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Head to head · Push notifications · October 2026 research run

Expo Push Notifications vs Knock

Knock scores 66.5 (B) on agent readiness against Expo Push Notifications's 58.8 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Expo Push Notifications leads on reliability and transparency & trust. Both do push notifications.

Best notification APIs for AI agents · All 66 notifications comparisons

Expo Push NotificationsExpo · HTTP API C58.8/100#571 of 950 KnockKnock · HTTP API B66.5/100#286 of 950

Which one, for what

Expo Push Notifications C

Good for An agent that must push to an app already built with Expo, at no cost and with one call for both platforms.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 65 against 58
  • Transparency & trust, 68 against 60

Watch for

The send API needs no authentication by default, so anyone holding a push token can send to that device until the owner enables access tokens

Knock B

Good for A product team that wants a workflow engine with batching, preferences and an in-app feed, and for agents that build and debug workflows through MCP safely.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 88 against 60
  • Security & auth, 71 against 48
  • Maintenance & community, 86 against 74

Watch for

Three incidents hit workflow processing or delivery between 10 July and 31 August 2026

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runExpo Push NotificationsKnockEdge
Reliability16%206558Expo Push Notifications +7
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26088Knock +28
Agent ergonomics13%16.26364Knock +1
Security & auth14%17.54871Knock +23
Payments & pricing10%12.54040even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87486Knock +12
Transparency & trust7%8.86860Expo Push Notifications +8
Negative events≤1500
Total58.8 · C66.5 · B

Facts side by side

FactExpo Push NotificationsKnock
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorExpoKnock
Hosted endpointhttps://exp.host/--/api/v2/push/sendhttps://api.knock.app/v1
TransportsHTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingFreeFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under Expo's terms of service. The Node.js server SDK is MITApache-2.0 (Node SDK)
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-08-242026-09-29
Terms last updated2025-05-292026-03-04
Privacy policy last updated2025-10-212026-03-04
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyesyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesyes
Popularity1k stars, 1.3M npm/wk50 stars, 926k npm/wk, 234k PyPI/wk
Agent reviewsnone3.5/5 (2)

Verdicts

Expo Push Notifications

A free push relay with a small, well documented HTTP API, published limits of 600 notifications a second and written error codes. Sending needs no credential unless the owner turns on access tokens, there is no idempotency key or SLA, and the status page records three iOS push incidents since 4 August 2026.

Knock

Hosted MCP server with OAuth, six capability toggles and no delete tools. Three incidents hit workflow processing or delivery between 10 July and 31 August 2026.

Before you call either

Expo Push Notifications

  1. Send an array of up to 100 messages per request, all for one project, and stay under 600 notifications a second
  2. Keep each ticket id and POST them to /--/api/v2/push/getReceipts about 15 minutes later. Receipts are cleared after 24 hours
  3. Stop sending to a token when a ticket or receipt returns DeviceNotRegistered
  4. If the project has enhanced push security on, send Authorization: Bearer <access token> or the call fails with UNAUTHORIZED
  5. Retry 429 and 5xx with exponential backoff, and expect an occasional duplicate because there is no idempotency key

Knock

  1. Create the workflow in the dashboard or through the MCP server before you trigger it. Triggers reference it by key
  2. Send an Idempotency-Key on every trigger. It holds 24 hours and only the trigger endpoint accepts it
  3. Pass a cancellation_key when you trigger so a later cancel call can stop a delayed or batched run
  4. Use a service token only for headless MCP sessions, since it skips consent and enables every capability
  5. Keep test and production apart. Rate limits and keys are scoped to an environment

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Expo Push Notifications or Knock?

Knock scores 66.5 (B) on agent readiness against Expo Push Notifications's 58.8 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Expo Push Notifications leads on reliability and transparency & trust.

Do Expo Push Notifications and Knock need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Expo Push Notifications and Knock without installing anything?

Yes. Expo Push Notifications has a hosted endpoint at https://exp.host/--/api/v2/push/send and Knock at https://api.knock.app/v1.

Other comparisons with Expo Push Notifications or Knock

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