Firebase Cloud Messaging
Ranked 3 of 4 push notification services by recommenders
Developers recommend it as a free way to reach all platforms with push notifications, though setup takes some work. Critics note it is centralised and can store notification content.
Developers recommend it as a free way to reach all platforms with push notifications, though setup takes some work. Critics note it is centralised and can store notification content.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 8
- criticize it
- 8
- approval share
- 50%
Recommended in 5 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: not recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 8 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 5 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Reliable across platforms
“APNS and Google's version works perfectly fine for us”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “What Apple and Google are doing to your push notifications” “its a bit of hassle but it reaches all platforms”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Self-hosted web push Cloudflare Worker, works on iOS” “Both FCM and UnifiedPush do work reliably.”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Will Linux phones become a viable alternative to the Android/iOS duopoly?”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Centralised; locks you into Google
“That's just what Google/Apple want you to believe so you depend on their proprietary lock in services.”
Comment from 10 Feb 2026 in “Discord will require a face scan or ID for full access next month” “It's fair to critique Google for convincing devs that fcm is the only option”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “What Apple and Google are doing to your push notifications” “You will probably end up rebuilding something as centralised as FCM.”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “Briar Is in Maintenance Mode” Setup takes some effort
“which does require some setup, but it's not too bad”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Self-hosted web push Cloudflare Worker, works on iOS” “its a bit of hassle but it reaches all platforms”
Comment from 14 Aug 2026 in “Self-hosted web push Cloudflare Worker, works on iOS”
Other push notification services people recommend
The three most recommended other push notification services, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
See all 4 push notification services, rankedWhat people said
12 of the 17 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Both FCM and UnifiedPush do work reliably.”
“its a bit of hassle but it reaches all platforms”
“which does require some setup, but it's not too bad”
“You will probably end up rebuilding something as centralised as FCM.”
“a bulk-metadata collection system waiting for a legal instrument”
“It's fair to critique Google for convincing devs that fcm is the only option”
“APNS and Google's version works perfectly fine for us”
“While I have slight worries about what it means for users if Apple and Google notification services go down/censoring”
“these centralized notification infrastructure (FCM and APNs) store notification content”
“That's just what Google/Apple want you to believe so you depend on their proprietary lock in services.”
“The protocol itself was easy”
“criminally over-engineered wrapper around two broadcast receivers”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.