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Head to head · Push notifications · October 2026 research run

Expo Push Notifications vs OneSignal

OneSignal scores 69.3 (B) on agent readiness against Expo Push Notifications's 58.8 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Expo Push Notifications leads on payments & pricing. 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 OneSignalOneSignal · HTTP API B69.3/100#189 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

  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 35

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

OneSignal B

Good for A team whose main channel is push to its own mobile or web app and who wants delivery handled without a separate push provider.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 70 against 65
  • Schema & documentation, 87 against 60
  • Security & auth, 74 against 48
  • Maintenance & community, 81 against 74

Watch for

Three incidents on the API and SDK endpoints in September 2026

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runExpo Push NotificationsOneSignalEdge
Reliability16%206570OneSignal +5
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26087OneSignal +27
Agent ergonomics13%16.26364OneSignal +1
Security & auth14%17.54874OneSignal +26
Payments & pricing10%12.54035Expo Push Notifications +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87481OneSignal +7
Transparency & trust7%8.86872OneSignal +4
Negative events≤1500
Total58.8 · C69.3 · B

Facts side by side

FactExpo Push NotificationsOneSignal
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorExpoOneSignal
Hosted endpointhttps://exp.host/--/api/v2/push/sendhttps://api.onesignal.com
TransportsHTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingFreeFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under Expo's terms of service. The Node.js server SDK is MITModified MIT (Node SDK, use limited to OneSignal's services)
Tools exposednone43
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-08-242026-09-30
Terms last updated2025-05-292024-06-12
Privacy policy last updated2025-10-21couldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
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/wk52 stars, 231k npm/wk, 28k 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.

OneSignal

Runs push delivery itself, so there's no separate push provider to wire up. Three incidents on the API and SDK endpoints in September 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

OneSignal

  1. Use Authorization: Key <key>, not Bearer, and put app_id in the body
  2. Send an idempotency_key UUID with every create call and reuse it on each retry
  3. On 429, wait for Retry-After, then back off with jitter, up to 10 attempts
  4. Stay under 10 sends per subscribed subscription in 15 minutes or the app is disabled
  5. Target people with include_aliases.external_id and set target_channel

Questions

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

OneSignal scores 69.3 (B) on agent readiness against Expo Push Notifications's 58.8 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Expo Push Notifications leads on payments & pricing.

Do Expo Push Notifications and OneSignal need an API key?

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

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

Yes. Expo Push Notifications has a hosted endpoint at https://exp.host/--/api/v2/push/send and OneSignal at https://api.onesignal.com.

Other comparisons with Expo Push Notifications or OneSignal

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