Head to head
Amazon SNS vs Expo Push
As a push notification API, Amazon SNS rates higher on the APIbenchmarks Index, 84.1 to 79, a 5.1-point gap. Here is how they compare on each criterion.
Criterion by criterion
| Criterion | Amazon SNS | Expo Push |
|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DX | ||
| Reliability | ||
| Ecosystem & SDKs | ||
| Accessibility | ||
| APIbenchmarks Index | 84.1 | 79.0 |
Specifications
| Amazon SNS | Expo Push | |
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Hyperscale pub/sub + mobile push | Free push for React Native |
| Free tier | 1M mobile push/mo free | Free (600 notif/sec/project) |
| Pricing | Per million ($0.50/M push) | Free (transport) |
| Official SDKs | 11 languages | 9 languages |
Is Amazon SNS better than Expo Push?
On the APIbenchmarks Index, Amazon SNS rates higher (84.1 vs 79). It leads on the four weighted criteria, but price is reported separately, so the best choice still depends on your budget.
Verdict in one line
Amazon SNS leads by 5.1 points (84.1 vs 79) and wins 2 of 4 criteria; Expo Push wins 2.
Winner by criterion
| Criterion |  Amazon SNS | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Documentation & DX | 78 | 80 | |
| Reliability | 95 | 78 | Amazon SNS |
| Ecosystem & SDKs | 90 | 70 | Amazon SNS |
| Accessibility | 72 | 90 |
Choose Amazon SNS if… / choose Expo Push if…
Choose Amazon SNS if- →reliability matters most to you (95 vs 78)
- →ecosystem & sdks matters most to you (90 vs 70)
- →you need broad SDK coverage (11 official SDKs vs 9)
- →your use case matches its focus: hyperscale pub/sub + mobile push
- →documentation & dx matters most to you (80 vs 78)
- →accessibility matters most to you (90 vs 72)
- →your use case matches its focus: free push for react native
Pricing side by side
Amazon SNS- Model
- Per million ($0.50/M push)
- Free tier
- 1M mobile push/mo free
- Free Tier (permanent)$0
- Mobile Push Notifications$0.50 / 1M
- API Requests (Standard topics)$0.50 / 1M
- HTTP/HTTPS Deliveries$0.60 / 1M
- Email/Email-JSON$2.00 / 100,000
- SMS (US)$0.0025 / message
- Model
- Free (transport)
- Free tier
- Free (600 notif/sec/project)
- Push notification serviceFree
- Free (EAS platform)$0/month
- Production (EAS)$99/month
- Enterprise (EAS)$999/month
Vendor-published pricing, verified 2026-06-27 (Amazon SNS) and 2026-06-27 (Expo Push).
SDK and language coverage
Both · 0
None
Only Amazon SNS · 11
AWS SDK for Java (v1 & v2)AWS SDK for Python (Boto3)AWS SDK for JavaScript / Node.jsAWS SDK for .NETAWS SDK for GoAWS SDK for RubyAWS SDK for PHPAWS SDK for C++AWS SDK for KotlinAWS SDK for RustAWS CLI
Only Expo Push · 9
Node.js (official, expo-server-sdk-node)Python (community, expo-server-sdk-python)PHP (community)Ruby (community)Rust (community)Go / Golang (community)Elixir (community)Java (community)REST HTTP API (direct, any language)
Strengths and weaknesses
Amazon SNS- +Very low cost: mobile push at $0.50 per million with a permanent 1M/month free tier, cheaper than most dedicated push vendors
- +Deep native integration with the AWS stack (Lambda, SQS, CloudWatch, IAM, Kinesis Firehose, EventBridge)
- +Massive fanout scale: up to 12.5M subscriptions per topic and 100,000 topics per account
- –No message persistence or history, you cannot inspect, store, or replay sent notifications
- –No built-in analytics, audience segmentation, A/B testing, scheduling, or rich notification UI (AWS steers you to Pinpoint for these)
- –Hard throughput (messages/second) and 256KB message-size limits
- +Push notification service is completely free with no per-message charges
- +Single unified API abstracts away both APNs and FCM, cutting cross-platform integration work
- +Tight integration with the React Native / Expo / EAS toolchain
- –No SLA and no uptime guarantee for the push service
- –Hard rate limit of 600 notifications/second per project constrains large-scale blasts
- –At-least-once best-effort delivery means notifications can be duplicated or dropped
Amazon SNS vs Expo Push: questions
- Which has better documentation, Amazon SNS or Expo Push?
- Expo Push scores higher on documentation and developer experience: 80 vs 78 out of 100.
- Which is more reliable, Amazon SNS or Expo Push?
- Amazon SNS scores higher on reliability: 95 vs 78 out of 100.
- Do Amazon SNS and Expo Push have a free tier?
- Amazon SNS: yes (1M mobile push/mo free). Expo Push: yes (Free (600 notif/sec/project)).
- How are Amazon SNS and Expo Push priced?
- Amazon SNS: Per million ($0.50/M push). Expo Push: Free (transport).
- Which has more official SDKs?
- Amazon SNS lists 11 official SDKs, Expo Push lists 9.