Is combining Parse.com API with Pubnub a viable option for large scale Real-Time Messaging and obtaining the combined toolset?

Question

Essentially combining Parse with Pubnub, Pusher or similar, Instead of building a custom backend from scratch.

I'll be working on a real-time messaging system with facebook login and file storage/sharing. In theory I could use a combination of Parse and something like Pubnub to cover backend requirements. Were:

Parse takes care of:

• Login
• File Storage
• Push-notifications(closed app)

And Pubnub takes care of:

• real
• time delivery of messages...

Requirements:

I need a system that can extend to millions of users if needed and can be deployed quickly In general a solution that will fit this criteria and specs.

Criteria:

• Quick deployment by one or 2 developers.
• Can expand to millions of users.
• High reliability

Specs:

• FB Login
• Realtime Msg delivery
• Push for closed app delivery
• Shared file & image storage

Any feedback if this as a first stage deployment would work well and any pitfalls would be greatly appreciated.

Wiper

Thanks, I've reworded the title to make it more clear. Essentially I need to send realtime MSGs and share a lot of files/assets per feed. Pubnub is good for realtime msgs and Parse is good for FB login tracking and file share. In essence the app would communicate to Parse servers and pubnub servers at the same time. I don't see why this would not work well but want to be sure that something like this could take on millions of users if needed. – Wiper

Hi Andres, you are correct! This will work great. Excellent Combination. – Hypertensive

Hi Andres, I'm curious as to what you settled on? I just started looking into the same issues for a chat-based app. The only extra requirement I have is that I'm a newer dev so ease-of-use would be a desired quality as well. – Blabbermouth

HA! I've done a lot of research. First I created an MVP using parse.com, and after having trouble getting pusher to authenticate in parse.com:CloudCode due to a limitation decided to use the push that is available in parse.com. This was quick to have a working demo of the product but did a lot of logic myself. Keep in mind that this will yield a very expensive to maintain model as they charge per push.(like pubnub, and pusher) (~$60,000/M per 1M active users or more). So its not viable for anything large or that you wanna make money of... After tons of research, this is my final model: – Wiper

...Wich Im very happy with. My aim to create a system that can scale to X millions of users at a low cost. I setup a XMPP Ejabberd server in AWS EC2 for the server side. Working with XMPP.org is the way to go. Ejabberd scales great and is efficient. You can get an API to then integrage XMPP to any end product. You can find me on tweeter to discuss further @andrescanella – Wiper

Great information @AndresCanella, could you provide information on how the pricing has worked out for you? Was it a good choice? Anything you would do differently? – Bradley

Answer 1

The short answer:

no.

The details:

Anyway you hash it, it's too expensive to setup a chat with any of these systems since their BaaS model is based on charging on a per number of calls basis.

I had to work out a lot of the logic my self using parse.com and now that I'm implementing an XMPP solution, the quantity of work is the same to get something working.

My alternative solution:

Use an open source xmpp server like ejabberd on something like AWS and then use one of the APIs to connect to it.

Contact me of you need more info on my experiences:

@andrescanella

Wiper

it's an excellent point that you will run up A LOT OF CALLS to Parse, when doing chat. But don't forget, everything costs money - Parse is pretty cheap even once you start paying. – Soledadsolely

BTW, QuickBlox provides all for FREE! so, you are wrong with your answer quickblox.com/plans – Candracandy

NO, as title suggest "large scale" QuickBlox gets expensive in the high range too. But yeah, for smaller deployments solemnly looking at cost looks like a good priced option. Though I have not looked into that provider further... – Wiper

PubNub is not a per API call pricing model. It is based on daily active devices and number of messages sent ($1/million/month, first million is free every month). And the XMPP DIY will work to a point. We've had at least two customers reach a point where XMPP failed to scale and replaced that chat portion with PubNub allowing the apps to scale to millions. – Ballew

Answer 2

I'm a little biased but check out StackMob (www.stackmob.com), with the StackMob Marketplace you get direct access to PubNub with no need to create a second account. There are also a lot of other great services in the marketplace to add functionality such as SendGrid.

All the features you are looking for are out of the box even the separate development and production accounts. Something you don't get with Parse. With a simple click of a button you can move Schemas and custom code from development to production.

We can certainly support the users you are talking about. We have 7 games from Atari on the platform and other big enterprise like Land O Lakes and Adidas Japan. We also have a great track record when it comes to reliability.

Shenitashenk

Answer 3

Sounds good, but 2 systems (Parse and PubNub) contradict your criteria Quick deployment by one or 2 developers.

There is reason to find one system which satisfies all your requirements.

You could loot at QuickBlox backend - your own cloud backend It has 7 modules(sets of API) for different tasks. You may be interested in:

1. Users module - it has Facebook/Twitter login
2. Messages module - this is Push Notifications. It supports iOS, Android, BlackBerry, WindowsPhone push notifications
3. Content/CMS module - it allows to store/share/stream any type of files, any size (up to 5 TB!)
4. Chat module - realtime message delivery. QuickBlox Chat is a quick and reliable chat solution which combines benefits of scalable cloud hosted XMPP chat server, seamless Single Sign-On authorization via Users module, incoming IM / chat alerts via Push Notifications and file attachments via Content.

I recommend look at it, it also have lots of great features such custom API creation via Custom Objects module

Also, there is Enterprise solutions - QuickBlox this is white box, so you can deploy it to your own server and re-sale to other clients if you want

Candracandy

Thanks Igor, I'll look into QuickBlox more in depth in the future. The chat module could save time. – Wiper

As far as it goes, Parse also has push capabilities but as is the same case with QuickBlox they become expensive quickly. So you would need to integrate with a massive push system like pubnub or pusher to get a good amount of pushes for a decent price. My reasons for choosing Parse are 2 fold. A. I've used it before and the API has done its job well. and B. They have a rapidly expanding user base and toolset... So its a solid partner. Currently Im using Parse+Pusher, the integration has proven straight forward. It will take less than a week, by just one Dev. – Wiper

Pleasure Igor, Thanks for posting. You guys need more exposure, I went through a lot of BaaS when choosing a system and did not find QuickBlox. - Whats your twitter @? – Wiper

It's incredibly easy to program for Parse + PubNub. I mean you're talking a few lines of code. Simply making your interface in iOS would utterly overwhelm the actual cloud aspect. Note that ALL realtime client server programming (whether for games, banking, social, or whatever) is "conceptually hard", you really need to know what you're doing and have your head in that mode. But, as such, the Parse + PubNub code could not be easier. – Soledadsolely