# Courier vs Pushover > Courier has a score of 70.5 (BB) against Pushover's 53.3 (D). Both do notify push. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 66 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-pushover - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-pushover.md (~1,300 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-pushover.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-pushover.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - Updated: 2026-10-05 Courier has a score of 70.5 (BB) against Pushover's 53.3 (D). Both do notify push. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 66 points. - Courier: grade BB, 70.5/100, rank #96 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/courier.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/courier.json - Pushover: grade D, 53.3/100, rank #334 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pushover.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pushover.json ## Which one, for what Pick Courier for reliability (+30), schema & documentation (+34), payments & pricing (+5), maintenance & community (+66). Pick Pushover for transparency & trust (+24). ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Courier | Pushover | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 92 | 62 | Courier +30 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 84 | 50 | Courier +34 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 64 | Courier +4 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 56 | 52 | Courier +4 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 30 | Courier +5 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 20 | Courier +66 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 89 | Pushover +24 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | | | **Total** | | **70.5 · BB** | **53.3 · D** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Courier | Pushover | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API | | Vendor | Courier | Pushover | | Hosted endpoint | `https://api.courier.com` | `https://api.pushover.net/1/messages.json` | | Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP | | Auth | API key | API key | | Pricing | Freemium | Paid | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Apache-2.0 (Node SDK) | none | | Tools exposed | 170 | none | | Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a | | p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet | | Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | yes | no | | MCP registry | `io.github.trycourier/courier` | not listed | | Last release | 2026-09-24 | 2026-06-23 | | Popularity | 63 stars, 189k npm/wk, 35k PyPI/wk | none | | Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) | ## Verdicts **Courier.** Free for 10,000 sends a month, then $0.005 a send with no platform fee. 170 MCP tools with no toolsets, filtering or read-only mode. **Pushover.** One POST with three required fields, form or JSON. Recipients need the app, $4.99 per platform after a 30-day trial. ## Before you call either ### Courier 1. Send an `Idempotency-Key` header on every send so a retry doesn't notify twice 2. Set `routing.method` to `single` to stop at the first channel that works 3. Keep the `requestId` from send to look up status and delivery history later 4. Use a dedicated API key for the MCP server. Every one of the 170 tools runs with that key's full rights 5. Space resends at least 2 seconds apart per message or you get a 429 ### Pushover 1. Use priority 2 with `retry` (30 or more) and `expire` (10,800 or less) when a person must act, then poll the receipt 2. Don't retry a 4xx. Fix the parameter named in `errors`. Wait at least 5 seconds before retrying a 5xx 3. Read `X-Limit-App-Remaining` before a batch. Over the monthly quota every send returns 429 4. Keep messages to 1,024 characters and titles to 250 5. Send to a group key to reach several people in one call. Each person still counts against the quota ## Other comparisons with Courier or Pushover - [Courier vs Knock](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-knock.md) - [Courier vs Novu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-novu.md) - [Courier vs ntfy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-ntfy.md) - [Courier vs OneSignal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-onesignal.md) - [Courier vs SuprSend](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-suprsend.md) - [Knock vs Pushover](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/knock-vs-pushover.md) - [Novu vs Pushover](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novu-vs-pushover.md) - [ntfy vs Pushover](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ntfy-vs-pushover.md) - [OneSignal vs Pushover](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/onesignal-vs-pushover.md) - [Pushover vs SuprSend](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pushover-vs-suprsend.md)