3 min readUpdated Mar 23, 2023

News flash: Ably is no longer a pub/sub messaging platform, long live pub/sub!

At Ably we understand that liberating your realtime data is no longer about pub/sub messaging, streaming, traditional message queues, or even a static REST API to retrieve realtime data.

Instead, realtime data liberation is about all of the above, together in a single protocol-agnostic interoperable platform that is open and expansive. Data should flow freely from any source, be consumed by any device and be streamed out to any endpoint, using any number of protocols.

We’re NOT just a pub/sub messaging platform:

Because data and events can flow into message queues for consumption by one (not all) consumers, they can be pushed into streams via the Reactor Firehose to drive services like realtime analytics, or they can trigger events in server-less architectures to respond in real time. Additionally, data can be consumed as a persistent stream.

We’re NOT just a message queuing platform:

Because data and events using pub/sub channels can be fanned out to an unknown, yet limitless, number of subscribers, those subscribers will each receive all of the messages even if they’re temporarily disconnected, and data can flow out to third party services via the Reactor. Additionally, data can be consumed as a persistent stream.

We’re NOT a proprietary protocol platform:

Because whilst we believe that our realtime protocol often offers the best combination of performance and quality of service, we also understand that other protocols are sometimes a better fit. Don’t use Ably, use AMQP, STOMP, MQTT, or REST — heck you can even choose to use one of our competitors’ protocols.

We ARE a realtime data network

Because we deliver data, events and notifications between devices, servers, platforms, queues and streams, and we do this using a wide array of open and proprietary protocols. And we’re a realtime data network that you can bet on, because we’re open and believe deeply in interoperability.

Today, we officially launch the Ably Reactor Queues. The queues are traditional message queues that allow realtime data published on pub/sub channels to be consumed in a scalable, resilient and efficient way.

Queues are available now to all Ably customers, including users on our free packages.

Further reading:

Ably Platform
Matthew O’Riordan, CEO, Ably

Join the Ably newsletter today

1000s of industry pioneers trust Ably for monthly insights on the realtime data economy.
Enter your email