MagicBell Alternative: NotificationAPI - In-Depth Comparison (2024)

Full Disclosure

We are NotificationAPI, so of course, we are going to toot our own horns - boop boop. We’ve tried our best to stay as objective as possible in this comparison. If you notice an inaccuracy, let us know, and we will fix it.

TLDR

NotificationAPI:

Better for teams that want to send more than just in-app notifications

• Better email, SMS, and other channel capabilities
• Batching, scheduling, throttling, etc.
• Better pricing

MagicBell:

Teams with more budget and a sole focus on in-app or Slack notifications.

• Supports Slack and React Native
• Supports a simple workflow builder (Smart Delivery)

Defining Features

NotificationAPI includes an email service and exposes more email-related capabilities. Furthermore, NotificationAPI offers a broader selection of notification automation and built-in notification channels such as SMS.

MagicBell acts as a router around your delivery services like SendGrid. However, MagicBell has a unique notification workflow builder that allows for sequencing notifications, and also supports Slack and React-Native.

NotificationAPI

• Email

  • Powerful HTML email editor
  • Does not require a 3rd-party
  • Batching and digest

• SMS

  • Built-in
  • Managed A2P Service

• Workflows & Automation

  • Batching and digest (batch notifications over a week and deliver as a weekly digest)
  • Scheduling
  • Throttling per user
  • Deduplication (idempotency)

• More language/framework support

MagicBell

• Simple Workflow Builder, a.k.a Smart Delivery (only send email if in-app is unseen after 30-minutes)
• Slack Support
• React-Native Support

Reliability

Both NotificationAPI and MagicBell offer a reliable experience, regulatory compliance, and various support channels.

NotificationAPI

• Chat, Email, Slack, Video Call
• Uptime: 100% in the last 180 days
• Regions: United States (US), Canada (CA), Europe (EU)

MagicBell

• Chat, Email, Forum
• Uptime: 100% in the last 180 days
• Regions: Europe (EU)

Pricing

MagicBell offers cheaper pricing but does not cover your email costs.

NotificationAPI

• Includes 3rd-party email costs
• Bigger free tier
• White labelled in every plan
• Indefinite notification retention

MagicBell

• Limit on number of active users
• Limit on notification retention
• White labelling starts at $600
• Requires paying for your own email service