Web Development · head to head
Carrd vs Soketi
Soketi
Developer Tools
Self-hosted, Pusher-compatible WebSockets server with a stalled maintenance record
- From
- Free
- Free plan
- Yes
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Carrd free tier strictly limited to 3 sites; any additional sites require upgrading to Pro; 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.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Carrd and Soketi actually diverge.
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 Carrd
Nothing recorded that Soketi does not also cover.
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.
Carrd
- Indie makers and solopreneurs building personal portfolios or landing pagesnot Soketi
- Small business owners requiring minimal online presence at low costnot Soketi
- Link-in-bio alternatives for social media profiles and contact pagesnot Soketi
- Email capture pages for newsletters or lead magnetsnot Soketi
- Cost-conscious teams requiring a cheap website alternative to Webflow or Squarespacenot Soketi
Soketi
- A Laravel application that already uses Echo and wants to stop paying a hosted realtime providernot Carrd
- Realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasonsnot Carrd
- A local or CI environment that needs a Pusher-compatible server without hitting a paid accountnot Carrd
- A high-connection-count application where hosted per-connection pricing has become the largest line in the infrastructure billnot Carrd
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Carrd
- Free tier strictly limited to 3 sites; any additional sites require upgrading to Pro
- Pro plan includes Carrd branding removal but still lacks advanced features (e-commerce, multi-step funnels, complex forms)
- Single-page design only; does not support multi-page websites or complex site structures
- Limited template library compared to competitors like Leadpages or Unbounce
- Annual payment required for Pro tier; no monthly payment option
- No native A/B testing, analytics dashboard or conversion optimisation tools built-in
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
Carrd
Free- FreeFree
- 3 sites
- Responsive design
- Templates and blank pages
- Pro$19/year
- Unlimited sites
- Custom domain with SSL
- Contact forms
Soketi
Free- SoketiFree
- MIT licensed
- Unlimited connections subject to your own hardware
- No vendor billing
Which should you pick?
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.
Questions people ask
- Is Carrd or Soketi better?
- Neither clearly leads. Carrd 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, Carrd or Soketi?
- Carrd starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
- Does Carrd or Soketi run on more platforms?
- Carrd runs on Web, Mobile. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
- Can I use Carrd for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Carrd best used for?
- Carrd is most often used for indie makers and solopreneurs building personal portfolios or landing pages, small business owners requiring minimal online presence at low cost, link-in-bio alternatives for social media profiles and contact pages, email capture pages for newsletters or lead magnets. Of those, indie makers and solopreneurs building personal portfolios or landing pages and small business owners requiring minimal online presence at low cost are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
- What can Carrd do that Soketi cannot?
- Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Carrd: How much does Carrd cost?
Carrd is free for up to 3 sites. The Pro plan costs $19/year and enables unlimited sites with custom domains, forms and integrations.
SourceSoketi: 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.
Carrd: Can I use Carrd for e-commerce?
Carrd's Pro plan supports payment forms with Stripe integration, but it is not a full e-commerce platform. Single-product sales or payment collection is possible, but inventory management and complex product catalogs are not supported.
SourceSoketi: Do I need to change my client code?
No. Pusher client SDKs and Laravel Echo work by changing the host, port and credentials.
Carrd: Can I create multi-page websites with Carrd?
No. Carrd is designed for single-page sites only. For multi-page websites, you would need to use a full website builder like Webflow or Squarespace.
SourceSoketi: What does it cost?
Nothing in licence fees. It is MIT licensed; you pay for the server it runs on.
Soketi: What are people moving to?
Laravel Reverb for Laravel applications, and Sockudo, a Rust reimplementation, for others.
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