Is Logto or PubNub better?

Neither clearly leads. Logto starts at Free and PubNub at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Logto or PubNub?

Logto starts at Free and PubNub at Free.

Does Logto or PubNub run on more platforms?

Logto runs on web, api. PubNub runs on web, ios, android, api.

Can I use Logto for free?

Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.

What is Logto best used for?

Logto is most often used for adding sign-in to a new saas product, implementing sso for b2b customers, securing internal apis with m2m tokens, adding rbac and organizations to a multi-tenant app. Of those, adding sign-in to a new saas product and implementing sso for b2b customers are not what PubNub is typically brought in for.

What can Logto do that PubNub cannot?

Logto covers Prebuilt sign-in UI, Social connectors, Role-based access control, Multi-factor authentication. PubNub covers Pub/sub messaging, Presence tracking, Message persistence, Serverless Functions.

Identity & Access Management · head to head

Logto vs PubNub

Logto

Identity & Access Management

Open-source identity and authentication infrastructure for apps and APIs

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

PubNub

API Management

Realtime communication platform for chat, IoT, and live data apps

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Logto advanced features like RBAC, organizations, MFA, and enterprise SSO are billed as separate paid add-ons rather than included in Pro.; PubNub free plan storage history is limited to 7 days, which is short for apps needing longer message retention.
They diverge on capability: Logto covers Prebuilt sign-in UI, PubNub covers Pub/sub messaging.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Logto and PubNub actually diverge.

Attributes where Logto and PubNub differ
Attribute	Logto	PubNub
Platforms	web, api	web, ios, android, api
Category	Identity & Access Management	API Management

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 Logto

Prebuilt sign-in UI
Social connectors
Role-based access control
Multi-factor authentication
Machine-to-machine apps
Audit logs

Only in PubNub

Pub/sub messaging
Presence tracking
Message persistence
Serverless Functions
File sharing
Encryption and access controls

What people use each for

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

Logto

Adding sign-in to a new SaaS productnot PubNub
Implementing SSO for B2B customersnot PubNub
Securing internal APIs with M2M tokensnot PubNub
Adding RBAC and organizations to a multi-tenant appnot PubNub

PubNub

Building realtime chat applicationsnot Logto
Streaming live IoT sensor datanot Logto
Adding presence indicators to collaborative appsnot Logto
Running edge logic with serverless Functions on realtime eventsnot Logto

Where each one falls short

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

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.

PubNub

Free plan storage history is limited to 7 days, which is short for apps needing longer message retention.
MAU-based pricing means costs scale directly with user growth, which can be less predictable than flat message-based pricing.
Pro-tier custom pricing above 50,000 MAU requires contacting sales rather than self-serve checkout.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

PubNub

Free

FreeFree
- Up to 200 MAU or 1M transactions
- 1GB data storage (7 days)
- 5 test Serverless Functions
Starter$98/month
- 1,000 MAU included
- User management
- Insights
Pro$undefined/month
- Custom MAU packages
- Volume discounts
- Enterprise-scale configurations

Which should you pick?

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.

Logto review

Choose PubNub if

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

PubNub review

Questions people ask

Is Logto or PubNub better?: Neither clearly leads. Logto starts at Free and PubNub at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Logto or PubNub?: Logto starts at Free and PubNub at Free.
Does Logto or PubNub run on more platforms?: Logto runs on web, api. PubNub runs on web, ios, android, api.
Can I use Logto for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Logto best used for?: Logto is most often used for adding sign-in to a new saas product, implementing sso for b2b customers, securing internal apis with m2m tokens, adding rbac and organizations to a multi-tenant app. Of those, adding sign-in to a new saas product and implementing sso for b2b customers are not what PubNub is typically brought in for.
What can Logto do that PubNub cannot?: Logto covers Prebuilt sign-in UI, Social connectors, Role-based access control, Multi-factor authentication. PubNub covers Pub/sub messaging, Presence tracking, Message persistence, Serverless Functions.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Logto: 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.

Source

PubNub: What does PubNub cost?

PubNub offers a free plan for up to 200 MAU or 1 million transactions, a Starter plan at $98/month for 1,000 MAU, and custom Pro pricing for larger volumes, e.g. around $550/month for 10,000 MAU.

Source

Logto: 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.

Source

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

Yes, the free plan supports up to 200 monthly active users or 1 million transactions, includes 1GB of data storage retained for 7 days, and requires no credit card.

Source

Logto: 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.

Source

PubNub: How is usage metered?

PubNub bills primarily by Monthly Active Users, defined as a unique user who connects at least once in a billing cycle; messages are bundled into MAU pricing with no separate per-message fees, and overage is billed proportionally.

Source

Logto vs PubNub

Logto

PubNub

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Logto

Only in PubNub

What people use each for

Logto

PubNub

Where each one falls short

Logto

PubNub

Pricing, plan by plan

Logto

PubNub

Which should you pick?

Choose Logto if

Choose PubNub if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Logto

More on PubNub

Keep looking

Other head to heads