GravityKit
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Comparison · Infra & APIs
Ably vs Incus
A side-by-side editorial comparison of Ably and Incus — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.
Ably vs Incus: at a glance
| Feature | Ably | Incus |
|---|---|---|
| Sector | Infra & APIs | Infra & APIs |
| Velocity score | 7.5 | 5.0 |
| Sparks · 30d | 2 | 0 |
| Top themes | ai transport, realtime messaging, agents, mau-billing | container manager, live migration, sr-iov, project isolation |
| Last editorial update | 21h ago | 12d ago |
| Website | — | Visit → |
What is Ably?
Ably's AI Transport hits 1.0 and plugs straight into Vercel's useChat with resumable streams.
Ably is repositioning its realtime pub/sub network as the transport layer for AI agent output. AI Transport JS 1.0 runs on ordinary Pub/Sub channels and ships adaptors for the Vercel AI SDK, OpenAI Responses API and AG-UI, plus a useChat transport that resumes a stream after a reload. It lands a week after the switch to monthly-active-user pricing and breaking SDK majors that split every client into device and server packages.
What is Incus?
Incus 7.6 fixes 18 security issues, eight critical, and adds SR-IOV NIC live migration
Incus 7.6, released October 30, carries 18 security fixes, eight rated critical, many of them about restricted projects reaching the default project or the host, plus an authentication bypass through unverified client certificate chains. Its features aim at larger environments: live migration for VMs using SR-IOV NICs, multifd for VM live migration, cluster healing options, compression for block volumes, and OIDC opaque tokens. 7.5 before it added live migration between projects, cluster metrics and NVIDIA GPU cliques. The 7.0 LTS branch received a second patch, 7.0.2, with no described changes.
Ably vs Incus: editorial side-by-side
Ably
7.5INFRA · APIS
Ably's AI Transport hits 1.0 and plugs straight into Vercel's useChat with resumable streams.
◆ Current state
Ably is repositioning its realtime pub/sub network as the transport layer for AI agent output. AI Transport JS 1.0 runs on ordinary Pub/Sub channels and ships adaptors for the Vercel AI SDK, OpenAI Responses API and AG-UI, plus a useChat transport that resumes a stream after a reload. It lands a week after the switch to monthly-active-user pricing and breaking SDK majors that split every client into device and server packages.
◆ Where it's heading
The November releases fit one plan: split clients so MAU billing can count end users, then make the AI layer a thin adaptor on top of the same channels used for chat, presence and LiveObjects. Server-side additions in Java and JS (HTTP LiveObjects, channel pools, a Temporal plugin) point at agent backends as the intended publisher.
◆ Prediction
Expect more agent framework adaptors and server SDKs reaching AI Transport parity, with Chat and LiveObjects examples built around agents joining human conversations.
Incus
5.0INFRA · APIS
Incus 7.6 fixes 18 security issues, eight critical, and adds SR-IOV NIC live migration
◆ Current state
Incus 7.6, released October 30, carries 18 security fixes, eight rated critical, many of them about restricted projects reaching the default project or the host, plus an authentication bypass through unverified client certificate chains. Its features aim at larger environments: live migration for VMs using SR-IOV NICs, multifd for VM live migration, cluster healing options, compression for block volumes, and OIDC opaque tokens. 7.5 before it added live migration between projects, cluster metrics and NVIDIA GPU cliques. The 7.0 LTS branch received a second patch, 7.0.2, with no described changes.
◆ Where it's heading
Live migration is still the through-line: 7.4 made it near-live for dependent disks, 7.5 took it across projects, and 7.6 extends it to VMs using SR-IOV NICs. The other thread is multi-tenancy under scrutiny. The size of the 7.6 security batch, with several critical items in project isolation, shows that restricted projects are now being tested as a real boundary, and the release adds a build and threat model for Anthropic's OSS Scanner.
◆ Prediction
Expect a 7.6.x patch or further security fixes, because the project-isolation findings cover a wide surface. The monthly feature cadence should continue with more live-migration throughput work, given multifd and the throughput improvements in this release.
Alternatives to Ably and Incus
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 Incus.
Payload CMS
Payload's v4 beta.9 keeps every past image crop and raises the Node floor again.
Nautobot
Nautobot 3.3 alpha 2 adds test helpers and a cable location filter after 3.2.9's token-leak fix.
Clair
Clair 4.10 RC can read SBOMs to match Java vulnerabilities.
Shuffle
Shuffle tags builds almost daily, but the notes are empty.
KrakenD
KrakenD's community edition is shipping only dependency bumps.
Recent activity from Ably and Incus
Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.
- 1d agoAblyAI Transport 1.0 makes Ably a resumable transport for AI chat ⚡
- 2d agoAblyJava SDK 2.1 reads and updates LiveObjects over HTTP
- 2d agoAblyJS SDK 3.1 adds channel pools and a Temporal plugin
- 4d agoAblyAbly Kafka Connector v4.2.1
- 8d agoAblyMonthly active user (MAU) pricing ⚡
- 8d agoAblyAbly Chat React UI Kit v0.4.0
- 14d agoIncus18 security fixes, SR-IOV NIC live migration and multifd
- 28d agoIncusSecond patch on the 7.0 LTS branch
- 1mo agoIncusLive migration across projects, cluster metrics, NVIDIA GPU cliques
- 2mo agoIncusIncus 7.4 adds near-live migration and Secure Boot key management ⚡
- 3mo agoIncusNative Windows and macOS installers; QMP command timeouts
- 4mo agoIncusFirst patch release on the 7.0 LTS branch
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Ably and Incus?
They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Ably is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 5.0), with 2 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.
Is Ably better than Incus?
Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Ably is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 5.0), with 2 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. 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 Incus?
Top Incus alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Incus alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/incus for the full list with editorial commentary on each.