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Technology · head to head

Confluent Cloud vs Soketi

Confluent Cloud logo

Confluent Cloud

Technology

The data streaming platform built on Apache Kafka, delivered as a fully managed cloud service

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: Confluent Cloud requires understanding of eCKU (Elastic Confluent Unit) billing; 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 Confluent Cloud and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Confluent Cloud and Soketi differ
AttributeConfluent CloudSoketi
Pricing modelusage-basedOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWebLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryTechnologyDeveloper Tools

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 Confluent Cloud

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.

Confluent Cloud

  • Apache Kafka event streaming and processingnot Soketi
  • Real-time data pipeline architecturenot Soketi
  • Multi-cloud event broker deploymentnot Soketi
  • Stream processing and analyticsnot Soketi
  • Microservices data synchronizationnot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Confluent Cloud

  • Requires understanding of eCKU (Elastic Confluent Unit) billing
  • Data in/egress costs add $0.014-$0.050 per GB
  • Storage costs of $0.03-$0.08 per GB-month
  • Minimum commitment recommended for cost optimization

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

Confluent Cloud

Free
  • BasicFree
    • Free first eCKU
    • Then $0.14 per eCKU-hour
    • 99.5% uptime
  • Standard$385/month
    • $0.75 per eCKU-hour
    • 99.99% uptime with 2+ eCKUs
    • Infinite storage
  • Enterprise$895/month
    • $1.75-$2.25 per eCKU-hour
    • Private networking
    • GBps+ scaling
  • Freight$2300/month
    • $2.25 per eCKU-hour
    • Specialty logging tier
    • Highest throughput requirements

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Confluent Cloud if

  • You want to start without paying.
Confluent Cloud 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 Confluent Cloud or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Confluent Cloud 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, Confluent Cloud or Soketi?
Confluent Cloud starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Confluent Cloud or Soketi run on more platforms?
Confluent Cloud runs on Web. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Confluent Cloud for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Confluent Cloud best used for?
Confluent Cloud is most often used for apache kafka event streaming and processing, real-time data pipeline architecture, multi-cloud event broker deployment, stream processing and analytics. Of those, apache kafka event streaming and processing and real-time data pipeline architecture are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Confluent Cloud do that Soketi cannot?
Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Confluent Cloud: How much does Confluent Cloud cost?

Confluent Cloud pricing starts free on Basic tier with $0.14 per eCKU-hour, Standard at $0.75 per eCKU-hour (~$385/month base), Enterprise at $1.75-$2.25 per eCKU-hour (~$895/month base), and Freight specialty tier at $2.25 per eCKU-hour (~$2300/month).

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.

Confluent Cloud: Is there a free tier for Confluent Cloud?

Yes, the Basic tier is free with one eCKU credit included. Additional usage is billed at $0.14 per eCKU-hour, plus data transfer and storage fees apply.

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.

Confluent Cloud: What additional fees does Confluent Cloud charge?

Beyond eCKU hours, Confluent charges data in/egress at $0.014-$0.050 per GB and storage at $0.03-$0.08 per GB-month. Costs vary by tier and region.

Source
Soketi: What does it cost?

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

Confluent Cloud: Does Confluent offer discounts for higher usage?

Yes, volume discounts are negotiated upfront based on annual consumption estimates. Annual commitments allow flexible cross-product allocation with guaranteed cost savings.

Source
Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

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