API Management · head to head
Ably vs Logto

Ably
API Management
Realtime data delivery platform for pub/sub messaging at scale
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -

Logto
Identity & Access Management
Open-source identity and authentication infrastructure for apps and APIs
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- 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.; Logto advanced features like RBAC, organizations, MFA, and enterprise SSO are billed as separate paid add-ons rather than included in Pro.
- They diverge on capability: Ably covers Pub/sub messaging, Logto covers Prebuilt sign-in UI.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Ably and Logto actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (freemium), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).
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 Logto
- Prebuilt sign-in UI
- Social connectors
- Role-based access control
- Multi-factor authentication
- Machine-to-machine apps
- Audit logs
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Ably
- Building realtime chat or collaborative appsnot Logto
- Delivering live data feeds like stock prices or sports scoresnot Logto
- Broadcasting notifications to many concurrent clientsnot Logto
- Running mission-critical realtime infrastructure with high uptime SLAsnot Logto
Logto
- Adding sign-in to a new SaaS productnot Ably
- Implementing SSO for B2B customersnot Ably
- Securing internal APIs with M2M tokensnot Ably
- Adding RBAC and organizations to a multi-tenant appnot 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.
Logto
- Advanced features like RBAC, organizations, MFA, and enterprise SSO are billed as separate paid add-ons rather than included in Pro.
- Enterprise pricing is not published and requires contacting sales.
- Token-based billing can make cost forecasting harder than flat per-MAU pricing for high-traffic apps.
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
Logto
Free- FreeFree
- Up to 50,000 MAU
- 50K tokens included
- 3 applications
- Pro$24/month
- Unlimited MAU and applications
- 3 included API resources
- Passkey sign-in
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.
Choose Logto if
- You need prebuilt sign-in ui.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on web, api.
- You also want social connectors.
Questions people ask
- Is Ably or Logto better?
- Neither clearly leads. Ably starts at Free and Logto at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Ably or Logto?
- Ably starts at Free and Logto at Free.
- Does Ably or Logto run on more platforms?
- Ably runs on web, ios, android, api. Logto runs on web, api.
- Can I use Ably for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- 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 Logto is typically brought in for.
- What can Ably do that Logto cannot?
- Ably covers Pub/sub messaging, Presence, Message persistence, Multi-protocol support. Logto covers Prebuilt sign-in UI, Social connectors, Role-based access control, Multi-factor authentication.
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.
SourceLogto: What does Logto cost?
Logto offers a Free plan at $0/month, a Pro plan starting at $24/month with 50K free tokens included, and a custom-priced Enterprise plan. Extra add-ons like RBAC or MFA are billed separately on Pro.
SourceAbly: 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.
SourceLogto: Is there a free plan, and what are its limits?
Yes. The Free plan supports up to 50,000 monthly active users, 3 total applications, 1 machine-to-machine app, 3 social connectors, 1 webhook, and 3-day audit log retention.
SourceAbly: 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.
SourceLogto: How is usage metered?
Logto uses token-based billing: only access tokens issued for authentication and authorization activity are counted, rather than charging purely per MAU.
SourceRelated pages
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- Logto vs PocketBase
- Logto vs Sanity
- Logto vs Apigee
- Logto vs Pusher
- Logto vs Kong Gateway
- Logto vs PubNub
- Logto vs Treblle
- Logto vs Apollo GraphQL
- Logto vs Bruno
- Logto vs KeystoneJS
- Logto vs Moesif
- Logto vs Parse Server
- Logto vs Stainless
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- Logto vs Frontegg
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