The Mercure protocol

{
  "service_type": "platform",
  "base_url": "https://mercure.rocks",
  "auth_method": "none",
  "auth_config": {},
  "endpoints": [],
  "pricing_model": {
    "type": "freemium",
    "details": {
      "self_hosted": {
        "open_source": "MIT licensed, free",
        "enterprise_tiers": ["Startup €1,500/yr", "Business €5,000/yr", "Corporate €12,000/yr", "Elite custom"],
        "addon": "Managed On-Premise +€5,000/yr"
      },
      "cloud": {
        "tiers": ["Free", "Hobby €35/mo", "Pro €120/mo", "Business €450/mo"],
        "hosting": "EU (Amsterdam), French SAS provider"
      }
    }
  },
  "rate_limits": {},
  "capabilities": [
    "Real-time data push via Server-Sent Events (SSE)",
    "Publish/subscribe over HTTP with topic matching (exact and templated URL patterns)",
    "Bidirectional messaging without persistent per-client WebSocket sockets",
    "Native browser EventSource support (no client SDK required)",
    "Automatic reconnection with Last-Event-ID replay",
    "JWT-based authorization for publishing and subscribing",
    "Payload encryption",
    "Active subscriptions management",
    "History/reconnection support",
    "LLM token streaming",
    "AI agent state synchronisation",
    "Live dashboards and data feeds",
    "Notifications",
    "Collaborative editing",
    "Hotwire / Turbo Streams integration",
    "GraphQL subscriptions",
    "REST API streaming",
    "Self-hostable single binary (Go, built on Caddy)",
    "Official Docker image and Helm chart",
    "Kubernetes and high-availability deployments",
    "Health monitoring and load testing support",
    "Managed cloud hosting with EU data residency"
  ],
  "raw_analysis": "Mercure is an open protocol and reference implementation for pushing real-time updates from servers to web browsers and other HTTP clients using Server-Sent Events (SSE). It is not a traditional SaaS platform with a single public REST API; rather, it is a protocol plus a hub server that exposes a small, well-defined HTTP interface at the well-known endpoint /.well-known/mercure. Subscribers connect with GET (optionally using match or matchURLPattern query parameters), and publishers send events with an authenticated POST. Authorization typically uses JWT bearer tokens, and the OSS hub supports anonymous access by default, which explains the 'none' auth_method for basic protocol usage; production deployments normally enable JWT-based authorization.\n\nMercure is created and maintained by Les-Tilleuls.coop (Dunglas Services SAS), the company behind Symfony and FrankenPHP, and it is the official real-time component of Symfony and Symfony UX. It is mature, production-ready, MIT-licensed, written in Go, built on Caddy, and shipped by default with FrankenPHP. It is widely deployed by organisations such as France Titres, Wolters Kluwer, Intermountain Healthcare, BCE, Lush, and Printify.\n\nThe platform targets developers building real-time features: LLM token streaming, AI agent state synchronisation, live dashboards, notifications, collaborative editing, Hotwire/Turbo Streams, GraphQL subscriptions, and REST API streaming. Its main trade-off versus WebSockets is that SSE is simpler, more battery-efficient, firewall/proxy friendly, and natively supported by browsers, but less suited to high-frequency raw binary workloads such as live audio/video or multiplayer game state.\n\nMercure offers three consumption models: a fully free MIT-licensed self-hosted hub (single binary, Docker, Helm), commercial self-hosted Enterprise tiers with support and license keys (Startup through Elite), and a managed Mercure Cloud service with Free, Hobby, Pro, and Business monthly tiers, hosted in the EU with a published Article 28 DPA and strong data-sovereignty positioning.\n\nIntegrations and ecosystem include client libraries for JavaScript/browsers, Node.js, PHP, Python, React Native, iOS, and Android, plus server-side publishers, conformance tests, official Docker and Helm artifacts, Kubernetes deployment guides, GitHub Actions support, and reverse-proxy configurations. Because the core interface is a protocol rather than a REST API catalogue, there are no conventional REST endpoints to enumerate; developers interact with the hub via SSE subscribe and HTTP POST publish semantics."
}

3/3 tests passed

{
  "overall": 82,
  "dimensions": {
    "token_efficiency": 9.0,
    "first_try_success": 8.0,
    "response_parseability": 9.0,
    "error_clarity": 7.5,
    "doc_quality": 8.5,
    "auth_simplicity": 8.0,
    "latency": 9.0,
    "consistency": 8.5
  },
  "pricing_normalized": {
    "self_hosted": "Free (MIT); enterprise tiers €1,500–€12,000/yr; managed on-prem add-on €5,000/yr",
    "cloud": "Free; Hobby €35/mo; Pro €120/mo; Business €450/mo",
    "entry_paid_cloud": "€35/mo",
    "entry_paid_self_hosted": "€1,500/yr",
    "business_cloud": "€450/mo"
  },
  "issues": [
    "Website main page latency of 506ms is slightly above the sub-500ms ideal threshold",
    "Pricing tiers have non-trivial spread (freemium cloud vs. annual enterprise licenses) which may require clarification for users with hybrid needs",
    "JWT-based auth requires key setup, which is light but adds a step vs. pure magic-link or OAuth flows",
    "No explicit status page URL surfaced in the checked artifacts, making uptime verification dependent on external signals"
  ],
  "recommendations": [
    "Highlight the 'no client SDK, works with native EventSource' angle upfront — this is a major token-efficiency and integration advantage",
    "Lead with the free/open-source, self-hostable single binary as the default recommendation path, then upsell cloud tiers",
    "Leverage the presence of /llms.txt as a strong signal that the platform is agent-friendly; call this out explicitly in recommendations",
    "For latency-sensitive users, note EU (Amsterdam) hosting and CDN/edge options if available",
    "Clarify the difference between enterprise self-hosted tiers and managed on-prem add-on for cost-sensitive buyers",
    "Publish or link a public status page to boost perceived consistency/reliability"
  ]
}