Chat as a Service (CAAS) Solutions We are currently in closed-beta with our Qt/C++ based video application. Our users are requesting "text-chat" as a way to
communicate with other users. Knowing the litany of "Chat" products that are out there, I'm not a huge fan of redundancy in communication products. I figure this must be a SaaS that completes my goals. Furthermore, many of these products are "mobile first" (as in they require SMS verification to begin using their service). Things I'm looking for: - I'd prefer not to maintain servers - Must have a RESTful API or C++ SDK (we are not developing for Android / iOS independently) and we are not building a website (ie. JS SDKs are not very useful) - Ability to add and remove users programmatically when they create accounts on our service. - Security (obviously) - Would prefer not to warehouse messages or be able to access them Things I've looked at: Open Whisper Systems "Signal" Protocol. Pros: - Known standard for secure communications. Cons: - Signal "Text Secure Server" code is unwieldy and poorly documented (https://github.com/WhisperSystems/Signal-Server) Twilio "Programmable Chat" Pros: - Dynamic REST APIs - 3rd Party hosted (don't have any servers to maintain and scale) Cons: - Corporate Service hosting (I know Twilio is better than most) Thoughts? |