PubNub website screenshot

PubNub

PubNub is a realtime communication platform supporting pub/sub, presence, chat, App Context (object metadata), Functions (server-less compute on the edge), Push Notifications, and IoT messaging across 1B+ devices. The PubNub REST API runs at ps.pndsn.com; SDKs handle the underlying long-poll / WebSocket protocol. Authentication uses a publish/subscribe key pair per keyset.

PubNub publishes 1 API on the APIs.io network: REST API. Tagged areas include Realtime, WebSockets, Pub/Sub, IoT, and Messaging.

The PubNub catalog on APIs.io includes 1 event-driven AsyncAPI specification and 1 Spectral governance ruleset.

PubNub’s developer surface includes developer portal, documentation, pricing, GitHub presence, engineering blog, and 7 more developer resources.

40.4/100 thin ▬ flat Agent 29/100 agent aware Full breakdown ↓
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
AccessFreemium
2 APIs 22 Agent Skills
RealtimeWebSocketsPub/SubIoTMessagingChatPresenceFunctions

Kin Score

Kin Score Kin Score How this is scored →
scored 2026-07-28 · rubric v0.6
Composite quality — 40.4/100 · thin
Contract Quality 12.7 / 25
Developer Ergonomics 3.9 / 20
Commercial Clarity 10.0 / 20
Operational Transparency 6.8 / 13
Governance 5.7 / 12
Discoverability 6.9 / 10
Agent readiness — 29/100 · agent aware
Machine-Readable Contract 18 / 18
Agentic Access Contract 0 / 10
MCP Server 0 / 12
Machine-Readable Auth 0 / 10
Idempotency 0 / 9
Stable Error Semantics 0 / 8
Request/Response Examples 0 / 7
Rate-Limit Signaling 7 / 7
Typed Event Surface 6 / 6
Agent Skills 5 / 5
Well-Known Catalog 0 / 4
Consent & Bot Identity 0 / 3
A2A Agent Card 0 / 8
Dry-Run / Simulate Mode 0 / 4
Improve this rating by publishing the missing artifacts — every area above can be raised, and the full rubric is at apis.io/rating/. This rating is computed from github.com/api-evangelist/pubnub: open an issue to ask a question, or submit a pull request to add artifacts. Want it done for you? Prioritized profiling — $2,500 →

APIs 2

Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.

PubNub REST API

Single REST surface for publish, subscribe (long-poll), presence, history, signal, and App Context. Pub/Sub key authentication. SDKs available for 50+ languages and platforms.

PubNub Functions

Edge serverless functions executed on PubNub's network in response to messages, presence events, or HTTP triggers.

Agent Skills 22

Packaged agent skills for driving this provider's APIs from an AI assistant.

pubnub-app-context

AGENT SKILL

pubnub-chat

AGENT SKILL

pubnub-functions

AGENT SKILL

pubnub-history

AGENT SKILL

pubnub-illuminate

AGENT SKILL

pubnub-live-voting

AGENT SKILL

pubnub-presence

AGENT SKILL

pubnub-reliability

AGENT SKILL

pubnub-scale

AGENT SKILL

pubnub-security

AGENT SKILL

pubnub-telemedicine

AGENT SKILL

Scroll for all 22

Pricing Plans 1

Published pricing tiers and plan structures.

Pubnub Plans Pricing

6 plans

PLANS

Rate Limits 1

Documented rate limits and quota policies.

Pubnub Rate Limits

3 limits

RATE LIMITS

FinOps 1

Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.

Event Specifications 1

AsyncAPI definitions for this provider's event-driven and streaming APIs.

PubNub Realtime Streaming API

AsyncAPI description of PubNub's realtime subscribe surface — the event stream that delivers messages, signals, presence updates, file events, message-action events, and App Con...

ASYNCAPI

Spectral Rules 1

Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.

PubNub API Rules

8 rules · 1 errors 6 warnings 1 info

SPECTRAL

Security Posture 1

Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.

Pubnub Domain Security

TLSv1.2 · HSTS · DMARC

SECURITY

Resources

Get Started 1

Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call

Documentation 1

Reference material describing how the API behaves

Agent Surfaces 1

MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs

Build 1

SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with

Access & Security 1

Authentication, authorization, and security posture

Operate 2

Status, limits, changes, and where to get help

Commercial 3

Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use

Company 2

The organization behind the API

Source (apis.yml)

apis.yml Raw ↑
aid: pubnub
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/pubnub/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
name: PubNub
kind: company
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Freemium
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/pubnub.png
tags:
- Realtime
- WebSockets
- Pub/Sub
- IoT
- Messaging
- Chat
- Presence
- Functions
created: '2026-05-08'
modified: '2026-05-29'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
description: PubNub is a realtime communication platform supporting pub/sub, presence, chat, App Context (object metadata),
  Functions (server-less compute on the edge), Push Notifications, and IoT messaging across 1B+ devices. The PubNub REST API
  runs at ps.pndsn.com; SDKs handle the underlying long-poll / WebSocket protocol. Authentication uses a publish/subscribe
  key pair per keyset.
apis:
- aid: pubnub:rest-api
  name: PubNub REST API
  tags:
  - Pub/Sub
  - Presence
  - Messaging
  - History
  - REST
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  baseURL: https://ps.pndsn.com
  humanURL: https://www.pubnub.com/docs/general/api-reference
  description: Single REST surface for publish, subscribe (long-poll), presence, history, signal, and App Context. Pub/Sub
    key authentication. SDKs available for 50+ languages and platforms.
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.pubnub.com/docs/general/api-reference
  - type: Pricing
    url: https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/
  - type: AsyncAPI
    url: asyncapi/pubnub-asyncapi.yml
  x-features:
  - Publish, subscribe, presence, history, signal
  - Pub/Sub key model
  - 1B+ devices supported
  - 50+ SDKs
  x-use-cases:
  - In-app chat
  - IoT telemetry
  - Live experiences
- aid: pubnub:functions-api
  name: PubNub Functions
  tags:
  - Functions
  - Edge Compute
  - Serverless
  image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/apis-json-logo.jpg
  baseURL: https://admin.pubnub.com/api/v1/functions
  humanURL: https://www.pubnub.com/docs/general/serverless/functions
  description: Edge serverless functions executed on PubNub's network in response to messages, presence events, or HTTP triggers.
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.pubnub.com/docs/general/serverless/functions
  x-features:
  - JS-based serverless functions
  - Event handlers (publish, presence)
  - HTTP triggers
  x-use-cases:
  - Message transformation
  - Realtime moderation
  - Webhook fan-out
common:
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/pubnub-domain-security.yml
- name: Agent Skills
  url: https://github.com/pubnub/skills
  type: AgentSkills
- type: LinkedIn
  url: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pubnub
- type: Portal
  url: https://www.pubnub.com/
- type: Documentation
  url: https://www.pubnub.com/docs
- type: Pricing
  url: https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/
- type: GitHub
  url: https://github.com/pubnub
- type: StatusPage
  url: https://status.pubnub.com/
- type: Plans
  url: plans/pubnub-plans-pricing.yml
- type: RateLimits
  url: rate-limits/pubnub-rate-limits.yml
- type: FinOps
  url: finops/pubnub-finops.yml
- type: Integrations
  url: https://www.pubnub.com/integrations/
- type: Blog
  url: https://www.pubnub.com/blog
integrations:
- name: PubNub
- name: JavaScript SDK
- name: Java SDK
- name: Unreal Engine SDK
- name: Kotlin SDK
- name: Ruby SDK
- name: C# SDK
- name: Swift SDK
- name: C-core SDK
- name: Unity SDK
- name: Python SDK
- name: PHP SDK
- name: GO SDK
- name: Rust SDK
- name: Objective-C SDK
- name: REST API
- name: Dart SDK
- name: Integrations Hero
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com