Push Notification API Comparison 2026

FCM HTTP v1 API (cURL)

# Send to a specific device
curl -X POST https://fcm.googleapis.com/v1/projects/YOUR_PROJECT/messages:send \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $(gcloud auth print-access-token)" \
  -d '{
    "message": {
      "token": "DEVICE_FCM_TOKEN",
      "notification": {
        "title": "New Feature!",
        "body": "Check out our latest update."
      },
      "data": {
        "url": "https://yourapp.com/updates"
      }
    }
  }'

FCM (Node.js with Firebase Admin)

import admin from 'firebase-admin';

admin.initializeApp({
  credential: admin.credential.applicationDefault()
});

const message = {
  notification: {
    title: 'New Feature!',
    body: 'Check out our latest update.'
  },
  token: 'DEVICE_FCM_TOKEN'
};

const response = await admin.messaging().send(message);
console.log('Message sent:', response);

Pusher Beams (cURL)

# Send to a device interest (topic)
curl -X POST "https://YOUR_INSTANCE.pushnotifications.pusher.com/publish_api/v1/instances/YOUR_INSTANCE/publishes/interests" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_SECRET_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "interests": ["updates"],
    "web": {
      "notification": {
        "title": "New Feature!",
        "body": "Check out our latest update.",
        "deep_link": "https://yourapp.com/updates"
      }
    },
    "apns": {
      "aps": {
        "alert": {
          "title": "New Feature!",
          "body": "Check out our latest update."
        }
      }
    },
    "fcm": {
      "notification": {
        "title": "New Feature!",
        "body": "Check out our latest update."
      }
    }
  }'

Pusher Beams (Node.js)

import PushNotifications from '@pusher/push-notifications-server';

const beamsClient = new PushNotifications({
  instanceId: 'YOUR_INSTANCE_ID',
  secretKey: 'YOUR_SECRET_KEY'
});

await beamsClient.publishToInterests(['updates'], {
  apns: {
    aps: { alert: { title: 'New Feature!', body: 'Check out our latest update.' } }
  },
  fcm: {
    notification: { title: 'New Feature!', body: 'Check out our latest update.' }
  },
  web: {
    notification: { title: 'New Feature!', body: 'Check out our latest update.' }
  }
});

Amazon SNS (AWS CLI)

# Send to a platform endpoint (single device)
aws sns publish \
  --target-arn "arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789:endpoint/GCM/MyApp/abc123" \
  --message '{"GCM": "{\"notification\": {\"title\": \"New Feature!\", \"body\": \"Check out our latest update.\"}}"}' \
  --message-structure json

Amazon SNS (Node.js with AWS SDK)

import { SNSClient, PublishCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-sns';

const sns = new SNSClient({ region: 'us-east-1' });

// Send to a topic (broadcast)
const result = await sns.send(new PublishCommand({
  TopicArn: 'arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789:app-updates',
  Message: JSON.stringify({
    GCM: JSON.stringify({
      notification: { title: 'New Feature!', body: 'Check out our latest update.' }
    }),
    APNS: JSON.stringify({
      aps: { alert: { title: 'New Feature!', body: 'Check out our latest update.' } }
    })
  }),
  MessageStructure: 'json'
}));
console.log('MessageId:', result.MessageId);

Expo Push (cURL)

# Send to Expo push tokens (no auth needed)
curl -X POST https://exp.host/--/api/v2/push/send \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '[{
    "to": "ExponentPushToken[xxxxxxxx]",
    "title": "New Feature!",
    "body": "Check out our latest update.",
    "data": {"url": "/updates"},
    "sound": "default"
  }]'

Expo Push (Node.js)

import { Expo } from 'expo-server-sdk';

const expo = new Expo();

const messages = [{
  to: 'ExponentPushToken[xxxxxxxx]',
  title: 'New Feature!',
  body: 'Check out our latest update.',
  data: { url: '/updates' },
  sound: 'default'
}];

const chunks = expo.chunkPushNotifications(messages);
for (const chunk of chunks) {
  const tickets = await expo.sendPushNotificationsAsync(chunk);
  console.log('Tickets:', tickets);
}

Novu (cURL)

# Trigger a workflow for a subscriber
curl -X POST https://api.novu.co/v1/events/trigger \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Authorization: ApiKey YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "name": "new-feature",
    "to": {
      "subscriberId": "user_123",
      "email": "user@example.com"
    },
    "payload": {
      "title": "New Feature!",
      "body": "Check out our latest update.",
      "url": "https://yourapp.com/updates"
    }
  }'

Novu (Node.js)

import { Novu } from '@novu/node';

const novu = new Novu('YOUR_API_KEY');

await novu.trigger('new-feature', {
  to: {
    subscriberId: 'user_123',
    email: 'user@example.com'
  },
  payload: {
    title: 'New Feature!',
    body: 'Check out our latest update.',
    url: 'https://yourapp.com/updates'
  }
});
// Novu routes to push + email + in-app based on workflow config

FCM: Send to a Topic

import admin from 'firebase-admin';

// Subscribe device to topic
await admin.messaging().subscribeToTopic(
  ['token1', 'token2', 'token3'],
  'premium-users'
);

// Send to all topic subscribers
const response = await admin.messaging().send({
  topic: 'premium-users',
  notification: {
    title: 'Exclusive Offer',
    body: '50% off premium features, today only!'
  },
  android: {
    notification: { imageUrl: 'https://example.com/promo.png' }
  },
  apns: {
    payload: { aps: { 'mutable-content': 1 } },
    fcm_options: { image: 'https://example.com/promo.png' }
  }
});
console.log('Sent to topic:', response);

Amazon SNS: Publish to Topic

import { SNSClient, PublishCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-sns';

const sns = new SNSClient({ region: 'us-east-1' });

// Publish to all topic subscribers (push + email + SQS + Lambda)
await sns.send(new PublishCommand({
  TopicArn: 'arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789:premium-users',
  Subject: 'Exclusive Offer',
  Message: JSON.stringify({
    default: 'Exclusive offer: 50% off premium features!',
    GCM: JSON.stringify({
      notification: {
        title: 'Exclusive Offer',
        body: '50% off premium features, today only!',
        image: 'https://example.com/promo.png'
      }
    }),
    APNS: JSON.stringify({
      aps: {
        alert: { title: 'Exclusive Offer', body: '50% off premium features!' },
        'mutable-content': 1
      }
    })
  }),
  MessageStructure: 'json'
}));