Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Glide VS Ably

Compare Glide VS Ably and see what are their differences

Note: These products don't have any matching categories. If you think this is a mistake, please edit the details of one of the products and suggest appropriate categories.

Glide logo Glide

Send lightning fast video messages, see responses live or whenever it's convenient. Get closer to the ones you love with video communication.

Ably logo Ably

The realtime platform that just works. We power more WebSocket connections than any other pub/sub platform, serving over 2 billion devices monthly.
  • Glide Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-06-12
  • Ably Ably homepage
    Ably homepage //
    2024-08-05

We help teams deliver resilient AI UX and high-performance live experiences that stay fast and in sync worldwide. We provide the global realtime layer for AI agents, chat, notifications, live dashboards, and collaboration - engineered to handle peak demand without self-managed infrastructure.

Teams like HubSpot and Intercom use Ably to avoid the cost and complexity of building and operating realtime systems, while still getting predictable performance at serious scale, handling 2T+ API operations per month. Ablyโ€™s Pub/Sub, Chat, and AI Transport products are unified by design, with developer-friendly APIs and SDKs that integrate across your stack.

Glide

Website
glide.sh
Pricing URL
-
$ Details
Release Date
-

Ably

Website
ably.com
$ Details
freemium
Release Date
2016 January
Startup details
Country
United Kingdom
Founder(s)
Matthew O'Riordan, Dr. Paddy Byers
Employees
50 - 99

Glide features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    Glide provides an intuitive interface that allows users to create mobile apps with minimal coding knowledge, making it accessible to a wide range of users.
  • Speed of Development
    The platform significantly reduces development time by allowing users to build functional mobile apps quickly using pre-made templates and drag-and-drop components.
  • Google Sheets Integration
    Glide seamlessly integrates with Google Sheets, enabling users to use existing data for app development without needing to set up a new database.
  • Cost-Effective
    Offering various pricing plans, including a free tier, Glide provides a cost-effective solution for individuals and small businesses needing to develop mobile apps.
  • Multi-Platform Support
    Apps built with Glide are accessible on both iOS and Android devices, allowing for broad user reach without the need for separate development efforts for each platform.

Possible disadvantages of Glide

  • Limited Customization
    While Glide offers a range of templates and components, users with advanced needs may find the customization options limited compared to traditional app development frameworks.
  • Performance
    For complex apps with high-performance requirements, Glide-based apps may not perform as well as natively developed applications due to the constraints of a no-code platform.
  • Dependency on Google Sheets
    The strong reliance on Google Sheets for data handling can be a limitation for users who need more robust database management or who prefer other data storage solutions.
  • Scalability
    As apps grow in complexity and user base, they may encounter scalability issues when built on Glide, making it more suitable for smaller or simpler applications.
  • Feature Limitations
    Certain advanced features and functions that are achievable through traditional coding are not available or are difficult to implement in Glide, limiting the app's capabilities.

Ably features and specs

  • Scalability
    Ably is designed to handle a massive number of concurrent connections and messages, making it scalable for both small and large applications.
  • Real-time Messaging
    Ably provides robust real-time messaging capabilities with low latency, supporting use-cases like live chat, gaming, and real-time data streaming.
  • Global Presence
    Ably has a globally distributed network, ensuring low latency and high availability for users around the world.
  • Advanced Features
    It offers advanced features such as message history, presence, and push notifications, which can enhance the functionality of real-time applications.
  • Security
    Ably includes built-in security features such as TLS encryption, token-based authentication, and private channels to ensure secure communication.
  • Extensive Documentation
    The service provides extensive and well-organized documentation, making it easier for developers to integrate and utilize its features.
  • SDKs and Libraries
    Ably offers a wide range of SDKs and libraries for different programming languages and platforms, easing the development process.
  • Reliable Delivery
    It ensures reliable message delivery with features like message queuing and message de-duplication.

Possible disadvantages of Ably

  • Complexity
    Due to its wide range of advanced features, the initial learning curve can be steep for new users.
  • Cost
    For large-scale applications or extensive use of advanced features, the costs can add up, making it potentially expensive.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Relying heavily on Ablyโ€™s platform-specific features may result in vendor lock-in, making it challenging to switch to other services in the future.
  • Dependence on Internet Connection
    As a cloud-based service, Ablyโ€™s performance is highly dependent on the quality and reliability of the internet connection.
  • Third-party Integration
    While Ably offers various integration options, integrating certain third-party services may require additional custom development or may not be as seamless.

Analysis of Glide

Overall verdict

  • Glide is considered a good option for teams and developers who are already using container technology or looking to streamline their deployment workflows. Its features and integrations make it competitive among similar tools, offering a balance of usability and functionality that appeals to many users.

Why this product is good

  • Glide.sh is a software tool aimed at accelerating software delivery through containerization and automating various aspects of deployment processes. It provides an intuitive platform for building, testing, and deploying applications quickly and efficiently, often reducing the complexity involved in managing containerized environments.

Recommended for

  • Development teams looking to improve continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) processes.
  • Companies seeking to adopt or enhance their containerization strategies.
  • Developers who want to focus on coding by automating deployment and infrastructure management tasks.
  • Organizations prioritizing fast and reliable software delivery lifecycle management.

Analysis of Ably

Overall verdict

  • Ably is a reliable and efficient real-time messaging platform, well-suited for applications requiring high performance and scalability. It is generally well-regarded within the developer community for its ease of use and robust feature set.

Why this product is good

  • Features
    Ably provides a comprehensive suite of features such as pub/sub messaging, presence, and history.
  • Security
    It implements robust security practices including TLS encryption, token-based authentication, and private channels.
  • Integration
    Supports numerous protocols and provides SDKs for various programming languages, making it easy to integrate with different systems.
  • Reliability
    Ably offers high availability and low latency, ensuring messages are delivered in real-time.
  • Scalability
    The platform can handle millions of active connections and is designed for horizontal scaling.

Recommended for

  • developers building real-time applications like chat apps, dashboards, or multiplayer games
  • businesses in need of a scalable solution for live updates and notifications
  • teams looking for a platform with strong security and compliance credentials
  • organizations requiring integration with existing development workflows and tools

Glide videos

HARLEY-DAVIDSON SPORT GLIDE REVIEW - 2 Years Later

More videos:

  • Review - 2020 Harley-Davidson Sport Glide Review
  • Review - MadCatz Glide 38 Review! The Perfect Extended Mouse Pad!

Ably videos

How to build a collaborative environment around your product

More videos:

  • Demo - How to build an avatar stack with Ably Spaces
  • Demo - Ably 101: Serverless WebSockets at scale

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Glide and Ably)
No Code
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
44 44%
56% 56
Productivity
100 100%
0% 0
Realtime Backend / API
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

Share your experience with using Glide and Ably. For example, how are they different and which one is better?
Log in or Post with

Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Glide and Ably

Glide Reviews

Top 10 Microsoft Power Apps Alternatives and Competitors 2024
Glide Pricing: Glide offers a freemium plan with limited features for building single apps. Paid plans start at $15 per month for unlimited apps and additional features. Enterprise plans with custom pricing cater to large-scale deployments.
Source: medium.com
13 Best Website Builders for Creators and Social Entrepreneurs(2023)
Share and update instantly. Glide makes updating your app as easy as editing a documentโ€”changes instantly go live for your users, so you can iterate quickly.
Source: causeartist.com
THE BEST 34 APP DEVELOPMENT SOFTWARE IN 2022 LIST
Create an app from a Google Sheet in five minutes, for free. Glide turns spreadsheets into beautiful, easy-to-use apps. You can create apps visually, without code.
33+ Best No Code Tools you will love ๐Ÿ˜
To accelerate your learning + use case to developing an app, Glide has an amazing template library where you can develop apps for any category. It's super cool! You can also see which templates have been "copied" most to see what others have built using Glide.
25 No-Code Apps and Tools to help build your next Startup
Glide is the fastest app development around! In just minutes and without writing a line of code, Glide builds easy to use, working applications for a wide range of use cases.
Source: www.ishir.com

Ably Reviews

We have no reviews of Ably yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Ably seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 26 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Glide mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Glide yet. Tracking of Glide recommendations started around Mar 2021.

Ably mentions (26)

  • AWS us-east-1 outage: How Ablyโ€™s multi-region architecture held up
    During this weekโ€™s AWS us-east-1 outage, Ably maintained full service continuity with no customer impact. This was our multi-region architecture working exactly as designed; error rates were negligibly low and unchanged throughout. Any additional round trip latency was limited to 12ms, which is below the typical variance in any client-to-endpoint connection, and well below our 40โ€“50ms global median; this is... - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Real-Time Sync Alternatives: Vaultrice vs. localStorage, DIY, Firebase, Pusher
    Services like Pusher and Ably are experts in real-time messaging. They provide robust APIs for pub/sub channels, allowing you to broadcast events to clients reliably. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • CometChat Alternatives โ€“ Comparing the Top 10 Competitors
    Ably is a real-time infrastructure platform that focuses on delivering low-latency, reliable messaging across global distributed systems. It's designed for developers building event-driven applications, including chat, but also supports broader use cases like live dashboards, GPS tracking, and collaborative tools. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • Real-Time Authorization in a Chat Application with Permit.io and WebSockets
    For our web socket-based application, weโ€™ll be using Next.js and Ably, a service that allows us to easily integrate and manage real-time capabilities in our apps powered by web socket. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Curiosity: Using Ably.io Realtime Messaging as a Lightweight Database
    Ably offers various solutions for developers, with their most popular being realtime messaging based on the pub/sub model. When you publish a message to a channel, all devices connected to that channel receive it instantly. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Glide and Ably, you can also consider the following products

Bubble.io - Building tech is slow and expensive. Bubble is the most powerful no-code platform for creating digital products.

Pusher - Pusher is a hosted API for quickly, easily and securely adding scalable realtime functionality via WebSockets to web and mobile apps.

Softr - From zero to a website in 5 mins, using building blocks.

Socket.io - Realtime application framework (Node.JS server)

Airtable - Airtable works like a spreadsheet but gives you the power of a database to organize anything. Sign up for free.

PubNub - PubNub is a real-time messaging system for web and mobile apps that can handle API for all platforms and push messages to any device anywhere in the world in a fraction of a second without having to worry about proxies, firewalls or mobile drop-offs.