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Cybersecurity · head to head

Entrust Identity as a Service vs Soketi

Entrust Identity as a Service logo

Entrust Identity as a Service

Cybersecurity

Workforce and customer authentication from a certificate authority

From
$2/month
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: Entrust Identity as a Service the application integration catalogue is smaller than that of the dedicated identity vendors, so uncommon SaaS applications more often need custom SAML configuration rather than a template.; 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: Entrust Identity as a Service covers Multi-factor authentication, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Entrust Identity as a Service and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Entrust Identity as a Service and Soketi differ
AttributeEntrust Identity as a ServiceSoketi
Starting price$2/monthFree
Pricing modelPer user per monthOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, Android, Windows, LinuxLinux, 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 Entrust Identity as a Service

  • Multi-factor authentication
  • Single sign-on
  • Adaptive authentication
  • Passwordless login
  • Credential lifecycle
  • Derived PIV credentials
  • Directory integration

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.

Entrust Identity as a Service

  • A government agency needing derived mobile credentials from an existing PIV smart card estatenot Soketi
  • A bank that must support hardware tokens for corporate treasury users alongside push authentication for staffnot Soketi
  • An organisation already buying Entrust certificates that wants credential issuance and authentication from one vendornot Soketi
  • A defence supplier required to use certificate-based authentication that mainstream cloud identity products handle poorlynot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Entrust Identity as a Service

  • The application integration catalogue is smaller than that of the dedicated identity vendors, so uncommon SaaS applications more often need custom SAML configuration rather than a template.
  • Developer experience for customer identity use cases is behind the specialists, and teams building consumer signup flows will find the APIs and documentation less complete.
  • Advanced capabilities including adaptive authentication and credential management sit above the published entry price, so the two dollar figure rarely reflects what a regulated buyer actually spends.
  • There are two overlapping products, Identity as a Service and Identity Enterprise, and choosing wrongly at the start means a migration later rather than a licence change.
  • Identity governance, access certification and privileged access are not covered, so an organisation with audit-driven access review requirements needs a second vendor alongside it.

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

Entrust Identity as a Service

$2/month
  • Workforce Standard$2/month
    • Multi-factor authentication
    • Single sign-on
    • Directory integration
  • Higher tiers$undefined/month
    • Adaptive risk-based authentication
    • Certificate and smart card credential management
    • Derived PIV credentials

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Entrust Identity as a Service if

  • You need multi-factor authentication.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Linux.
  • You also want single sign-on.
Entrust Identity as a Service 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 Entrust Identity as a Service or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Entrust Identity as a Service starts at $2/month and Soketi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Entrust Identity as a Service or Soketi?
Soketi has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $2/month for Entrust Identity as a Service and Free for Soketi.
Does Entrust Identity as a Service or Soketi run on more platforms?
Entrust Identity as a Service runs on Web, iOS, Android, Windows, Linux. 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. Entrust Identity as a Service starts at $2/month.
What is Entrust Identity as a Service best used for?
Entrust Identity as a Service is most often used for a government agency needing derived mobile credentials from an existing piv smart card estate, a bank that must support hardware tokens for corporate treasury users alongside push authentication for staff, an organisation already buying entrust certificates that wants credential issuance and authentication from one vendor, a defence supplier required to use certificate-based authentication that mainstream cloud identity products handle poorly. Of those, a government agency needing derived mobile credentials from an existing piv smart card estate and a bank that must support hardware tokens for corporate treasury users alongside push authentication for staff are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Entrust Identity as a Service do that Soketi cannot?
Entrust Identity as a Service covers Multi-factor authentication, Single sign-on, Adaptive authentication, Passwordless login. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Entrust Identity as a Service: Is MFA included or extra?

Multi-factor authentication is included in the workforce bundles rather than sold separately, which is not true of every competitor. Adaptive risk-based authentication sits in higher tiers.

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.

Entrust Identity as a Service: Does it do identity governance?

No. Access certification, role mining and joiner-mover-leaver governance require a separate product such as SailPoint or Saviynt.

Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?

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

Entrust Identity as a Service: Why choose this over Okta or Entra ID?

Almost always because of PKI, smart cards or derived credentials. Without that requirement the mainstream platforms are the stronger general purpose choice.

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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