# ntfy vs Pingram

> ntfy scores 61.5 (C) to Pingram's 57.4 (C) for push notifications. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ntfy-vs-pingram
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ntfy-vs-pingram.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ntfy-vs-pingram.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ntfy-vs-pingram.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: 2026-10-09

ntfy scores 61.5 (C) on agent readiness against Pingram's 57.4 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Pingram leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and maintenance & community. Both do push notifications.

- ntfy: grade C, 61.5/100, rank #464 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ntfy.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ntfy.json
- Pingram: grade C, 57.4/100, rank #611 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pingram.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pingram.json
- Best notification APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/notifications/index.md
- All 66 notifications comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/notifications/index.md

## Which one, for what

### ntfy (C)

Good for: An agent that has to reach its own operator or a small team on their phones with no setup.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 83 against 58
- Payments & pricing, 50 against 40
- Transparency & trust, 78 against 54

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: Unreserved topics on ntfy.sh can be read and written by anyone who knows the name

### Pingram (C)

Good for: An agent that needs to send transactional email and SMS and read replies through one account without separate carrier or SMTP providers.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 69 against 53
- Security & auth, 51 against 38
- Maintenance & community, 81 against 67

Watch for: The terms of service forbid using the service for benchmarking. This matters before any probe is run


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | ntfy | Pingram | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 58 | ntfy +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 69 | Pingram +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 67 | Pingram +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 38 | 51 | Pingram +13 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 40 | ntfy +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 81 | Pingram +14 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 54 | ntfy +24 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **61.5 · C** | **57.4 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ntfy | Pingram |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | ntfy | Pingram |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://ntfy.sh` | `https://mcp.pingram.io` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 and GPL-2.0 (dual) | Proprietary service under Pingram's terms of service. The Node.js SDK and CLI are MIT on npm. The Go SDK repository has no licence file |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.pingram/mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-08-27 | 2026-10-08 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-01-26 | 2025-04-16 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-15 | 2025-04-16 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 34k stars | 1 stars, 13k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**ntfy.** Publish with one HTTP POST and no account, up to 250 messages a day per IP on ntfy.sh. Unreserved topics on ntfy.sh can be read and written by anyone who knows the name.

**Pingram.** Email and SMS go out through one REST call with built-in delivery, per-message prices are public and the free tier needs no card. No rate limits or idempotency keys were found in the reviewed documentation, and the MCP connector acts with the signed-in user's whole account.

## Before you call either

### ntfy

1. Use a long random topic name, or a reserved topic with a Bearer token
2. Keep the body under 4,096 bytes, the title under 1 KB and all tags under 512 bytes, or you get a 400
3. Don't blind-retry a publish. There's no idempotency key, so the person gets it twice
4. Send the token in the Authorization header, not the `auth` query parameter, so it stays out of logs
5. Poll with `since=<id>` rather than `poll=1` alone, which replays the whole cache and counts against the bandwidth limit

### Pingram

1. Use the API host for the account's region. The key and region (`us`, `eu` or `ca`) come from the API Keys page in the dashboard
2. Keep the `trackingId` from each send and check Logs before retrying. No idempotency key was found, so a blind retry can send twice
3. Pass `accountId` on MCP tools when the user belongs to several accounts. Without it the tools use the earliest account joined
4. Create broadcasts as drafts only. Pingram's own skill says a person must send a broadcast from the dashboard
5. Expect 402 when the monthly budget is spent. Unused balance does not roll over

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, ntfy or Pingram?

ntfy scores 61.5 (C) on agent readiness against Pingram's 57.4 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Pingram leads on schema & documentation, security & auth and maintenance & community.

### Do ntfy and Pingram need an API key?

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

### Can an agent call ntfy and Pingram without installing anything?

Yes. ntfy has a hosted endpoint at https://ntfy.sh and Pingram at https://mcp.pingram.io.

### Are ntfy and Pingram open source?

ntfy is open source (Apache-2.0 and GPL-2.0 (dual)). No open-source release is listed for Pingram.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ntfy-vs-pingram.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ntfy-vs-pingram.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "ntfy", "b": "pingram"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare ntfy pingram`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ntfy.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pingram.json

## Other comparisons with ntfy or Pingram

- [Amazon SNS vs ntfy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-sns-vs-ntfy.md)
- [Amazon SNS vs Pingram](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-sns-vs-pingram.md)
- [Courier vs ntfy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-ntfy.md)
- [Courier vs Pingram](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/courier-vs-pingram.md)
- [Expo Push Notifications vs ntfy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/expo-push-notifications-vs-ntfy.md)
- [Expo Push Notifications vs Pingram](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/expo-push-notifications-vs-pingram.md)
- [Firebase Cloud Messaging vs ntfy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firebase-cloud-messaging-vs-ntfy.md)
- [Firebase Cloud Messaging vs Pingram](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firebase-cloud-messaging-vs-pingram.md)
- [Knock vs ntfy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/knock-vs-ntfy.md)
- [Knock vs Pingram](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/knock-vs-pingram.md)
- [MagicBell vs ntfy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/magicbell-vs-ntfy.md)
- [MagicBell vs Pingram](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/magicbell-vs-pingram.md)
- [Novu vs ntfy](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novu-vs-ntfy.md)
- [Novu vs Pingram](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/novu-vs-pingram.md)
- [ntfy vs OneSignal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ntfy-vs-onesignal.md)
- [ntfy vs Pushover](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ntfy-vs-pushover.md)
- [ntfy vs SuprSend](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ntfy-vs-suprsend.md)
- [OneSignal vs Pingram](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/onesignal-vs-pingram.md)
- [Pingram vs Pushover](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pingram-vs-pushover.md)
- [Pingram vs SuprSend](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pingram-vs-suprsend.md)