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Cybersecurity · head to head

Dahua Technology vs Soketi

Dahua Technology logo

Dahua Technology

Cybersecurity

Large Chinese video platform that US federal buyers and federal contractors cannot lawfully use

From
On request
Free plan
No
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

  • Only Soketi has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Dahua Technology dahua is named under NDAA Section 889 and listed on the FCC Covered List, so the US federal government cannot procure its video surveillance equipment and cannot contract with entities that use it, which disqualifies most organisations with any federal contracting ambition regardless of how good the software is.; 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: Dahua Technology covers DSS Pro V8, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dahua Technology and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Dahua Technology and Soketi differ
AttributeDahua TechnologySoketi
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindows, Linux, Web, iOS, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: 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 Dahua Technology

  • DSS Pro V8
  • Distributed architecture
  • DeepXplore
  • Access management
  • Parking Lot application
  • Intelligent Analysis
  • Maintenance Center
  • DMSS mobile app

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.

Dahua Technology

  • A private industrial site outside the United States with no federal or defence supply chain exposurenot Soketi
  • A large-channel-count deployment in a market where Section 889 and the FCC Covered List do not applynot Soketi
  • An existing Dahua estate authorised before February 2023 being maintained rather than expandednot Soketi
  • A buyer who has taken written legal advice confirming no federal contracting exposure now or in futurenot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Dahua Technology

  • Dahua is named under NDAA Section 889 and listed on the FCC Covered List, so the US federal government cannot procure its video surveillance equipment and cannot contract with entities that use it, which disqualifies most organisations with any federal contracting ambition regardless of how good the software is.
  • Rules adopted by the FCC in late 2025 gave the Commission authority to revoke equipment authorisations already granted, so equipment that is legal to sell today may not be tomorrow and a multi-year rollout carries regulatory risk the vendor cannot indemnify.
  • Sourcing has degraded sharply: new equipment, replacement parts and system expansions are increasingly difficult to obtain through compliant US distribution and major retailers have removed listings, so an installed estate faces a spares problem long before end of life.
  • Any organisation that later wins or bids for federal work, or supplies a federal contractor, must audit and replace Dahua equipment across all its facilities under Section 889(a)(1)(B), turning a cheap installation into an expensive forced rip-out.
  • Beyond procurement law, insurers, auditors and enterprise customers increasingly treat Chinese-manufactured surveillance as a supply chain finding in its own right, so the reputational cost lands even where the legal prohibition does not.

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

Dahua Technology

On request
  • DSS Pro V8$undefined/year
    • Base video licence covering 16 channels, required before adding more
    • Additional video channel licences purchased per channel
    • Access control, video intercom and parking licensed separately

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Dahua Technology if

  • You need dss pro v8.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want distributed architecture.
Dahua Technology 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 Dahua Technology or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Dahua Technology starts at On request and Soketi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Dahua Technology or Soketi?
Soketi has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Dahua Technology and Free for Soketi.
Does Dahua Technology or Soketi run on more platforms?
Dahua Technology runs on Windows, Linux, Web, iOS, Android. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Soketi for free?
Yes. Soketi has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Dahua Technology starts at On request.
What is Dahua Technology best used for?
Dahua Technology is most often used for a private industrial site outside the united states with no federal or defence supply chain exposure, a large-channel-count deployment in a market where section 889 and the fcc covered list do not apply, an existing dahua estate authorised before february 2023 being maintained rather than expanded, a buyer who has taken written legal advice confirming no federal contracting exposure now or in future. Of those, a private industrial site outside the united states with no federal or defence supply chain exposure and a large-channel-count deployment in a market where section 889 and the fcc covered list do not apply are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Dahua Technology do that Soketi cannot?
Dahua Technology covers DSS Pro V8, Distributed architecture, DeepXplore, Access management. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dahua Technology: Can a US federal agency buy Dahua?

No. Dahua is explicitly named under NDAA Section 889, so federal agencies cannot procure or obtain its video surveillance equipment, including OEM-rebadged versions.

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.

Dahua Technology: Can a private US company use Dahua cameras?

Section 889 does not directly regulate private companies without federal contracts, and existing installations are not required to be removed. But the moment the company bids for federal work or supplies a federal contractor, Section 889(a)(1)(B) makes the installed equipment a problem.

Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?

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

Dahua Technology: Is existing Dahua equipment banned?

No. The prohibition on new authorisations does not apply retroactively to equipment authorised before February 2023, and legacy systems may remain in use. New purchases and expansions are the restricted part.

Soketi: What does it cost?

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

Dahua Technology: Is Dahua available outside the United States?

Yes, and it remains one of the two largest manufacturers globally, though a number of other countries have introduced their own restrictions on government use.

Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

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