Is Ory or PubNub better?

Neither clearly leads. Ory 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, Ory or PubNub?

Ory starts at Free and PubNub at Free.

Does Ory or PubNub run on more platforms?

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

Can I use Ory for free?

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

What is Ory best used for?

Ory is most often used for adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product, implementing fine-grained permission checks, supporting b2b organizations and multi-tenancy, building machine-to-machine authentication for microservices. Of those, adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product and implementing fine-grained permission checks are not what PubNub is typically brought in for.

What can Ory do that PubNub cannot?

Ory covers Authentication APIs, Permissions engine, Machine-to-machine tokens, B2B organizations. PubNub covers Pub/sub messaging, Presence tracking, Message persistence, Serverless Functions.

Identity & Access Management · head to head

Ory vs PubNub

Ory

Identity & Access Management

Open-source identity, authentication, and permissions infrastructure

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: Ory production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.; PubNub free plan storage history is limited to 7 days, which is short for apps needing longer message retention.
They diverge on capability: Ory covers Authentication APIs, PubNub covers Pub/sub messaging.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ory and PubNub actually diverge.

Attributes where Ory and PubNub differ
Attribute	Ory	PubNub
Pricing model	usage-based	freemium
Platforms	web, api	web, ios, android, api
Category	Identity & Access Management	API Management

Identical on both: starting price (Free), 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 Ory

Authentication APIs
Permissions engine
Machine-to-machine tokens
B2B organizations
SAML SSO
Multi-region deployments

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.

Ory

Adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new productnot PubNub
Implementing fine-grained permission checksnot PubNub
Supporting B2B organizations and multi-tenancynot PubNub
Building machine-to-machine authentication for microservicesnot PubNub

PubNub

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

Where each one falls short

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

Ory

Production and Growth plans are billed annually ($770/year and $9,350/year), which is a larger upfront commitment than monthly-only competitors.
SAML SSO and multi-region deployments are reserved for the custom-priced Enterprise tier.
Usage-based pricing across aDAU, M2M tokens, and permission checks makes cost estimation more complex than flat per-MAU billing.

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

Ory

Free

DeveloperFree
- Community support
- No production environments
Production$64/month
- $21 monthly credit included
- 1 production environment
- 3 staging environments
Growth$779/month
- $255 monthly credit included
- 2 production environments
- B2B organizations (max 3)

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 Ory if

You need authentication apis.
You want to start without paying.
You work on web, api.
You also want permissions engine.

Ory 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 Ory or PubNub better?: Neither clearly leads. Ory 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, Ory or PubNub?: Ory starts at Free and PubNub at Free.
Does Ory or PubNub run on more platforms?: Ory runs on web, api. PubNub runs on web, ios, android, api.
Can I use Ory for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Ory best used for?: Ory is most often used for adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product, implementing fine-grained permission checks, supporting b2b organizations and multi-tenancy, building machine-to-machine authentication for microservices. Of those, adding self-hosted or cloud identity to a new product and implementing fine-grained permission checks are not what PubNub is typically brought in for.
What can Ory do that PubNub cannot?: Ory covers Authentication APIs, Permissions engine, Machine-to-machine tokens, B2B organizations. PubNub covers Pub/sub messaging, Presence tracking, Message persistence, Serverless Functions.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ory: What does Ory cost?

Ory has a free Developer tier, a Production plan at $770/year including a $21 monthly credit, a Growth plan at $9,350/year including a $255 monthly credit, and custom Enterprise pricing.

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

Ory: How is usage metered?

Beyond the included credit, Ory charges per average daily active user (aDAU), per machine-to-machine token, and per permission check, with lower per-unit rates on the Growth plan.

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

Ory: What payment methods are supported?

Ory accepts credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Amex) and bank transfer, processed via Stripe.

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

Ory vs PubNub

Ory

PubNub

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Ory

Only in PubNub

What people use each for

Ory

PubNub

Where each one falls short

Ory

PubNub

Pricing, plan by plan

Ory

PubNub

Which should you pick?

Choose Ory if

Choose PubNub if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Ory

More on PubNub

Keep looking

Other head to heads