---
id: pubnub
version: "10.7.2"
license: PubNub Software Development Kit License
license_treatment: unclear
maintenance: active
---

# pubnub — PubNub Real-time push service in the cloud

License: unclear · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 244.1K/mo

## What it is and what it does

PubNub is a cloud-hosted real-time messaging platform with an official Python SDK that handles the infrastructure for sending and receiving messages globally. The SDK manages publish-subscribe channels, presence detection, signal delivery, and event callbacks through a configuration-based setup and listener pattern.

The package wraps PubNub's REST API and WebSocket infrastructure, abstracting away network complexity so developers can focus on application logic. It supports asynchronous operations via callbacks, integrates with multiple HTTP backends (requests, httpx, aiohttp), and includes cryptographic message signing through pycryptodomex. The SDK is actively maintained, supports Python 3.9 through 3.13, and carries no known security vulnerabilities.

Use it for:

- Build real-time chat or messaging applications where messages must arrive globally in under 100ms.
- Implement presence tracking to show which users are currently online or active in your application.
- Send event notifications and signals across distributed services without managing your own message broker.
- Create collaborative applications where multiple clients need to synchronize state changes instantly.
- Monitor and react to status events such as connection failures, authentication issues, or network changes.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

PubNub Python SDK provides real-time publish-subscribe messaging and presence detection across distributed applications, handling message delivery, subscriptions, and event listeners.

Yes, if you need a managed real-time messaging service and accept the proprietary license. The SDK is production-stable, actively maintained, has no known vulnerabilities, and supports modern Python versions. The high install friction (six dependencies) is typical for a full-featured messaging client. Verify the license terms for your use case before committing.

## Install

pip install pubnub
uv add pubnub
poetry add pubnub

## Installing pubnub

Before you install: High install friction due to six runtime dependencies including pycryptodomex, httpx, h2, requests, aiohttp, and cbor2. Active maintenance with a release 37 days ago and recent commits indicate ongoing support.

License in practice: License treatment is unclear—the package uses a proprietary 'PubNub Software Development Kit License' with no SPDX identifier. Review the license terms directly before adopting in commercial or open-source projects.

Quickstart:

pip install pubnub

from pubnub.pnconfiguration import PNConfiguration
from pubnub.pubnub import PubNub

pnconfig = PNConfiguration()
pnconfig.subscribe_key = 'mySubscribeKey'
pnconfig.publish_key = 'myPublishKey'
pnconfig.uuid = 'myUniqueUUID'
pubnub = PubNub(pnconfig)
pubnub.publish().channel('my_channel').message('Hello world!').pn_async(callback)

Requires Python 3.9 or later; publish and subscribe keys must be obtained from the PubNub Admin Portal.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the proprietary license permits use in commercial applications without additional agreements.
- Performance characteristics and latency guarantees under typical production loads.
- Whether all six runtime dependencies are always required or if some are optional for specific use cases.

## Package facts

- License: PubNub Software Development Kit License (unclear)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: high
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 244.1K/month (top 15,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

real-time messaging sdk, publish subscribe python, push notifications cloud, distributed messaging service, event streaming platform, presence detection messaging, global message delivery, realtime-messaging, managed-service, event-driven

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