In this study, you’ll learn how Red5 in partnership with its technical partner PubNub created a complete real-time interactive streaming platform for developers at scale. We’ll cover how the joint solution combines Red5 Cloud’s fully managed sub-250 ms video streaming with PubNub’s sub-100 ms data delivery to power synchronized chat, reactions, and interactive features. You’ll also see why this integration outperforms single-vendor platforms, who should use it, and how it accelerates developer velocity while maintaining enterprise-grade security and compliance.
Table of Contents
About PubNub
The PubNub logo.
PubNub is the leading platform for building and operating real‑time interactive applications. Its global pub/sub messaging network delivers sub-100 ms latency worldwide; its Global Network spans 15+ Points of Presence with a 99.999 % SLA and zero‑trust security; and its Decision Intelligence suite (Illuminate) turns live data into instant, automated actions that drive engagement, retention, monetization, and operational insights. More than 2,000 companies, including DAZN, Live Nation, Unity, LiveLike, and Verizon, rely on PubNub to power over 3 trillion API transactions every month. PubNub has been one of Red5’s technical partners enabling live interactive capabilities.
What The Solution Does
Red5 Cloud, our fully managed PaaS that delivers globally scalable, ultra-low-latency streaming with dedicated infrastructure for each customer, now integrates with the PubNub Platform to deliver sub-250 millisecond, ultra-low-latency live video with interactive features for audience engagement, such as messaging, presence, plus embedded no-code decision intelligence for continuous optimization. This capability is OEM-ready, allowing us to offer it under the Red5 brand and give customers the ability to integrate it into their own platforms. Red5 Cloud with enhancements from PubNub outperforms alternatives like Agora, Stream, and Amazon IVS.
For customers needing full control over infrastructure, Red5 Pro provides the same performance for on-premises or self-managed deployments.
How The Solution Works
Red5 and PubNub Integration deployment diagram
Red5 Cloud provides ultra-low latency live video transport, and PubNub’s real-time infrastructure transforms it into a complete interactive platform. Together, they deliver ultra low latency live video, audio, data streaming combined with synchronized chat, push notifications, and in-app social interactions.
Red5 Cloud powers the video layer with TrueTime Solutions™, support for WebRTC, WHIP and WHEP, Zixi, SRT, RTMP, and more protocols and codecs. It delivers glass-to-glass streaming with sub-250 ms latency, autoscaling clusters, and full multi-protocol support without the burden of managing media servers.
PubNub complements this with a global Data Stream Network (DSN) that provides <100 ms data delivery, 50+ SDKs, and in-network Functions for real-time moderation, automation, and personalization. This enables developers to easily add chat, notifications, and social features on top of live video.
Red5 SDKscreate a unified developer interface for interacting with the combined Red5 Cloud and PubNub back end, making it easy to integrate into your own apps. Red5 offers live streaming SDKs for the following platforms: iOS, Android, HTML5, Unreal Engine, Windows, macOS, Linux, Unity.
How the Solution Compares to Other Providers: Red5 Cloud+PubNub vs Agora vs Stream vs Amazon IVS
See the in-depth comparison sheets below to understand the differences in capabilities between the Red5 Cloud + PubNub solution and Agora, Stream, or Amazon IVS.
Video Feature Comparison
Feature
Red5 Cloud
Agora
Stream
Amazon IVS
Audience Size
Unlimited (regularly tests 100k plus with each release)
One million users
+100k
25k Max
Quality
4K and flexible
SDK video source: Up to 1080p @ 60fps.
Custom video source: Up to 4K
Up to 4k
720p Max
Real‑Time Latency
< 250 ms
≈ 350–500 ms
< 250 ms
< 300 ms (RT) / 2–5 s (LL)
ABR Support
Multi-level with server-side transcoding or simulcast
real-time transcoding and multiple bitrate layers
supports ABR primarily via HLS playback
Simulcast ABR only (with quality limitations)
Deployments
Flexible PaaS of licensing models Runs as SaaS or on customer tenant, Multiregion, Wavelength, Outpost, Gov Cloud, etc.
Fixed regions
Fixed regions
Fixed regions
Mixing (server side compositing)
Flexible layouts and extensive API, (unlimited number videos)
Live mixing via Server Gateway; also composite recording (not real-time)
no server-side mix/compositing
Fixed layouts (limit to 6 videos)
Instant Stream Switching /Zapping
Yes
No
No
No
Metadata
Support for KLV, JSON, frame accurate syncing across multiple videos
Bandwidth/per instance based for PaaS, and Flexible licensing for other deployments
Usage based
Usage based
Usage based
Shared Architecture
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Video streaming
✅
✅
✅
✅
Audio streaming
✅
✅
✅
✅
One-to-one meeting
✅
✅
✅
✅
One-to-many broadcast
✅
✅
✅
✅
Large-scale events
✅
✅
✅
✅
Recording
✅
✅
✅
✅
Video-on-demand
✅
❌
❌
✅
Screen Sharing
✅
✅
✅
✅
Virtual Background
✅
✅
✅
✅
Noise Suppression
✅
✅
✅
❌
Transcriptions
✅
✅
✅
✅
Low-latency Streaming
✅
✅
✅
✅
Reactions & Custom Events
✅
✅
✅
✅
Real-Time Speech to Text
✅
✅
✅
✅
In‑App Messaging Feature Comparison
Feature
PubNub
Agora
Stream
Amazon IVS
Direct & Group Chat
✅
✅
✅
✅
Presence Detection
✅
✅
✅
⚠️ join/leave events only
Typing Indicators
✅
✅
✅
❌
Delivery & Read Receipts
✅
✅
✅
❌
Text & Image Support
✅
✅
✅
❌
Multi‑Device Sync
✅
✅
✅
❌
Unread Message Counts
✅
⚠️
✅
❌
Message Reactions
✅
⚠️
✅
❌
Slash Commands
✅
❌
✅
❌
Threads & Replies
✅
⚠️
✅
❌
File Attachments
✅
✅
✅
❌
Rich Media / URL Previews
⚠️
❌
✅
❌
Push Notifications
✅
✅
✅
⚠️
Offline Messaging & Sync
✅
✅
✅
❌
Alerts & Notifications
✅
❌
✅
⚠️
Profanity Filtering
✅
✅
✅
✅
Chatbot Integration
✅
⚠️
⚠️
⚠️
Language Translation
✅
✅
✅
❌
Sentiment Analysis
✅
❌
❌
❌
Text‑to‑Speech
✅
❌
❌
❌
Geo/Location Tracking
✅
⚠️
❌
❌
IoT Device Control
✅
❌
❌
❌
Multiuser Spaces
✅
✅
✅
✅
Live Lobby Count
✅ Native Presence API provides accurate per-channel user counts at massive scale
❌ No API for real-time count; requires polling or custom backend
⚠️ Available only for small rooms (~100 users); not designed for dynamic lobbies or concurrency at scale
⚠️Per-minute CloudWatch metric only; not real-time in-app.
Data/Event Streaming
✅
❌
❌
❌
Event‑Based Triggers & Functions
✅
❌
⚠️
⚠️
Access Control & Roles
✅
✅
✅
✅
GDPR Compliance
✅
✅
✅
✅
HIPAA Compliance
✅
✅
✅
❌
SOC 2 Type II
✅
✅
✅
✅
ISO 27001
✅
✅
✅
✅
Global Infrastructure
15+ POPs (AWS global, cloud‑agnostic)
✅
✅
✅
Uptime SLA
99.999 %
99.9 %
99.999 %
99.9 %
Low Latency
< 100 ms
< 150 ms
< 100 ms
100-200 ms
Massive Scalability
Planet-scale: proven to support millions of concurrent users and trillions of messages per month with elastic autoscaling and no hard architectural limits
Up to 1 M CCU/room (sharded)
Millions +
Up to 50K concurrent users
Real-Time Decision Intelligence & Analytics
✅
❌
⚠️
❌
GenAI Moderation & Summaries
✅
⚠️
⚠️
❌
AI Code Generation with MCP
✅
❌
❌
❌
⚠️ Capability requires extra configuration or only covers a subset of use cases.
Cross platform support
Platform
PubNub
Agora
Stream
Amazon IVS
Notes
Android
✅
✅
✅
✅
All vendors provide native Android SDK (Java/Kotlin).
PubNub & Agora offer C/C++ libs; Stream lacks native C.
Unity
✅
✅
✅
⚠️
Official Unity packages across vendors.
Unreal
✅
✅
✅
❌
All vendors ship Unreal Engine plugins.
Web (JavaScript)
✅
✅
✅
✅
JavaScript/TypeScript SDKs from all.
Flutter (Wrapper)
✅
✅
✅
⚠️
Flutter wrappers available for each.
Kotlin
✅
⚠️
✅
⚠️
Kotlin-compatible via Java Android SDK; no dedicated Kotlin package.
Dart (Flutter native)
✅
⚠️
✅
⚠️
Supports RTC/video via Flutter SDK; no Dart SDK for Agora Chat.
Go
✅
❌
✅
❌
Server-side Go SDK for PubNub & Stream; no official Go SDK for Agora.
C#
✅
⚠️
✅
⚠️
Server .NET SDKs for PubNub & Stream; Agora supplies client C# wrapper.
Python
✅
⚠️
✅
⚠️
Python SDKs for PubNub & Stream; Agora token/recorder wrappers only.
C-core
✅
❌
❌
❌
Only PubNub provides cross‑platform C-core SDK.
PHP
✅
❌
✅
❌
PHP SDKs for PubNub & Stream only.
Ruby
✅
❌
✅
❌
Ruby SDKs for PubNub & Stream only.
⚠️ = capability provided only via partial wrapper, compatibility layer, or limited server-side SDK.
Platform Operations & Performance
Management model, real‑world latency, routing architecture, and scale ceilings.
Category
Red5 Cloud + PubNub
Agora
Stream
Amazon IVS
Management
Full-service cloud dashboards for both PubNub (data) and Red5 (media) + CLI, REST, and real-time logs.
Provides only a minimal provisioning console.
Robust chat console; no video analytics or media-infra controls.
AWS Console for IVS & CloudWatch; SDK-based setup; limited data observability.
Latency
< 100 ms data (PubNub) + sub‑250 ms video (Red5)
~ 200 ms typical
< 100 ms chat delivery
< 5 s low‑latency video (< 300 ms real‑time mode); chat latency ≈ 100–200 ms.
Routing/Delivery
PubNub DSN (15+ POPs) + Red5 Stream Manager for elastic edge routing and broadcast fan-out.
Mixed UDP/TCP approach with adaptive routing; no native broadcast fan‑out.
Edge fan‑out for chat channels; no media routing.
AWS global backbone & CloudFront edges; no custom pub/sub beyond chat messages.
Scalability & Deployment Limitations
No concurrency limits. Multicloud autoscale, global video, and edge data.
Room-size caps on free/standard tiers; cost escalates with high concurrency.
Chat‑only; throughput capped by plan tier, no video or IoT data streams
Chat-only; default 50 K concurrent chat connections per region (raiseable), 100 msg/s per room; region-bound; pay-per-minute video.”
Presence / Lobby Accuracy
Built-in Presence API scales to millions; includes join/leave events, metadata, TTL, and accurate global lobby counts.
Not supported; presence requires external service or polling. No scalable built-in lobby count.
Limited to small rooms (~100 users); not designed for large dynamic lobbies or accurate high-scale counts.
Basic concurrent viewer metric (per‑minute CloudWatch); no real‑time presence or lobby count.
Who Should Use It
Developers, startups, and enterprises looking for the fastest way to build interactive applications with production-ready infrastructure can take advantage of real-time video streaming with sub-250 ms latency, along with features like chat, live audience engagement, multi-user collaboration, IoT device integration, geolocation APIs, dispatch, edge messaging, event-driven architecture, LiveOps, gamification, auto-moderation, and app optimization.
Why They Should Use It
Key benefits of using this solution include:
Ultra-Low Latency Across Layers
Video/Audio: Red5 Cloud achieves glass-to-glass latency under 250 ms using WHIP, WHEP and SRT, while still supporting legacy protocols like RTMP and HLS.
Data/Chat: PubNub delivers messages in <100 ms globally, ensuring that chat, polls, and reactions remain perfectly in sync with live video.
Autoscaling & Global Footprint
Red5 Cloud clusters automatically scale up or down based on concurrent viewer demand, eliminating manual capacity planning.
PubNub’s 15+ global points of presence (POPs) ensure low-latency data delivery even under viral traffic spikes.
Multi-Protocol, Multi-Codec Support
Red5 supports WebRTC, SRT, RTMP, HLS, WHIP, Zixi, and adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming for maximum compatibility with browsers, mobile devices, and encoders.
Developers can integrate mixed codec environments without adding separate media gateways.
Elastic Architecture for Peak Traffic
Red5 Cloud dynamically provisions streaming nodes during flash crowds (concerts, sports events, game launches).
PubNub’s elastic pub/sub messaging fabric absorbs sudden spikes in chat or interactive traffic without message loss.
Secure & Compliant by Design
Both platforms enforce TLS-only transport, API authentication, and role-based access.
Compliance includes HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, making the stack viable for healthcare, finance, and enterprise-grade deployments.
Real-Time Data & Video Synchronization
Time-stamped events in PubNub can be synchronized with Red5 video streams to enable live betting overlays, synchronized polls, or AR leaderboards.
This ensures that user interactions are not “lagging” behind the live video experience.
Developer Velocity & Extensibility
Red5 TrueTime Solutions™ (Meetings, MultiView, WatchParty, Studio, DataSync) provide pre-built modules to accelerate advanced streaming use cases.
PubNub’s 50+ SDKs cover every major language and platform, enabling easy integration into mobile, web, and IoT applications.
Edge AI via MCP (Model Context Protocol): Developers can connect PubNub SDKs directly to AI assistants for code generation, testing, and debugging real-time features.
Resilience & Reliability
Built-in failover and redundancy across Red5’s global clusters and PubNub’s distributed DSN ensures zero single point of failure.
Message delivery is guaranteed once (at-least-once delivery) even in unstable networks.
In short, the technical edge comes from combining Red5’s protocol-agnostic, sub-250 ms video pipeline with PubNub’s globally distributed, <100 ms messaging fabric. This gives developers a scalable, secure, and extensible foundation for next-generation live interactive applications.
Results Delivered
The integration delivers measurable results across key areas:
Ultra-low latency: <250 ms streaming, <100 ms chat/data.
Global scalability: Millions of concurrent viewers with no degradation.
Higher engagement & retention: Real-time video + interactive features drive more watch time and participation.
Faster time to market: API-first provisioning, SDKs, and AI-assisted development accelerate innovation cycles.
Proven reliability: Already trusted for live sports, concerts, game launches, and enterprise communications worldwide.
Partner Testimonial
Live video pulls viewers into the moment, but without interactivity, it becomes a solitary experience. By integrating PubNub, Red5 Cloud can transform any live stream into a dynamic, shared experience that boosts engagement, drives conversions, and deepens brand connection. We’re excited to support Red5 as they deliver the next generation of interactive streaming, making it simple for their customers to add secure, feature-rich interactivity alongside video at global scale.”
– Todd Greene, CEO & Co-Founder of PubNub
Conclusion
This study highlights how Red5 Cloud, together with PubNub as our technical partner enabling live interactive capabilities, delivers real-time video, synchronized data, and built-in decision intelligence in one cohesive architecture. The combined solution provides the performance, scalability, and extensibility needed for modern interactive applications.
Interested in partnering with Red5? Explore the various partnership opportunities we offer and reach out to our team with your proposal. We’re eager to collaborate and create innovative solutions together!
