connected and informed. With a secure chat we can have a more interactive communicatio ##### 2. Customer Support Users praise the **responsive customer support** of PubNub, emphasizing its helpful guidance during setup and queries. [ See 3 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1867669&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews JK Josh K. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4.5/5 "Not disappointing!" What do you like about PubNub? Their extensive range of customer service features, including as live chat, group collaboration tools, and expert IoT device management, stand out rem AG Aman G. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.0/5 "The ideal software for communication and integration with developer-friendly features" What do you like about PubNub? Real-time spilling, gaming, and scrambled record sharing are all backed by PubNub. With the direction and back help that was continuously accessible t ##### 3. API Integration Users praise the **easing API integration** with PubNub, simplifying real-time app development and cross-platform data sharing. [ See 2 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1867696&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews AG Aman G. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.0/5 "The ideal software for communication and integration with developer-friendly features" What do you like about PubNub? Real-time spilling, gaming, and scrambled record sharing are all backed by PubNub. With the direction and back help that was continuously accessible t ![Steven M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Steven M.") SM Steven M. Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "Faster API to create" What do you like about PubNub? With PubNub's real-time streaming capabilities we can stay more connected and informed. With a secure chat we can have a more interactive communicatio ##### 4. API Quality Users value the **high-quality APIs** from PubNub, facilitating seamless real-time communication and easy integration. [ See 2 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1866139&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews AG Aman G. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.0/5 "The ideal software for communication and integration with developer-friendly features" What do you like about PubNub? Real-time spilling, gaming, and scrambled record sharing are all backed by PubNub. With the direction and back help that was continuously accessible t ![Steven M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Steven M.") SM Steven M. Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "Faster API to create" What do you like about PubNub? With PubNub's real-time streaming capabilities we can stay more connected and informed. With a secure chat we can have a more interactive communicatio ##### 5. Data Security Users highlight the **robust data security** of PubNub, enabling secure file sharing and real-time communication. [ See 2 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1866479&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews AG Aman G. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.0/5 "The ideal software for communication and integration with developer-friendly features" What do you like about PubNub? Real-time spilling, gaming, and scrambled record sharing are all backed by PubNub. With the direction and back help that was continuously accessible t ![Steven M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Steven M.") SM Steven M. Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "Faster API to create" What do you like about PubNub? With PubNub's real-time streaming capabilities we can stay more connected and informed. With a secure chat we can have a more interactive communicatio ### 5 Cons or Disadvantages of PubNub ##### 1. Billing Issues Users find the **billing notice period too short** , as a 30-day warning for changes is inadequate. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2010530&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews GS Ghufran S. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4.0/5 "Good API for messaging, but some feedback on business" What do you dislike about PubNub? They need to improve on giving notices in advance of changes. They emailed us with a 30 day notice saying they would delete our data. After speaking w ##### 2. Data Management Users express concerns over **short notice periods** for data management changes, impacting trust and preparedness. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1867662&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews GS Ghufran S. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4.0/5 "Good API for messaging, but some feedback on business" What do you dislike about PubNub? They need to improve on giving notices in advance of changes. They emailed us with a 30 day notice saying they would delete our data. After speaking w ##### 3. Data Management Issues Users feel that PubNub has **data management issues** , particularly concerning short notice for data deletion changes. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1866986&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews GS Ghufran S. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4.0/5 "Good API for messaging, but some feedback on business" What do you dislike about PubNub? They need to improve on giving notices in advance of changes. They emailed us with a 30 day notice saying they would delete our data. After speaking w ##### 4. Difficult Navigation Users find the **difficult navigation** in PubNub's documentation leads to frustrating coding delays and queries. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1867778&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews JK Josh K. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4.5/5 "Not disappointing!" What do you dislike about PubNub? Coding delays can result from the documentation's difficulty of navigation and lack of thorough information. Time saving is also add for my experience ##### 5. Expensive Users express concern about the **high costs** of PubNub, which can escalate quickly, impacting long-term use. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/pubnub-pubnub/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1866861&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews AG Aman G. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.0/5 "The ideal software for communication and integration with developer-friendly features" What do you dislike about PubNub? Giving caution of changes in development should be progressed. It is conceivable to boost the speed of infrastructure bolster. The bolster team isn't ![Greg G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Greg G.") GG Greg G. Principal Software Engineer Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 6/29/2026 "Saved Us Countless Dev Weeks on Server-Push Solutions" 4/5 What do you like best about PubNub? Saved our teams countless dev weeks in building custom server-push solutions across the enterprise Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about PubNub? Our main frustrations have been recurring, unexplained reliability issues — presence-related timeouts and 500 errors that have repeatedly hit our production services with no change on our end, usually requiring us to reach out and confirm the problem was on PubNub's side rather than being proactively notified. This is made worse by limited observability: the status page reports latency but not availability, and we lack self-service access to API and presence logs, so investigating an incident means manually requesting log exports and waiting. Usage and billing visibility is also weaker than we'd like — it's been consistently hard to understand what drives our transaction volume, including how transactions are counted and why a meaningful share of our billed publish volume comes from presence events we don't even consume. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is PubNub solving and how is that benefiting you? PubNub powers the real-time messaging infrastructure behind our consumer-to-agent and consumer-to-consumer communication across several Zillow products. Rather than building and operating our own WebSocket and pub/sub infrastructure at scale, we rely on PubNub to deliver messages reliably and with low latency, manage channel subscriptions, and handle presence detection so we can show who's online and surface unread message counts. This lets our engineering teams focus on product features — chat experiences, co-shopper notifications, agent messaging — instead of the underlying real-time delivery layer, and it scales with our traffic without us having to manage that capacity ourselves. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Sandeep G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Sandeep G.") SG Sandeep G. Engineering Manager Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 6/24/2026 "Reliable Real-Time Communication with Some Limitations" 4.5/5 What do you like best about PubNub? I find PubNub extremely reliable. It's been crucial for our education platform because we rely heavily on its functionality for live sync interaction, connecting teachers and students in real-time. The whole data transfer aspect works well, especially for live interactions like scribbling between teachers and students. Additionally, PubNub made it easy to get started, even if mastering all aspects required digging into the documentation. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about PubNub? History fetching is limited. I mean, you can hardly fetch 50 messages in one round trip. If I have to get the entire history for my use case, for scribbling data, I need to make sequential calls to get the entire data. Sequential stage was not present in PubNub. The kind of features we have, like writing on the Canvas, if the sequential message doesn't come in order, then it looks odd, and the context gets lost. So we have to build a sequencing logic on top of it. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is PubNub solving and how is that benefiting you? PubNub enables real-time communication and data reflection between teachers and students on our online education platform. It supports live interactions and data transfer efficiently, making our synchronous activities smoother and more reliable. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Maksim S.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Maksim S.") MS Maksim S. CTO Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 6/25/2026 "Easy to Use, Reliable Performance" 4.5/5 What do you like best about PubNub? Easy to use, performance and reliability. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about PubNub? Costs and pricing could be high depending on the use case and/or usage in general. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is PubNub solving and how is that benefiting you? PubNub makes it easier to introduce fast & reliable bi-directional ( if needed ) communication between server-side and frontend ( ios, android, web ) applications. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Verified User in Computer Software](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Computer Software") UC Verified User in Computer Software Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 6/26/2026 "It Just Works: Reliable and Does What We Need" 4.5/5 What do you like best about PubNub? It just works. Granted, we don’t have a very complicated setup, but it does what we need and has been reliable. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about PubNub? Pricing can be high and is hard to fully debug usage to see why cost is increasing. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is PubNub solving and how is that benefiting you? It makes it super easy to sync real-time data across all of our products and infrastructure. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite ![Verified User in Information Technology and Services](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Information Technology and Services") EI Verified User in Information Technology and Services Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 5/13/2026 "Great developer toolset for building and scaling real-time interactive features." 5/5 What do you like best about PubNub? Ease of use, feature flexibility, security, and scale. They also have great customer support and know how to work with developers. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about PubNub? Nothing to dislike. It just works at the end of the day for what I need. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is PubNub solving and how is that benefiting you? Gives us all that we need to deliver real-time functionality in applications, with robust security and scalability. I never need to worry about things working and my team can spend more time doing other things. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Current UserValidated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Verified User](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User") G Verified User Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 6/24/2026 "Reliable Instant Messaging with Easy Integration" 4.5/5 What do you like best about PubNub? I use PubNub for sending instant messages, particularly for the chat between our customers. I like its on-time and reliable message sending. Setting it up was quick and simple, and the service integrates well into our app. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about PubNub? nothing Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is PubNub solving and how is that benefiting you? PubNub enables on-time and reliable message delivery for customer chats. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerSource: Organic ![Verified User in Information Technology and Services](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Information Technology and Services") UI Verified User in Information Technology and Services Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 6/26/2026 "Reliable Platform with Reasonable Pricing and Standout Support" 4.5/5 What do you like best about PubNub? The platform has been reliable, the pricing reasonable and their support really stands out. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about PubNub? Nothing to report that would significantly deter me from recommending PubNub. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is PubNub solving and how is that benefiting you? We use it for real time messaging capabilities. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: Seller invite AG Aman G. Software Developer Staffing and Recruiting Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 7/28/2023 "The ideal software for communication and integration with developer-friendly features" 4/5 What do you like best about PubNub? Real-time spilling, gaming, and scrambled record sharing are all backed by PubNub. With the direction and back help that was continuously accessible to reply questions, the establishment was very basic to total. It is fabulous at creating amazingly tried and true information centers in expansion to being culminate for building real-time applications. Joining the SDK with one of a kind applications is truly straightforward. Hence, information sharing between cross-platform programs is straightforward. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about PubNub? Giving caution of changes in development should be progressed. It is conceivable to boost the speed of infrastructure bolster. The bolster team isn't real-time, so utilize caution in the event that you're making a vital application and depending on them. Certainly the cost, which may rapidly sneak up on you. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is PubNub solving and how is that benefiting you? By expelling the real-time and notice administrations from the app, PubNub is endeavoring to address a developer's issue so that the engineer may concentrate on other key components of the app. Speedy communication and successful conveyance of framework prerequisites are colossally useful to the firm. This gives designers more time to concentrate on other components of advancement. makes work more beneficial. Being able to create applications in genuine time and execute them the way I need them to moves forward my execution at work. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Steven M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Steven M.") SM Steven M. Assistant Engineer Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 7/18/2023 "Faster API to create" 4.5/5 What do you like best about PubNub? With PubNub's real-time streaming capabilities we can stay more connected and informed. With a secure chat we can have a more interactive communication by being able to share files and images securely. brings APIs to life in an easier, step-by-step way across mobile apps, web, and IoT devices. The installation was quite easy to carry out with the advice and support help that was always attentive to solve questions that arose. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about PubNub? There is nothing wrong with your attention or function, for my benefit I have always managed to make it work perfectly Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is PubNub solving and how is that benefiting you? I get better at my job being able to create applications in real time and run them the way I want them to work Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite PW Phillip W. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 7/27/2023 "Robust Platform that Powers Realtime Apps" 4.5/5 What do you like best about PubNub? PubNub supports real time streaming, engegement and files can be shared securely. It is easy to implement and supports IoT enabled devices. The support team i very knoweledgeable and eager to offer assistance. PubNub is flexible, reliable and scalable. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about PubNub? The cost is something to consider but hey good stuff comes at a cost. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is PubNub solving and how is that benefiting you? PubNub makes it easier to create applications in realtime. It facilitates push notifications and content streaming. This frees up more time for developers to focus on other aspects of development. Increases productivity. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. 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