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Technology · head to head

Canny vs Soketi

Canny logo

Canny

Technology

Capture, organize, and analyze product feedback

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Soketi logo

Soketi

Developer Tools

Self-hosted, Pusher-compatible WebSockets server with a stalled maintenance record

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Canny tracked user pricing model causes costs to balloon as product grows and engagement increases, creating perverse incentive where more successful feedback gathering means higher costs; Soketi maintenance has effectively stalled: the maintainer has said time is severely limited, releases are infrequent, and the community has been discussing whether the project is abandoned, which means security fixes may not arrive.
  • They diverge on capability: Canny covers Feedback boards, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Canny and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Canny and Soketi differ
AttributeCannySoketi
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, Claude AI (MCP)Linux, macOS, Windows
CategoryTechnologyDeveloper Tools
Founded2015Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Canny

  • Feedback boards
  • Voting system
  • Roadmap planning
  • Changelog
  • User segmentation
  • Status updates
  • Admin moderation
  • Analytics

Only in Soketi

  • Pusher protocol compatibility
  • Presence and private channels
  • Horizontal scaling
  • App management backends
  • Webhooks
  • Prometheus metrics

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Canny

  • Feature request managementnot Soketi
  • Product roadmappingnot Soketi
  • Customer feedback collectionnot Soketi
  • Changelog communicationnot Soketi
  • User engagementnot Soketi

Soketi

  • A Laravel application that already uses Echo and wants to stop paying a hosted realtime providernot Canny
  • Realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasonsnot Canny
  • A local or CI environment that needs a Pusher-compatible server without hitting a paid accountnot Canny
  • A high-connection-count application where hosted per-connection pricing has become the largest line in the infrastructure billnot Canny

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Canny

  • Tracked user pricing model causes costs to balloon as product grows and engagement increases, creating perverse incentive where more successful feedback gathering means higher costs
  • Limited integrations on Core plan; must upgrade to Pro to connect with Jira and Linear
  • Lacks built-in analytics for identifying themes and patterns across hundreds of feedback requests without manual tagging
  • Customizations limited for public-facing interfaces regarding branding and information presentation
  • Autopilot AI cannot be linked to product knowledge bases to better understand products and improve function
  • Slow response times reported by users, affecting feedback management efficiency
  • Limited custom user fields and manual data updates require API access

Soketi

  • Maintenance has effectively stalled: the maintainer has said time is severely limited, releases are infrequent, and the community has been discussing whether the project is abandoned, which means security fixes may not arrive.
  • Dependency drift on Node and uWebSockets.js will eventually force you to fork or migrate, and that cost is unbudgeted at the point you adopt it.
  • There is no commercial support to buy, so a production incident at three in the morning is entirely your problem with no escalation path.
  • Scaling beyond a single node needs Redis and careful configuration, and getting presence channels correct across nodes is a genuine source of subtle bugs.
  • It implements the Pusher protocol rather than tracking it, so any protocol feature Pusher adds later will not appear, and the compatibility guarantee slowly decays.

Pricing, plan by plan

Canny

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 100 tracked users
    • Unlimited feedback
    • 1 board
  • Starter$400/month
    • 1,000 tracked users
    • Unlimited boards
    • Private boards
  • Growth$900/month
    • 5,000 tracked users
    • API access
    • SSO
  • Business$undefined/month
    • Unlimited tracked users
    • White label
    • SLA

Soketi

Free
  • SoketiFree
    • MIT licensed
    • Unlimited connections subject to your own hardware
    • No vendor billing

Which should you pick?

Choose Canny if

  • You need feedback boards.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Claude AI (MCP).
  • You also want voting system.
Canny review

Choose Soketi if

  • You need pusher protocol compatibility.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want presence and private channels.
Soketi review

Questions people ask

Is Canny or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Canny starts at Free and Soketi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Canny or Soketi?
Canny starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Canny or Soketi run on more platforms?
Canny runs on Web, Claude AI (MCP). Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Canny for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Canny best used for?
Canny is most often used for feature request management, product roadmapping, customer feedback collection, changelog communication. Of those, feature request management and product roadmapping are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Canny do that Soketi cannot?
Canny covers Feedback boards, Voting system, Roadmap planning, Changelog. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Canny: Does Canny offer a free plan?

Yes. Canny offers a free plan that allows collecting up to 100 feedback ideas. Free users get basic features without roadmap, changelog, or integrations.

Source
Soketi: Is Soketi still maintained?

Barely. The maintainer has stated that available time is very limited and releases have been sparse; treat it as community-maintained.

Canny: How is Canny priced?

Canny pricing scales based on tracked users. Core starts at $19/month (100 users, annual), Pro starts at $79/month (100 users, annual). Prices increase as tracked users grow.

Source
Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?

No. Pusher client SDKs and Laravel Echo work by changing the host, port and credentials.

Canny: What is a tracked user in Canny?

A tracked user is anyone who posts, votes, or comments on your Canny board or embedded widget. Each unique end user counts once and the count accumulates.

Source
Soketi: What does it cost?

Nothing in licence fees. It is MIT licensed; you pay for the server it runs on.

Canny: What is Canny Autopilot?

Canny Autopilot is an AI feature that automatically captures feature requests from communication tools like Gong, Intercom, Slack, and Zendesk. It prioritizes requests by revenue impact.

Source
Soketi: What are people moving to?

Laravel Reverb for Laravel applications, and Sockudo, a Rust reimplementation, for others.

Canny: Does Canny have a public roadmap feature?

Yes. Canny provides a public roadmap where customers can see what is planned, building, and shipped. Customers can vote on features and watch their feedback progress.

Source
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