Push notifications are a wonderful way to interact with users. They are not disruptive and may efficiently increase traffic by giving important information to users such as updates, offers, and promotions.
When deciding between push notification providers, developers frequently compare OneSignal and Firebase, two of the top solutions on the market.
While both are free for users to start with, there are significant differences between the services in terms of functionality, support, pricing, and so on. Continue reading to learn more about what each product has to offer app developers, and which one will best meet your needs.
WHAT IS ONESIGNAL?
OneSignal is the leading client messaging and engagement tool that works with Unity. Unity developers may use OneSignal’s Unity SDK, REST API, and dashboard to provide efficient mobile push notifications, in-app messages, SMS messages, and emails.
OneSignal was developed by Unity game developers and has since been employed by over a million big and small businesses and tens of thousands of game developers to deliver billions of messages and push notifications every day.
OneSignal helps both big and small businesses in delivering efficient messages and push notifications to users on their mobile applications or games by offering an open API, free accounts for users, and easy customization and analytics tools.
ONESIGNAL CORE FEATURES
Personalized Push notifications
Source: OneSignal
Personalization makes it simple to auto-target consumers based on the content they read, the topic of their notifications, the reason they subscribed in the first place, their place at the user journey, and nearly anything else you know about your user.
Mobile and online web push notification previews are available, with many options for customization making really simple to use. You can also create e-mails, in-app push notifications, and other messages with a plethora of personalization choices.
Dynamic Message Flows
Source: OneSignal
OneSignal also provides a simple visual process builder for automating messaging and guiding users. Create personalized workflows at every interaction point of your app to deliver appropriate push notification or message depending on user preferences or behavior. When a push notification or message is smoothly linked to the overall user experience, users are more likely to interact with your app or website, thus increasing user engagement. It also provides message integration across channels.
Segmentation/ Geotargeting
Source: OneSignal
OneSignal also provides advanced geotargeting capability, which includes sending unique messages to individuals in a given place that meet certain behavioral or preference criteria. Notifications may be efficiently segmented based on geography, interaction, defined transactions, and so on.
API
Source: OneSignal
OneSignal offers many affordable options that include an unlimited number of API calls and a high volume of messaging, emails, and push notifications. The API includes capabilities such as data exporting, extensive analytics tracking, and support with various tech stack. This allows developers to connect with their target audience more efficiently and resolve any issues as soon as possible.
Live Activities
Source: OneSignal
With OneSignal’s efficient messaging and push notification delivery system you can stay at the centre of your consumers’ minds. With the features like Live Activities, real-time, at-a-glance app experiences are visible on their lock screens for up to 8 hours. Maintain user engagement over time by providing dynamic messages that allow users to follow items that are important to them. With this live feature, you can display live game scores, current news highlights, and more, even on a locked screen.
ONESIGNAL ADVANTAGES
Instant delivery
OneSignal is one point solution for app and website push notifications and other messaging services that provides messages to customers virtually instantly when the linked article/message is published. This is critical for developers that want their clients to be sent a push notification immediately about an offer or promotion, or key updates such as news, expiry dates, and so on.
Easy to use in-app messaging
OneSignal offers one of the most appealing in-app message delivery systems. The graphical user interface (GUI) is incredibly simple to use, with visual editing options and previews too. Furthermore, it offers extra functionality such as in-app messaging for permission requests, etc.
Reliability and platform support
OneSignal provides best-in-class reliability for push notifications, routinely maintaining nearly 100% uptime for push notification delivery. Even downtimes are visible on their public status page, and most issues are addressed within 24 hours.
Developer friendly
OneSignal includes plugins for major publishing platforms such as Shopify and WordPress, as well as SDK wrappers for common mobile OS development languages. With compatibility for any technological stack integration, the REST API endpoints also make it easy for developers and marketers to automate and simplify their process.
WHAT IS FIREBASE?
Firebase is a backend-as-a-service (BaaS) platform targeted at mobile app developers. Firebase provides a solution for implementing every feature you want within the app, from databases to mobile push notifications.
Firebase Cloud Messaging is a cross-platform messaging service that enables developers to send free cloud messages. It may be used to alert the client app of data syncing or to engage and retain users with the help of ush notifications.
Source: Firebase
FIREBASE CORE FEATURES
Simplified registration
Firebase Cloud Messaging uses an asynchronous registration token address to send messages and push notifications. Google Library obtains a token on your behalf and provides you with a registered token when you request one. Simply provide this token to your servers and begin sending notifications to your target users.
Versatile message targeting
Using Firebase, you may send messages to your client app in one of three ways: to individual devices, groups of devices, or devices that are subscribed to topics.
Send messages from client apps
Over FCM’s battery-efficient and reliable connection channel, send acknowledgements, chats, and other messages from devices back to your server, which can be used for future analysis.
Cross-platform support
Firebase APIs (Application Programming Interface) are bundled into SDKs for mobile OS languages such as JavaScript and C++. You may quickly extend to multiple platforms such as iOS and Android without changing your app’s complex framework.
Topic-wise push notifications
This is a unique technique to alert people who are interested in shared themes or topics such as music, sports, art, and events. When developers publish a message to FCM and include the subject name in the “to” parameter, it is distributed to all users who have subscribed to that topic.
Furthermore, topic messaging has no restrictions, with support for numerous subscribers on a single or several topics.
FIREBASE ADVANTAGES
User authentications
Firebase uses a NoSQL cloud database and a JSON document protocol for real-time data synchronisation. It has its own cloud to sync data across clients, cutting the need for setting up an authentication server in-house or in a private cloud. It handles the whole authentication procedure for you, allowing you to focus on improving the application’s user experience.
Console
The Console is one of the most useful components of the Firebase platform. It is a one-stop shop for developers to monitor and fix your Android or iOS app. From the Console, you may access real-time data from all of your linked apps and update the changes in real time.
Analytics
As a Google-owned product, Firebase is directly connected with Google Ads, AdMob, the Play Store, and BigQuery. The seamless integration of these services makes it quite simple to handle your files and data more correctly.
In addition, Analytics provides you with monthly crash reports, insights into your users’ “ad-click” and “app usage” data, and other information that may be utilised to improve the end-user experience.
ONESIGNAL VS FIREBASE COMPARISON
| OneSignal | Firebase | |
| Description | Customer engagement platform. It provides push-notifications, SMS, and in-app messaging | End-to-end development platform from Google. |
| Country Support | worldwide | Blocked by China |
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Open-Source | No | No |
| Pricing | Growth: $9/mo Professional: $99/month | Complex pricing Notifications are free, but it charges for data transfer |
| Enterprise Plans | Yes | No |
| Features | Fully centered on customer engagement. Core features include mobile and web push-notifications, SMS, in-app messaging, and emails. | It is a more comprehensive and end-to-end development platform. It covers the entire development cycle including the development, monitoring, and engagement. |
| Channels Supported | Android & iOS Mobile Push Notifications, Web Push Notifications, In-App Messaging, Email, SMA & MMS. | Android & iOS Mobile Push Notifications, Web Push Notifications, In-App Messaging only. |
| APIs | Powerful API for sending messages via any channel, such as Push Notifications, Email, and SMS. API allows for vast user segmentation. Examples of code in all major programming languages. Analytics on notification sends, receives, opens, impressions, and influenced openings are easily available. | Only push notifications are supported by the API. The API has limited segmentation capabilities. Limited examples and advanced API libraries (for example, the “Firebase Admin SDK”) might make implementation challenging. Data analytics, including receives and impressions, are only available on Android devices (iOS and Web are not supported). No choice of tracking influenced opening of a push notification. |
| Mobile SDKs | Vast | Limited |
| Popular Apps | USA Today Sports Media Group Curtsy Incrowd | Alibaba Todoist The Economist |
WHAT ARE PUSH NOTIFICATIONS AND WHY DO YOU NEED THEM?
Push notifications are short, pop-up notifications sent by a mobile app to a user’s device that are displayed even when the app is not active. These notifications are intended to attract the attention of users and might include offers, reminders, updates, promotions, and other information.
Push notifications can include a heading, message, image, and URL. Logos, emoticons, and other elements can also be included. Furthermore, push notifications vary in appearance between operating systems, such as Google Android and Apple OS.
Why Do Apps Use Push Notifications?
Push notifications have numerous benefits. They improve the user experience by increasing open rates, keeping users engaged, driving user retention, and eventually increasing user retention.
Consider how many messages the average individual receives on a daily basis. Consumers are continually targeted with TV commercials, radio commercials, billboards, social media commercials, and email commercials. The majority of such texts are boring to us.
However, push notifications are not the same. Users have already shown their interest by downloading the mobile app. Because of this curiosity, push notifications tend to be highly actionable.
This is one of the reasons why push notifications outperform email marketing, as shown below.
Source:Xtify
I’d want to briefly debunk one myth. Push notifications are not used to get new users. Keep in mind that the user has already downloaded the mobile app. As a result, advertisements based on acquisition would not be relevant to push notifications.
The ability to target various people depending on interests and intent is an appealing feature of push notifications. You may use automation to deliver targeted messages to the targeted individuals at the right time.
A user who just downloaded your app, for example, should not get the same message as a pre-existing user who hasn’t used your app in a month. The former requires a welcoming message, while the latter needs a little nudge to return.
CREATE APP WITH SWING2APP & SEND UNLIMITED PUSH NOTIFICATIONS
Now we know that push notifications play a significant role in app marketing through your app, however, you first need to develop an app for that.
The app development costs are huge and then sending regular push notifications may further increase the costs. Moreover, sending a push notification to your users is not easy as sending an SMS text, it requires more coding knowledge which most people are not aware about.
To your rescue comes Swing2app app builder, here you can easily create an app in which you can send unlimited push notifications & that too for free. It also provides many free customizable templates, designs, prototypes, in app surveys, push notifications, SMS, calendar and many fore features,
Once you create an app you can avail of this service on the Swing2app app builder and boost the engagement on your app with the remarkable push notifications which would perfectly complement your free app. With Swing2app app builder’s ‘Send Push’ Feature, you can also select the recipient, and exclude someone as well.
You can send push both instantly and preschedule it too using the ‘reservation feature’. Moreover, Sing2app also provides SMS notification feature too. You can manage and send both your push as well as SMS notifications from the same platform. This definitely makes your job efficient and convenient too.
STEPWISE GUIDE TO SEND PUSH NOTIFICATIONS VIA SWING2APP APP BUILDER
Ready to start sending push notifications to your app users? As previously mentioned, you need to set yourself up with a push notification service.
But if you’re using Swing2app app builder to create your app, you can send and manage push messages directly from your “Manager” dashboard.
1. Go to the Manager.
2. Select Push & Members.
3. Click Send Push.
You will be directed to Push Management Page, where you can create, edit, and send Push notifications.
1. In Send Push Settings, select members you want to send push.
2. Check Reservation Settings box.
3. Set the date & time you want to send Push.
4. Click on the Send Push button.
NOTE: If you check Repeat Box, then you’ll be able to set schedule multiple times in a day, week, month, or year.
Swing2App is the easiest way to manage and send push notifications at every step of the user journey.