Whether building real-time apps or handling microservices, Node.js gets the job done. The 15 Top Reasons To Use Node.js In 2025 Node.js packs interesting capabilities to meet modern-day ...

Node.js is an open source cross platform runtime environment for building data-intensive real-time applications that run across distributed devices -- so think server-side network-level applications.

More directly competitive with PubNub are others providing API-based routes to build any kind of data updates, messaging or otherwise, that turn the wheels of any real-time services.