Pushbullet vs Pushover

[Terri]

I was searching the forum for any advice on using Pushbullet vs Pushover for push notifications on android (in the US) since I’ve never used either. I came across this post that shows Thing.

@josh

Thing - for example, Sonos, Echo Speaks, etc.

Is Thing something that was discontinued?
Can anyone recommend Pushover vs Pushbullet?

[josh]

@Terri

@josh

Thing - for example, Sonos, Echo Speaks, etc.

Is Thing something that was discontinued?

‘Thing’ is referring to the idea that many devices or ‘things’ within your home automation platform might also be useable as a way to play notifications. For example, you could play a spoken message over a Sonos speaker or Amazon Echo device.

@Terri

Can anyone recommend Pushover vs Pushbullet?

They’re both great push notification systems. Here’s a couple of comparison points that come to mind.

Pricing

• Pushbullet offers 500 messages per month for free
  • Upgrading to Pro unlocks unlimited messages along with a few extra features
• Pushover is a one-time fee of $5 per platform (eg. once for Android, once for iOS, once for web)
  • There’s a 10,000 message monthly limit per ‘app’, but most people are unlikely to hit it

OS Support

• Pushbullet only works with Android + Chrome
• Pushover works with Android + iOS + Chrome

Additional Options

• Pushover has some neat additional options like Sounds and Priority that can be useful
  • eg. messages that continually repeat until you acknowledge them
• Pushbullet has some neat features like notification mirroring (from your phone to PC)

I started using Pushbullet years back for other things, so I’ve continued to use it. I tend to use it for a variety of things - NodeRED notifications, pushing webpages from my phone to my PC for easier reading, etc.

I think @James uses both as I have him setup on some of my NodeRED flows with Pushbullet and I’ve heard him praise some of the neat delivery features of Pushover like the sounds and priority settings.

[James]

@Terri, I migrated all my Smart Home notification to Pushover about a year ago because I really liked the way I can choose different notification sounds and know if the notification is an informational or security related without having to look at the phone. The other great thing about Pushover is it will continue remind you until you acknowledge it if the notification priority is set to highest. Ex: I use highest priority notification when my garage door is left open for 30 minutes to make sure I couldn’t miss it.

[Terri]

Thank you both for the information!

In regards to Thing, I don’t have that as a notification option. Was it related to Echo Speaks on ST? If so, that’s why I don’t see it

[josh]

It’s not a special option in the ‘Notification’ section… I just meant that if you have those type of devices authorized in your smart home platform (eg. SmartThings or Hubitat) then you can use normal Device Actions within your rules to send commands to those devices/things.

[James]

BTW, if you want to announce something on Echo devices, you can install Voice Monkey skill in the Alexa app, and use HTTP Action in Rule Engine to send the announcement text to the desired echo device.

See the Quick Start Guide for how to configure Voice Monkey.

Documentation - Voice Monkey

Here is an example how to use Voice Monkey in Rule Engine via Http Action

Rule HTTP Action

Examples webCoRE Trigger a webCoRE piston by sending a GET request Method: GET URL: use the External URL in the piston’s Quick Facts section. [image] IFTTT Trigger an IFTTT applet by sending a GET/POST request Method: GET/POST URL: get the Trigger URL from the “Document” link in the webhooks section. Create an applet, choose “Webhook” as the applet trigger, and fill in the desired event name, which will be part of the request URL. [image] [image] Hubitat Maker API Calling…

[Terri]

@josh I misread the description as echo speakers not echo speaks.

@James I am already using the Voicemonkey http.