Chat or instant messaging as we say is a feature which has become a prominent and a core feature for the web and mobile apps over the years. In the world of fast communication, it is important to equip your applications with chat. Chat as a feature, if developed from scratch, has a lot to be taken into consideration and is often an effort and time consuming thing to develop in a bespoke manner.
For the same, there is a service known as Chat APIs that eases out the effort of implementing chat into the apps.
Chat APIs streamline real-time messaging integration for web and mobile apps, offering features like text, multimedia sharing, and read receipts. By abstracting chat system complexities, they enable faster, cost-effective development while enhancing communication capabilities with rich media support, making them essential for modern app development.
These are pre-developed components of code or the APIs which enabled developers to implement the function in the apps.
Let’s look into 10 realtime chat APIs to use in 2025
- Twilio: Twilio is a cloud platform enabling developers to integrate SMS, voice, video, email, and messaging via APIs. Its Conversations API supports cross-platform messaging, media sharing, push notifications, and GDPR-compliant security. While free for up to 200 users, costs increase with scale. It's widely used but may challenge beginners.
- Sendbird: Sendbird provides APIs and SDKs for integrating chat, voice, video, and live streaming into apps, excelling in industries like eCommerce and gaming. Features include group chats, customizable UI, and moderation tools. While robust and secure, costs rise with users, and the free plan is limited to experimental use.
- PubNub: PubNub enables real-time messaging, push notifications, and IoT connectivity using a pub/sub model. Handling trillions of messages monthly, it offers low-latency delivery and presence detection. While secure and scalable, it lacks pre-built chat interfaces, and event-based pricing can be costly. The free plan supports up to 200 MAU.
- CometChat: CometChat provides APIs and SDKs for real-time chat, voice, and video integration, supporting 92+ languages for multilingual experiences. It powers 50,000+ apps globally, offering features like message translation and profanity filters. While secure and feature-rich, it may lag slightly in performance and include unnecessary features for simple chat needs.
- Agora: Agora enables ultra-low latency voice, video, and chat communication, serving industries like education, gaming, and telehealth. It processes billions of minutes monthly, supported by 250+ data centers. While secure and scalable, Agora's pricing can be costly for high volumes, and initial setup may be complex for beginners.
- Socket.io: Socket.IO is a free JavaScript library enabling real-time, bidirectional communication for interactive applications. It supports dynamic, low-latency messaging over WebSockets and works with Node.js, Python, and Java. While powerful and customizable, it lacks built-in features like message history, requiring significant developer effort, which may overwhelm beginners.
- Vonage Chat API: Vonage’s Communication APIs enable real-time messaging, voice, and video integration across channels like SMS, WhatsApp, and in-app chat. With features like advanced search, content moderation, and UI flexibility, it ensures scalable communication. However, pricing can be complex, and customization within pre-built UI components has limitations.
- Pusher Channels: Pusher Channels uses a pub/sub messaging pattern for real-time, low-latency communication, ideal for chat systems, live dashboards, and gaming apps. It supports WebSockets with fallbacks, offering ease of integration and scalability. While secure, it lacks advanced messaging features like chatbots and robust message history, and its free tier is limited.
- Stream Chat: Stream Chat offers a scalable API and SDK for real-time chat integration, supporting one-on-one chats, group threads, and attachments. With pre-built components for frameworks like React and Flutter, it prioritizes developer experience. However, costs increase with usage, and advanced customizations can be challenging, requiring developers to build or customize interfaces.
- Firebase cloud messaging: Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) enables push notifications and real-time messaging for Android, iOS, and web apps. It offers fast, reliable delivery with user segmentation, and supports both upstream and downstream messaging. While free for low usage, it lacks advanced chat features and may face performance issues with large datasets.
These chat APIs are revolutionizing the chat experience with varied features. There is more to these chat API which can be explored in detail and learn more about 10 realtime chat APIs to use in 2025.
