The Expo EAS Update alternative for bare React Native

EAS Update is the right answer if your app lives inside Expo. If you run bare React Native, already use the CodePush client, or need your bundles and device telemetry on your own infrastructure, Pulsar is the closer fit.

What Expo EAS Update is, and where it fits

EAS Update is Expo’s hosted over-the-air update service. It ships updates through expo-updates, Expo’s own update protocol, and is billed by monthly active user — 1,000 MAU on the Free plan, 3,000 on Starter ($19/mo) and 50,000 on Production ($199/mo), with per-MAU and per-GiB overage above that.

That model works well when you are already paying for the Expo toolchain and your app uses Expo modules end to end. It works less well for a bare React Native app that has been on CodePush for years: you adopt a second update protocol, a second SDK, and a bill that grows with your user count rather than with your release cadence.

Pulsar takes the other route. It speaks the CodePush protocol that the React Native ecosystem has used since 2016, so the on-device client is the mature, battle-tested one your app probably already ships. And on the Pro plan Pulsar can be self-hosted, so the update bundles and the check-in telemetry never have to leave your infrastructure.

When Expo EAS Update is the better choice: Stay on EAS Update if your project is Expo-managed, you use EAS Build and Submit, and MAU-based pricing suits your scale. The integration is tight and well documented, and switching away from it for its own sake is not worth an afternoon.

Pulsar vs Expo EAS Update

Migrating from Expo EAS Update

Moving off EAS Update means changing update client, not rewriting your app. The steps below assume a bare React Native project (or an Expo project that has been prebuilt).

1. Install the Pulsar client

Add the CodePush-lineage client and let autolinking register the native modules on both platforms.

yarn add @novacraft-engineering/pulsar-code-push
cd ios && pod install

2. Point it at your deployment

Create an app in the Pulsar dashboard, copy the deployment key, and set it alongside the server URL.

import codePush from '@novacraft-engineering/pulsar-code-push';

export default codePush({
  deploymentKey: '<pulsar-deployment-key>',
  serverUrl: 'https://api.usepulsar.dev',
  checkFrequency: codePush.CheckFrequency.ON_APP_START,
})(App);

3. Replace `eas update` in CI

Swap the publish step for the Pulsar CLI. Two environment variables are all a CI job needs.

npm i -g @novacraft-engineering/pulsar-cli
pulsar release MyApp Production --platform ios --target 1.4.0 --rollout 25

Frequently asked questions

Compared with the others

• Pulsar vs Microsoft CodePush — the protocol both of them speak.
• Pulsar vs Microsoft App Center
• Pulsar vs RevoPush
• Pulsar vs Stallion
• Pulsar vs hot-updater