Sendbird Reviews

I implemented Sendbird in a business application for chatting purposes involving business-to-business and customer chatting. It was a public application used by a client from the US.

The Sendbird developer portal provides each step, including methods, making it easy to implement. I used it in a React Native project, and it was not burdensome, as we just used some SDK methods.

When I implemented this SDK, I never noticed the audio and video call in the SDK at that time since it was not there. Now, I have to check the documentation first as I don't have the latest update about the Sendbird. However, I thought that there should be the audio and the video call functionality as well.

I implemented the solution for two years in my last job.

In terms of scalability, I used it in a small application. It's good for small kinds of applications. I don't have any idea about the need for more users and advanced applications. That said, for small applications, it's good.

The support team is really nice because I had one query, and I raised the ticket in support. I got my proper answers. The response time and knowledge are really good.

I tried another SDK at that time, however, Sendbird was good.

The documentation is very easy to understand. Anyone can just follow these guidelines and steps and then implement them in iOS, Android, or cross-platform as well.

Regarding pricing, at that time, I was a junior developer, and pricing handling like premium version and purchase was on the client side. They managed all aspects, so I don't have more idea about the pricing. They did not give every access to us.

If you consider the OpenTalk application or its current name since it has changed, it was also the same library earlier. However, it was difficult to understand. Compared with Sendbird, it's easy for fresher people to understand.

I am a direct developer with cross-platform expertise, so we just have to use simple methods, like sending messages and connecting to create a channel and so on. We don't have to code more since every method gives proper responses, and we can get all the data from that response and display it in our application. It's easy to use. I suggest to other colleagues that if they consider a chat integration, Sendbird is simple and easy to understand. 

Additionally, if a new employee joins the company, it's easy for them to understand the code already implemented.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

We integrated Sendbird last year into our products, primarily for chat facilities in our healthcare application. We provide online services where patients connect with doctors, utilizing video calls for online consultations. For video calls, we initially used Vidyo and now use Avora. For chat, we switched from CometChat to Sendbird last year.

We observed benefits immediately after deploying Sendbird. Our app's APK size was significantly reduced by almost 10 MB compared to CometChat. This was crucial in areas like Pakistan, where devices and internet quality can be low, making it easier to install the product without consuming much space.

Sendbird is reliable and generally crash-free. We utilized its chat features, including images, video, and text messaging.

The most significant issue with Sendbird is the support. The support team did not assist adequately with crashes in the Sendbird segment and release. Moreover, their pricing is very high compared to competitors, which is a concern for us.

We have been using Sendbird for over a year.

Despite two persistent crashes in Crashlytics related to Sendbird, there have been no major stability issues or downtime on their side.

The support service is unhelpful, especially when diagnosing and addressing crash issues. Even though we reached out multiple times, the response was inadequate, and without any video call assistance.

Neutral

Before Sendbird, we used CometChat. We found Sendbird to be much better than CometChat.

Integrating the Sendbird UIKit was challenging due to inadequate documentation. We expected to integrate it much faster. It took about three weeks.

Sendbird's pricing is significantly higher than other competitors and non-negotiable, which makes it quite expensive for organizations.

We previously used CometChat before switching to Sendbird.

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

I created a chat on our page, and I also created a chat for a website portal and a chat in a Chrome extension. 

It was a chat between a borrower and a loan officer on a mortgage application platform. The borrower could ask questions, and the loan officer could respond and request documents, signatures, etc.

Sendbird helped by implementing the chat, which was the main purpose for using it.

The most valuable feature for us, besides chat, was file transfer, as we used it for sending files and images in chats.

I would want to add features like impersonating for chats or adding a user from the admin to help test chats. Impersonating a user or using a template user to send messages for development purposes would be very useful.

I have been working with Sendbird for almost a year.

We did not face any problems with performance.

Sendbird is scalable on their end, but not on the customer's end. However, we did not notice any issues, probably since it is scalable.

As for customers, we have up to 10,000 users.

I don't remember escalating any questions to technical support. Most issues could be reported directly on the documentation page, which could be fixed easily.

Positive

We did not have any other chat solution before Sendbird. We used Sendbird from the start.

The initial setup was straightforward, and the documentation covered 100% of our needs. Everything was clear.

We had 30 developers working on the initial setup and on the solution in general. 

I would most likely recommend Sendbird as it is easy to use and easy to set up.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.