Cloud · head to head
HAProxy vs Soketi
Soketi
Developer Tools
Self-hosted, Pusher-compatible WebSockets server with a stalled maintenance record
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: HAProxy configuration syntax is dense and unforgiving, with a steep initial learning curve; 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: HAProxy covers High throughput, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which HAProxy and Soketi actually diverge.
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 HAProxy
- High throughput
- Layer 4 and 7
- Health checking
- Rate limiting and ACLs
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.
HAProxy
- Load balancing at traffic levels where proxy efficiency shows up in the hardware billnot Soketi
- Precise traffic control — rate limits, sticky sessions, complex routing rulesnot Soketi
- TCP load balancing for databases and non-HTTP servicesnot Soketi
Soketi
- A Laravel application that already uses Echo and wants to stop paying a hosted realtime providernot HAProxy
- Realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasonsnot HAProxy
- A local or CI environment that needs a Pusher-compatible server without hitting a paid accountnot HAProxy
- A high-connection-count application where hosted per-connection pricing has become the largest line in the infrastructure billnot HAProxy
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
HAProxy
- Configuration syntax is dense and unforgiving, with a steep initial learning curve
- No automatic certificate management, unlike newer servers that treat it as default behaviour
- The built-in stats page is basic, so real observability needs exporters and dashboards
- A dedicated load balancer is more machinery than small deployments need
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
HAProxy
Free- HAProxyFree
- Full functionality
- No usage limits
- Community support
Soketi
Free- SoketiFree
- MIT licensed
- Unlimited connections subject to your own hardware
- No vendor billing
Which should you pick?
Choose HAProxy if
- You need high throughput.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
- You also want layer 4 and 7.
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.
Questions people ask
- Is HAProxy or Soketi better?
- Neither clearly leads. HAProxy 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, HAProxy or Soketi?
- HAProxy starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
- Does HAProxy or Soketi run on more platforms?
- HAProxy runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
- Can I use HAProxy for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is HAProxy best used for?
- HAProxy is most often used for load balancing at traffic levels where proxy efficiency shows up in the hardware bill, precise traffic control — rate limits, sticky sessions, complex routing rules, tcp load balancing for databases and non-http services. Of those, load balancing at traffic levels where proxy efficiency shows up in the hardware bill and precise traffic control — rate limits, sticky sessions, complex routing rules are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
- What can HAProxy do that Soketi cannot?
- HAProxy covers High throughput, Layer 4 and 7, Health checking, Rate limiting and ACLs. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
HAProxy: Is HAProxy free?
Yes, the community version is open source. HAProxy Technologies sells HAProxy Enterprise separately.
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.
HAProxy: HAProxy or Nginx?
HAProxy is a specialist load balancer with deeper balancing and health-check features. Nginx also serves static content and is more approachable, which is why it is more common as a general web server.
Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?
No. Pusher client SDKs and Laravel Echo work by changing the host, port and credentials.
HAProxy: Does HAProxy handle TLS certificates automatically?
No. Certificate issuance and renewal are external, unlike Caddy where it is automatic.
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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- Soketi vs Dagger
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