NotificationAPI
vs.
Knock
Detailed comparison with screenshots (2024)
.png)
Summary
While NotificationAPI and Knock are both 3rd-party notification services, the philosophies behind the two result in different solutions for transactional notifications.
NotificationAPI
Philosophy:
Saving Time, Simplifying Architecture
5x more cost-effective
Quick integration
Better support even in the free tier
Does not require any 3rd-parties
No complex workflow editor
Minimal logs & analytics
No conditional sending
Better for:
NotificationAPI is for small to medium-sized B2B SaaS companies that want to move fast with their notification project and expect a reliable customer support experience.
Knock
Philosophy:
Modularity, Multi-tenant support
Complex workflow editor
Better logs & analytics
Conditional & Multi-channel sending
More expensive
Complex integration
No info on support outside enterprise
3rd-parties required for each channel
Better for:
Knock is for developers who require a complex workflow editor, intelligent cross-channel routing, or the ability to stream metrics to 3rd-party services.
Pricing
NotificationAPI is 5x more cost-effective than Knock, with customer support starting in free plans.
NotificationAPI
10,000 free notifications per month
Starting at $0.001 per notification
Includes 3rd-party service costs
All plans include access to reliable customer support
Knock
10,000 free notifications per month
Starting at $0.005 per notification
Pay for your own 3rd-party services
Customer support not specified below enterprise
Major Capability Differences
Automations & Workflows
NotificationAPI focuses on simplicity and ease of use, while Knock focuses on customization.
NotificationAPI
Batching, digest, scheduling, deduplication, throttling
User preferences, time-zone aware delivery of digests
No custom workflow builder, delays, or conditionals
Knock
Batching, scheduling & throttling
User preferences, time-zone aware delivery of digests
Custom workflow builder that supports delays & conditionals (e.g. if users have seen an in-app notification)
Intelligent cross-channel routing
Logs & Insights
NotificationAPI offers simple & in-house logs and an API, along with longer retention periods. Knock also has in-house logs but offers integration with Datadog.
NotificationAPI
High-level reports by notification status & type
Custom search queries
Visual preview of delivered notifications
Logs query API and dashboard
60-day retention starting in the free tier
Knock
High-level reports by notification status & type
Search queries
30-day retention without enterprise-tier
Open & click tracking
Can integrate Datadog for metric streaming
Developer Experience
NotificationAPI lets you move fast with your notifications, so you can focus on more important projects. With Knock, each notification channel needs its own 3rd-party integration.
NotificationAPI
5 minutes to your first notification
No need for 3rd-parties
Comprehensive WYSIWYG editor & free stock images for all channels
Knock
~1 hour to your first notification
Must configure, integrate, and pay for all 3rd-party channels yourself
Basic WYSIWYG & raw HTML email editor
Multi-Tenant Support
Knock offers a more dedicated approach to multi-tenant solutions.
NotificationAPI
Per-tenant branding
No per-tenant preferences
Knock
Per-tenant branding
Per-tenant preferences
Other Notable Mentions
NotificationAPI
Supports email, in-app, text, voice, push, web push
Remove branding (free)
No webhooks
Knock
Supports email, in-app, text, voice, push
Also supports Slack, Microsoft Teams, Discord, WhatsApp
Supports webhooks
Remove branding (paid)
Reliability
NotificationAPI boasts a stronger guarantee of support. Outside of enterprise plans, Knock doesn’t offer much guarantee for support.
NotificationAPI
Chat, Email, Slack, Discord, Video call
~1 business hour response time (EST)
99.9% uptime
Knock
Unknown support & response time
99.9% uptime
Closing thoughts by
NotificationAPI's CEO
Knock's comprehensive workflow editor is a fantastic feature and we are happy to have a healthy competition against this product.
We are not letting them get away with this though. We do plan to compete with them head to head by adding a workflow editor and conditional sending in Q3 of 2024.
Looking forward to our team updating this page with more green checks for us.
.svg){kind=small}