Pusher
WebSocket-as-a-service providing real-time pub/sub messaging via Channels and mobile push notifications via Beams, with HMAC-signed server-side event publishing.
Score Breakdown
⚙ Agent Friendliness
🔒 Security
TLS enforced on all connections. HMAC-SHA256 used for server auth tokens. Private channel auth prevents unauthorized subscriptions. App secret must be kept server-side only.
⚡ Reliability
Best When
You need simple, reliable WebSocket pub/sub for browser or mobile clients with minimal infrastructure management and a generous free tier.
Avoid When
You need message persistence, delivery guarantees, or complex message routing beyond basic channel-based pub/sub.
Use Cases
- • Push real-time agent status updates or workflow progress to a browser UI without polling, using Channels pub/sub
- • Broadcast live dashboard data (metrics, alerts, task completions) to multiple connected clients from a server-side agent
- • Send targeted push notifications to mobile app users via Beams when an agent completes a long-running task
- • Implement presence channels to track which users or agents are currently connected and active in a collaborative tool
- • Stream agent-generated events (log lines, sensor readings) to authenticated subscribers with per-channel access control
Not For
- • Guaranteed message delivery with persistence — Pusher does not queue messages for offline clients; use a proper message queue (SQS, RabbitMQ) for durable delivery
- • High-throughput event streaming at millions of events per second — purpose-built streaming platforms scale better
- • MQTT or IoT device connectivity at scale — Ably or AWS IoT are better suited
Interface
Authentication
Server-side event publishing uses HMAC-SHA256 signature with app_id, key, and secret. Client subscriptions to private/presence channels require server-generated auth tokens. No OAuth2.
Pricing
Free tier is sufficient for development and small production workloads. Beams (push notifications) billed separately by device.
Agent Metadata
Known Gotchas
- ⚠ Pusher Channels and Pusher Beams are separate products with separate credentials and SDKs — agents must not use Channels keys with Beams API or vice versa
- ⚠ Private and presence channels require server-side authentication endpoint — agents acting as server must implement the /pusher/auth endpoint or equivalent; missing this causes silent client subscription failures
- ⚠ The 10 events/second per channel limit is enforced server-side; exceeding it returns 403 with no clear retry guidance — agents must implement client-side rate limiting
- ⚠ Messages are not persisted — if a client disconnects and reconnects, it misses all events published during disconnection; agents must design for this by providing state catch-up via REST API
- ⚠ The cluster must match between server and client SDK configuration (e.g., mt1 for US-East, eu for EU) — mismatched clusters cause connection failures that appear as auth errors
Alternatives
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Scores are editorial opinions as of 2026-03-07.