ToolJet
ToolJet runs two release trains at once, and neither has changed direction in months
Comparison · Infra & APIs
Ably vs Knock
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Ably and Knock — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Ably vs Knock: at a glance
| Feature | Ably | Knock |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Infra & APIs | Infra & APIs |
| Velocity score | 6.3 | 6.3 |
| Sparks · 30d | 1 | 1 |
| Top themes | realtime-infrastructure, ai-agents, durable-execution, liveobjects | notification-infrastructure, data-sources, agent-native, workflow-orchestration |
| Last editorial update | 1d ago | 4d ago |
| Website | — | — |
What is Ably?
Ably is building an agent transport layer on its realtime core, shipping AI SDK versions every ten days.
Two release trains run side by side in this feed. The AI Transport SDK is moving fast and pre-1.0 — durable execution in 0.5.0, mid-run steering in 0.6.0, an OpenAI Responses codec in 0.7.0, each roughly ten days apart and each carrying breaking changes. The Pub/Sub and Java SDKs move at a steadier pace, working through LiveObjects reach, React and React Native support, and now connectivity fallbacks.
What is Knock?
Knock is wiring both ends of the messaging data loop, then putting an agent on top
Knock has spent the last month building around its notification engine rather than inside it. Two new inbound data sources, Amplitude and Clay, let product events, cohorts, and enriched account rows land in Knock without customers writing sync code, while message and engagement events flow back out to the warehouse. The dashboard work alongside it, a rebuilt template editor, saved views and tags, schema management, and passkeys, reads as hardening for teams rather than individual developers.
Ably vs Knock: editorial side-by-side
Ably
6.3INFRA · APIS
Ably is building an agent transport layer on its realtime core, shipping AI SDK versions every ten days.
◆ Current state
Two release trains run side by side in this feed. The AI Transport SDK is moving fast and pre-1.0 — durable execution in 0.5.0, mid-run steering in 0.6.0, an OpenAI Responses codec in 0.7.0, each roughly ten days apart and each carrying breaking changes. The Pub/Sub and Java SDKs move at a steadier pace, working through LiveObjects reach, React and React Native support, and now connectivity fallbacks.
◆ Where it's heading
Ably is treating agent conversations as a transport problem — sessions, resumability, and multi-client reconciliation — rather than as a model-integration problem, and the primitives shipping in AI Transport keep pointing that way. The Pub/Sub line is being pulled along behind it: LiveObjects path APIs and React hooks are the state layer those agent sessions need. The pre-1.0 SDK will keep breaking as the shape settles, which is a reasonable trade while the category is unsettled.
◆ Prediction
Expect AI Transport to keep adding provider codecs beyond OpenAI Responses and to approach an API freeze as breaking changes get more expensive. LiveObjects support should continue spreading across the language SDKs, following the Java path-based API with other platforms.
Knock
6.3INFRA · APIS
Knock is wiring both ends of the messaging data loop, then putting an agent on top
◆ Current state
Knock has spent the last month building around its notification engine rather than inside it. Two new inbound data sources, Amplitude and Clay, let product events, cohorts, and enriched account rows land in Knock without customers writing sync code, while message and engagement events flow back out to the warehouse. The dashboard work alongside it, a rebuilt template editor, saved views and tags, schema management, and passkeys, reads as hardening for teams rather than individual developers.
◆ Where it's heading
The direction is away from a notification API you call and toward the system that holds the messaging state. Ingesting cohort membership and enriched contact data is CDP-adjacent territory, and the wait-for-event function turns linear sequences into event-driven orchestration. The Knock agent then adds a natural-language layer over performance data, so the platform answers questions instead of only exporting rows.
◆ Prediction
Expect more data sources on the same pattern, warehouse and CRM-side connectors that keep audiences in sync without customer glue code. Whether the agent moves from reading analytics to editing workflows directly is the open question these entries do not yet answer.
Alternatives to Ably and Knock
Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Ably or Knock.
Honeycomb
Honeycomb bets that the agent, not the engineer, should notice the anomaly first
Jenkins
Jenkins is shrinking its own war file and rebuilding its UI, one weekly release at a time
GitHub
Copilot's model roster churns weekly while GitHub quietly rewires policy and billing plumbing
incident.io
Nexus does the diagnosis; the rest is on-call plumbing
werf
Four channels, one fix stream — werf's releases are mostly concurrency repairs.
Recent activity from Ably and Knock
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoAblyPub/Sub JS SDK v2.27.0: Fallback for networks that block WebSockets
- 6d agoKnockAmplitude data source
- 11d agoAblyAI Transport JS SDK v0.7.0: OpenAI Responses codec ⚡
- 13d agoKnockAnalytics in the Knock agent ⚡
- 14d agoKnockWait for event function
- 15d agoKnockClay data source
- 18d agoAblyPub/Sub JS SDK v2.26.0: React hook for LiveObjects
- 20d agoKnockRedesigned template editor
- 21d agoAblyAI Transport JS SDK v0.6.0: Mid-run steering
- 25d agoAblyPub/Sub JS SDK v2.25.0: Push notifications for React Native
- 27d agoKnockBranch rebasing
- 29d agoAblyJava SDK v1.8.0: Support LiveObjects Path based API
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Ably and Knock?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Ably and Knock are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 6.3 vs 6.3, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Ably better than Knock?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Ably and Knock are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 6.3 vs 6.3, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.
What are the best alternatives to Ably?
Top Ably alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Ably alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/ably for the full list with editorial commentary on each.
What are the best alternatives to Knock?
Top Knock alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Knock alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/knock for the full list with editorial commentary on each.