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Cloud · head to head

Crossplane vs Soketi

Crossplane logo

Crossplane

Cloud

The Cloud-Native Framework for Platform Engineering

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Soketi logo

Soketi

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Crossplane requires Kubernetes expertise and infrastructure; 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: Crossplane covers Kubernetes extension, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Crossplane and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Crossplane and Soketi differ
AttributeCrossplaneSoketi
Pricing modelUnknownOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsKubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCPLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryCloudDeveloper 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 Crossplane

  • Kubernetes extension
  • Custom API building
  • Resource management anywhere
  • Declarative interfaces
  • Component library
  • Provider ecosystem

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.

Crossplane

  • Building platform-as-a-service offerings for internal teamsnot Soketi
  • Creating unified control layers for multi-cloud infrastructurenot Soketi
  • Designing declarative APIs for infrastructure provisioningnot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Crossplane

  • Requires Kubernetes expertise and infrastructure
  • Steep learning curve for teams new to Kubernetes patterns
  • Provider ecosystem smaller than Terraform

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

Crossplane

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Crossplane review.

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Crossplane if

  • You need kubernetes extension.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCP.
  • You also want custom api building.
Crossplane 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 Crossplane or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Crossplane 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, Crossplane or Soketi?
Crossplane starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Crossplane or Soketi run on more platforms?
Crossplane runs on Kubernetes, AWS, Azure, GCP. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Crossplane for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Crossplane best used for?
Crossplane is most often used for building platform-as-a-service offerings for internal teams, creating unified control layers for multi-cloud infrastructure, designing declarative apis for infrastructure provisioning. Of those, building platform-as-a-service offerings for internal teams and creating unified control layers for multi-cloud infrastructure are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Crossplane do that Soketi cannot?
Crossplane covers Kubernetes extension, Custom API building, Resource management anywhere, Declarative interfaces. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Crossplane: Is Crossplane free?

Yes, Crossplane is open source and free to use. It requires a Kubernetes cluster but has no licensing costs.

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.

Crossplane: What is Crossplane used for?

Crossplane is used to build control planes and platforms for infrastructure management, enabling platform teams to expose safe APIs to other teams.

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.

Soketi: 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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