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APIs · head to head

Ably vs Increase

Ably logo

Ably

APIs

Realtime data delivery platform for pub/sub messaging at scale

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Increase logo

Increase

APIs

Direct banking API for ACH, wires, real-time payments, accounts and cards

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Ably has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Ably standard and Pro plans layer usage-based charges for messages, connection minutes, and data transfer on top of the base subscription, adding cost complexity.; Increase the published per transaction rates exclude a monthly platform fee that Increase states varies by use case, so the transparent price page cannot produce a total cost and the material part of the deal is still negotiated privately.
  • They diverge on capability: Ably covers Pub/sub messaging, Increase covers ACH origination and receipt.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ably and Increase actually diverge.

Attributes where Ably and Increase differ
AttributeAblyIncrease
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
Free tierYesNo
Platformsweb, ios, android, apiAPI, Web

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (APIs).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Ably

  • Pub/sub messaging
  • Presence
  • Message persistence
  • Multi-protocol support
  • Encryption
  • Datadog integration

Only in Increase

  • ACH origination and receipt
  • Domestic wires
  • Real-time payments
  • Bank accounts
  • Cards
  • Cheques
  • Sandbox and simulations
  • Audit and reconciliation data

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Ably

  • Building realtime chat or collaborative appsnot Increase
  • Delivering live data feeds like stock prices or sports scoresnot Increase
  • Broadcasting notifications to many concurrent clientsnot Increase
  • Running mission-critical realtime infrastructure with high uptime SLAsnot Increase

Increase

  • A payroll or treasury product that needs to originate same-day ACH and wires under its own control rather than through a payment processornot Ably
  • A marketplace that must hold seller balances in ledgered accounts with real account and routing numbersnot Ably
  • A fintech that wants FedNow and RTP payouts so recipients are paid outside banking hoursnot Ably
  • An engineering team that needs the underlying return codes and settlement timing visible in order to build correct reconciliation and retry logicnot Ably

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Ably

  • Standard and Pro plans layer usage-based charges for messages, connection minutes, and data transfer on top of the base subscription, adding cost complexity.
  • The jump from Standard ($29/month) to Pro ($399/month) is steep for teams needing more than 10k connections but not full Pro capacity.
  • 24/7 mission-critical support and 99.999% uptime SLAs are reserved for the custom-priced Enterprise tier.

Increase

  • The published per transaction rates exclude a monthly platform fee that Increase states varies by use case, so the transparent price page cannot produce a total cost and the material part of the deal is still negotiated privately.
  • Free allowances are deliberately small at ten account numbers and five physical cards, so any programme issuing accounts or cards at volume moves to quoted pricing almost immediately.
  • Banking is provided through partner banks, so programme approval, compliance obligations and the ability to launch at all depend on a bank relationship you do not control, and post-Synapse bank risk appetite has tightened considerably.
  • The API deliberately exposes payment rail mechanics rather than smoothing them, which is correct engineering but means a team without payments expertise will build reconciliation and return handling wrongly and only discover it when funds go astray.
  • Coverage is United States only, so a company with international payout needs runs a second provider and reconciles two ledgers, and the single API argument disappears at the first cross border customer.

Pricing, plan by plan

Ably

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 200 concurrent connections
    • 500 messages/second
    • 6M messages/month
  • Standard$29/month
    • 10k concurrent channels
    • 10k concurrent connections
    • 2.5k messages/second
  • Pro$399/month
    • 50k concurrent channels
    • 50k concurrent connections
    • 10k messages/second

Increase

On request
  • Increase Platform$undefined/month
    • Monthly fee quoted by use case and not published
    • Next-day ACH origination listed at 0.50 US dollars per transaction
    • Same-day ACH origination listed at 2.00 per transaction

Which should you pick?

Choose Ably if

  • You need pub/sub messaging.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, ios, android, api.
  • You also want presence.
Ably review

Choose Increase if

  • You need ach origination and receipt.
  • You work on API, Web.
  • You also want domestic wires.
Increase review

Questions people ask

Is Ably or Increase better?
Neither clearly leads. Ably starts at Free and Increase at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ably or Increase?
Ably has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Ably and On request for Increase.
Does Ably or Increase run on more platforms?
Ably runs on web, ios, android, api. Increase runs on API, Web.
Can I use Ably for free?
Yes. Ably has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Increase starts at On request.
What is Ably best used for?
Ably is most often used for building realtime chat or collaborative apps, delivering live data feeds like stock prices or sports scores, broadcasting notifications to many concurrent clients, running mission-critical realtime infrastructure with high uptime slas. Of those, building realtime chat or collaborative apps and delivering live data feeds like stock prices or sports scores are not what Increase is typically brought in for.
What can Ably do that Increase cannot?
Ably covers Pub/sub messaging, Presence, Message persistence, Multi-protocol support. Increase covers ACH origination and receipt, Domestic wires, Real-time payments, Bank accounts.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ably: What does Ably cost?

Ably offers a free plan with 200 concurrent connections, a Standard plan at $29/month plus usage, a Pro plan at $399/month plus usage, and custom Enterprise pricing with unlimited channels and connections.

Source
Increase: Does Increase publish its pricing?

Partly. Per transaction fees for ACH, wires, RTP, FedNow and cards are listed publicly. The monthly platform fee is not, and it is described only as varying by use case.

Ably: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?

Yes, the free plan includes 200 concurrent connections, 500 messages per second, and 6 million messages per month with community and best-effort email support.

Source
Increase: Who holds the deposits?

Partner banks, not Increase itself. That relationship determines your programme approval, your compliance obligations and your risk if the bank changes appetite.

Ably: How is usage metered?

Beyond plan limits, Ably charges usage-based rates of $2.50 per million messages, $1.00 per million connection minutes, $1.00 per million channel minutes, and $0.25 per GiB of data transfer, with volume discounts available.

Source
Increase: Is it international?

No. Increase covers United States rails only, so cross border payouts require a second provider.

Increase: How is it different from a middleware BaaS platform?

It exposes the rails rather than abstracting them, showing real return codes and settlement timing. That suits teams who understand payments and punishes teams who do not.

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