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ERP · head to head

Dolibarr vs Soketi

Dolibarr logo

Dolibarr

ERP

Modular open source ERP and CRM for very small businesses, installable on shared hosting

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: Dolibarr the core is deliberately shallow, so a serious requirement such as advanced manufacturing, EDI or a specific payment gateway usually means buying a DoliStore module from a third-party author, and the quality and maintenance of those modules varies widely.; 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: Dolibarr covers Module toggles, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Dolibarr and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Dolibarr and Soketi differ
AttributeDolibarrSoketi
PlatformsWeb, Self-hosted, Docker, Windows, macOS, Linux, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryERPDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), 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 Dolibarr

  • Module toggles
  • Third-party management
  • Quotes to invoices
  • Stock and warehouses
  • Double-entry accounting
  • Projects and time
  • Point of sale
  • DoliStore

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.

Dolibarr

  • A two-person consultancy wants quotes, invoices and basic accounting self-hosted on an existing five euro a month shared hosting account with no server administration.not Soketi
  • A French or Spanish small business needs VAT handling and accounting exports that match local practice out of the box rather than after configuration.not Soketi
  • An association or nonprofit needs membership, subscription and donation tracking alongside ordinary invoicing without paying per member.not Soketi
  • A small distributor wants stock, purchase orders and sales orders in one system and is willing to buy a DoliStore module rather than commission bespoke development.not Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Dolibarr

  • The core is deliberately shallow, so a serious requirement such as advanced manufacturing, EDI or a specific payment gateway usually means buying a DoliStore module from a third-party author, and the quality and maintenance of those modules varies widely.
  • Accounting was designed around French practice, and the chart of accounts, VAT model and fiscal exports need real work to satisfy accountants in the United States, the UK or Australia.
  • The interface is functional rather than designed and shows its age against Odoo, which makes internal adoption harder when staff are comparing it to consumer-grade software.
  • Upgrades between major versions can break paid third-party modules, because module authors update on their own schedules and there is no guarantee your combination will work on version 24 the day it ships.
  • Support is community forums unless you buy a partner contract, and the documentation is a wiki of uneven quality with substantial parts written in French, so English-only teams hit dead ends.

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

Dolibarr

Free
  • Self-hostedFree
    • Full GPL source, all core modules
    • Unlimited users
    • You provide PHP and MySQL hosting
  • Partner cloud hosting$14/month
    • Managed hosting from DoliCloud or a certified partner
    • Backups, updates and support included
    • Typically 10 to 30 euros per user per month

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Dolibarr if

  • You need module toggles.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android.
  • You also want third-party management.
Dolibarr 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 Dolibarr or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Dolibarr 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, Dolibarr or Soketi?
Dolibarr starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Dolibarr or Soketi run on more platforms?
Dolibarr runs on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Dolibarr for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Dolibarr best used for?
Dolibarr is most often used for a two-person consultancy wants quotes, invoices and basic accounting self-hosted on an existing five euro a month shared hosting account with no server administration., a french or spanish small business needs vat handling and accounting exports that match local practice out of the box rather than after configuration., an association or nonprofit needs membership, subscription and donation tracking alongside ordinary invoicing without paying per member., a small distributor wants stock, purchase orders and sales orders in one system and is willing to buy a dolistore module rather than commission bespoke development.. Of those, a two-person consultancy wants quotes, invoices and basic accounting self-hosted on an existing five euro a month shared hosting account with no server administration. and a french or spanish small business needs vat handling and accounting exports that match local practice out of the box rather than after configuration. are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Dolibarr do that Soketi cannot?
Dolibarr covers Module toggles, Third-party management, Quotes to invoices, Stock and warehouses. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Dolibarr: Is Dolibarr genuinely free?

Yes. The full application is GPL with no user limit and no paid edition of the core. You pay only for hosting, optional DoliStore modules and optional partner support.

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.

Dolibarr: Can it run on shared hosting?

Yes, that is its main practical advantage. It needs only PHP and MySQL or MariaDB, so an ordinary cPanel account is enough.

Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?

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

Dolibarr: How does it compare to Odoo?

Odoo is deeper and better presented but its useful modules are in the paid Enterprise edition and it needs a proper deployment. Dolibarr is thinner but free end to end and far easier to host.

Soketi: What does it cost?

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

Dolibarr: Does it handle UK or US accounting?

Not comfortably out of the box. The accounting module reflects French conventions and needs configuration and often a local module to satisfy an accountant elsewhere.

Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

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