In the mobile application world, push notification has been one of the most effective ways to alert users about features or events of the app. Push notifications are pop-up messages that are shown in the notification tray. As well as on the lock screen of the mobile device. These messages can be sent to users by apps at any time until the app is deleted. It is a powerful feature as app developers can use it for multiple purposes for their applications. Engaging users with new offers, sale events, alerting users about upcoming events marked in their calendar app, and so on.
Since it has been available for so long, the decision to choose one service could be difficult. I will review several services and compared them by their features, pricing and available resources (API documentation and SDK).
Amazon Simple Notification Service
Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS) is one of the first push notification services created and was initially released in 2010. It offers app-to-app and app-to-person communication (AWS Kinesis Data Firehouse, AWS Lambda, etc.). SNS allows sending push notifications across platforms such as Android, iOS and Windows via email, SMS and in-app message.
Since it is an Amazon product, it is compatible with other Amazon Web Services. Compared to other push notification services, Amazon SNS is powerful and flexible, it can be adjusted to fit with most workflows. Due to this, it requires more configuration to get started. However, Amazon SNS documentation is fairly intuitive and they provide several SDKs for most preferred programming languages.
Unlike other listed push notification services, Amazon SNS does not provide a dashboard or an admin interface for sending non-system-generated messages. However, with the provided API, such integration with applications is not challenging.
As for pricing, the first one million requests are free, after that, you will have to pay $0.5 per million requests and pay based on your usage. Standard topic requests include publishers, topic owner operations, and subscription owner operations
Airship
Airship, previously known as Urban Airship, is one of the oldest and most reputable services for push notification. However, Airship offers much more than just push notification services. It is a platform that provides multiple tools in one platform that includes lifecycle marketing, customer engagement and data solutions. As well as personalisation for push notifications.
Besides their flagship messaging service, Airship also provides a mobile wallet. This creates passes for Apple Wallet and Google Pay, real-time data streaming and performance analytics.
Airship’s documentation is detailed and intuitive, it supports Android, iOS and Windows and web platforms through multiple provided SDKs. Having access to REST API endpoints that can be used to integrate external CRMs. Expose Airship’s channels to open channels, registers channels that do not use the SDK such as SMS, email. There’s a dashboard available on Airship’s web interface that allows them to create projects, messages, and passes access reporting, and more.
To get started, new users can create a free account to try sending push notifications to themselves. With the free account, it is free up to an audience of 1000 before having to subscribe to a custom plan. However, the free service only allows users to use basic features such as push notifications, web notifications, and in-app messages. Subscription for the service is required to use more advanced features.
Firebase Cloud Messaging
Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM), formerly known as Google Cloud Messaging, is a cross-platform push notification service for Android, iOS and web applications.
Being one of many tools of the Firebase platform, it can be combined with other services for web and mobile in the same ecosystem. The provided documentation along with tutorial videos makes the setup process fairly straightforward. In addition, it is equipped with authentication SDKs that should get you covered for your build. However, compared with other discussed options, FCM does not provide many extra features and functionalities.
FCM is free of charge, however, if you start to run out of database and storage size, there is an option to use the pay-as-you-go plan.
Expo
Expo is a framework and platform for universal React applications. It is a set of tools and services that allows developers to build and deploy React-Native applications for Android, iOS and web with the same codebase.
Expo’s documentation is straightforward and intuitive, this is the same case for its push notification service. It offers multiple server SDKs and a RESTful API that can be integrated with any type of backend. For React-Native applications, Expo allows the implementation of push notifications easier. Other frameworks such as FCM and Apple Notification service cant compare. Which could make the process more universal for iOS and Android. However, Expo’s push notification service only works for projects built in Expo. If your project is built in Expo, Expo’s push notification should be your go-to option for the service.
Expo is free as well as its services. It also offers priority plans for $29/month that includes priority client service as well as extra support from the Expo team.
OneSignal
Unlike some services listed above like Firebase Cloud Messaging and Expo, OneSignal is a simple push notification service provider, founded in 2014. OneSignal covers all types of customer engagement tools such as mobile for iOS, Android and web push notifications, SMS and in-app messages.
OneSignal provides clear documentation for setups and integration instructions to get started, which also covers all issues that could occur during such phases. Their SDK is user-friendly and easy to implement through their API. Moreover, users have the ability to manage and create their messages through the dashboard, which also have the access to their powerful analytics tools used to track push notification performance.
OneSignal offers a free plan with core functionality that covers all needs for small-size startups. OneSignal provides an unlimited number of API requests and high-volume usage without additional charges. Besides the free plan, OneSignal offers three paid plans which are Growth, Professional and Enterprise. The pricing for these plans starts with a platform fee and the variable is based on the number of subscribed devices to receive messages.