MirrorFly is a communication infrastructure provider offering two primary products: Chat SDKs and Calling APIs. These solutions enable businesses to implement in-app messaging, voice, and video calling functionalities in their mobile and web applications.
While MirrorFly presents itself as a comprehensive solution, our extensive research and user feedback indicate significant limitations that make it less competitive in today's market. It might be sufficient for basic implementations with a small user base, but it consistently falls short when dealing with more sophisticated requirements and larger user bases.
MirrorFly limitations
Several factors contribute to MirrorFly's reputation as a foundational rather than cutting-edge solution:
1. Limited feature set
MirrorFly lacks many advanced features essential for creating a dynamic in-app communication experience. While competitors have evolved to deliver richer messaging experiences with advanced moderation tools like AI-powered filters and rules engines, 360-degree notifications via push, email, and SMS, access to call recordings and logs, a global edge network, and more sophisticated messaging functionalities, MirrorFly's offering remains rudimentary.
2. Minimal product evolution
MirrorFly has struggled to keep pace with ongoing developments and shifting industry standards. This limited innovation means that MirrorFly often lags behind in adding new functionalities or enhancing existing ones to meet the needs of modern businesses. For companies looking to implement a future-ready solution that can handle complex, evolving communication scenarios, MirrorFly’s stagnant roadmap can be a significant drawback.
3. Scalability challenges
MirrorFly may work adequately for small-scale implementations, but users frequently report performance issues and feature limitations as their applications scale. These challenges become especially pronounced as user bases grow, potentially hampering both business growth and user satisfaction. For organizations with scaling needs, MirrorFly’s infrastructure may not be robust enough to handle increased demand without impacting the user experience.
4. Lack of value for money
Many users find that MirrorFly’s pricing does not align with the value it delivers. While it may seem competitively priced initially, customers often discover that they are paying for a product that lacks the features and flexibility offered by other solutions in the market.
Competitors frequently offer more extensive, feature-rich solutions at similar or even more affordable price points, making MirrorFly appear overpriced for its limited functionality. For a deeper breakdown, see our MirrorFly picing review to understand the cost differences and identify more cost-effective options.
Top 7 alternatives to Mirrorfly
1. CometChat
CometChat is a comprehensive chat infrastructure provider, offering robust APIs and SDKs that enable real-time communication within mobile apps and websites. We go beyond being a simple chat API provider; we understand the vital role chat plays across various sectors, including telehealth, marketplaces, social communities, and dating. Our tailored chat components deliver a complete solution that integrates seamlessly into the core product experience.
When comparing CometChat to Mirrorfly, several factors highlight why CometChat may be a more suitable choice for businesses focusing on chat functionalities:
A. Unbeatable value for money
B. 360 degree notification support
CometChat provides comprehensive notification support by integrating push, email, and SMS notifications through providers like Firebase, APN, SendGrid, and Twilio, allowing you to manage all channels from a single platform.
With CometChat, you can customize notification settings for private and group chats to align with user preferences, schedule notification, and use templates to quickly generate consistent and clear alerts for specific events through a centralized dashboard.
C. Best-in-class UI kits
Our UI kits simplify and accelerate the addition of chat features to your app. Designed for modern chat experiences, they include a wide range of ready-to-use features that match the quality of popular platforms like WhatsApp and Slack.
We offer comprehensive chat UI kits compatible with major front-end frameworks such as React, React Native, Flutter, and Android.
D. AI powered content moderation engine
CometChat enhances moderation with AI-powered filters and a robust rules engine for real-time detection of inappropriate content, spam, and image moderation.
You can set custom rules to automate actions like muting users or flagging keywords, while a centralized dashboard allows moderators to review flagged content, offering superior content safety compared to MirrorFly.
E. Enhanced calling management
CometChat provides advanced calling features, including call recording and transcription, detailed call performance analytics, and intuitive UI components for managing calls. Real-time updates on calling events ensure you stay informed about missed or ongoing calls.
F. Enterprise grade features
CometChat is designed for enterprise needs with HIPAA compliance, a global edge network for low latency, advanced analytics for actionable insights, and a 99.999% uptime SLA guarantee with no overage charges, ensuring reliability and cost predictability.
G. AI Chatbot creator
CometChat includes a robust chatbot interface for user-to-bot interactions, allowing you to create smart assistants for various tasks. Bots can be customized to answer FAQs, assist users, or integrate with OpenAI for dynamic responses, enabling seamless transitions from bots to human agents when needed.
2. Sendbird
Sendbird is a comprehensive real-time communication infrastructure that allows businesses to integrate in-app chat, calling, AI chatbots, and omnichannel messaging seamlessly. While it offers a robust platform and premium add-ons like content moderation, recent shifts toward AI and omnichannel messaging raise concerns about ongoing support for its core chat product.
The pricing model, charging $5 per Peak Concurrent Connection (PCC), can make scaling expensive, especially during high-usage periods. Strict usage caps mean that exceeding limits on monthly active users or PCCs can disrupt service until bills are paid. Key features, such as message retention and large group chats, are locked behind the Enterprise plan, limiting growth for smaller businesses.
Additionally, while Sendbird’s UI kits provide basic building blocks for chat interfaces, they lack advanced features, requiring developers to invest more time in implementing complex business logic. The absence of UI kits for popular frameworks like Flutter, Angular, and Vue complicates customization, extending development times.
Additional reading
3. PubNub
PubNub is a cloud-based platform that provides developers with the infrastructure to build, manage, and scale real-time applications, primarily through its powerful real-time publish/subscribe (pub/sub) messaging API. In this model, messages are sent to specific "channels" or "topics," allowing subscribers to access content based on their interests. This architecture offers scalability and flexibility, enabling publishers and subscribers to operate independently and ensuring real-time updates, such as chat messages or live game scores, are delivered instantly.
Additional reading
4. Talkjs
TalkJS is a messaging API designed to simplify the integration of chat functionality into websites and mobile apps, eliminating the need for custom development. It provides a highly customizable chat interface that can be seamlessly embedded, facilitating smooth communication between users. TalkJS is versatile and suitable for various use cases, including online marketplaces, customer support, social platforms, and community forums, thereby enhancing user engagement.
However, TalkJS specializes in text-based messaging and does not offer voice and video calling features. Businesses seeking comprehensive communication solutions with in-app voice and video capabilities may want to consider vendors that provide these integrated functionalities.
Additional reading
5. Agora
Agora is a real-time engagement platform as a Service that integrates audio, video calling, live streaming, and chat functionalities into applications. While its chat product exists, it is often overshadowed by Agora’s well-known audio and video capabilities.
Key offerings include low-latency APIs for high-quality audio and video integration, live streaming tools, and various SDKs and UI Kits that simplify the development process. Agora also provides extensions to enhance user experiences and three integration options: SDKs for deep customization, UI Kits for faster integration, and an App Builder that allows no-code application creation, making real-time engagement more accessible
Additional reading
6. Ably
Ably is a real-time data platform that empowers developers to create interactive applications by providing APIs and tools for seamless data exchange. Launched in 2012, it enables instant messaging, making it ideal for chat, collaborative editing, and live notifications.
Additional reading
7. GetStream
GetStream initially gained recognition for its outstanding Activity Feeds API but has since broadened its scope to include real-time chat through its StreamChat API. This solution enables developers to easily integrate chat features into their applications, offering functionalities such as a Messaging API, Chat SDKs, user management, message moderation, channel management, file sharing, and push notifications.
However, StreamChat relies primarily on chat SDKs for integration, supported by basic UI kits that provide a visual framework but lack comprehensive business logic integration. This limitation may hinder those looking for a solution that merges an intuitive chat interface with specific business processes. Additionally, StreamChat does not natively support SMS and email notifications, necessitating extra custom development, which can increase both time and effort in the development process.
Additional reading
Aarathy Sundaresan
Content Marketer , CometChat