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Technology · head to head

Heap vs Soketi

Heap logo

Heap

Technology

Product analytics for the modern product team

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
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

  • Each has a real cost: Heap no built-in A/B testing or feature flags; requires integration with separate tools for experimentation; 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: Heap covers Autocapture, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Heap and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Heap and Soketi differ
AttributeHeapSoketi
Pricing modelUnknownOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryTechnologyDeveloper Tools
Founded2013Unknown

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 Heap

  • Autocapture
  • Retroactive analytics
  • Session replay
  • Funnel analysis
  • User segmentation
  • Path analysis
  • Data science
  • Virtual events

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.

Heap

  • User behavior analysisnot Soketi
  • Conversion optimizationnot Soketi
  • Product adoptionnot Soketi
  • Customer journey mappingnot Soketi
  • A/B testing analysisnot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Heap

  • No built-in A/B testing or feature flags; requires integration with separate tools for experimentation
  • Group analytics and advanced features require a sales conversation, not self-serve
  • Cloud-only deployment; no self-hosted option for data security or compliance requirements
  • Session replay lacks developer debugging tools compared to PostHog
  • Pricing for Growth and Pro plans requires direct sales contact; no transparency on how pricing scales

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

Heap

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to 10,000 monthly sessions
    • Basic charts
    • 6 months data history
  • Growth$undefined/custom
    • Custom session pricing
    • Sense AI assistant
    • 12 months data history
  • Pro$undefined/custom
    • Custom session pricing
    • Account analytics
    • Engagement matrix
  • Premier$undefined/custom
    • Custom session pricing
    • Data warehouse integration
    • Unlimited projects

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Heap if

  • You need autocapture.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want retroactive analytics.
Heap 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 Heap or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Heap 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, Heap or Soketi?
Heap starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Heap or Soketi run on more platforms?
Heap runs on Web, iOS, Android. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Heap for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Heap best used for?
Heap is most often used for user behavior analysis, conversion optimization, product adoption, customer journey mapping. Of those, user behavior analysis and conversion optimization are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Heap do that Soketi cannot?
Heap covers Autocapture, Retroactive analytics, Session replay, Funnel analysis. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Heap: What does Heap's autocapture feature do?

Heap's autocapture is a single code snippet that automatically captures every click, swipe, tap, pageview, and form fill on your website and apps without requiring manual event setup. Once installed, Heap captures the entire digital experience of every user on every platform with no ongoing engineering maintenance needed.

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.

Heap: What are Heap's pricing plans and how much do they cost?

Heap offers a Free plan for up to 10,000 monthly sessions. Growth, Pro, and Premier plans use custom session-based pricing that requires contacting sales for a quote. Free includes basic charts and 6 months data history. Growth adds the Sense AI assistant. Pro adds account analytics. Premier adds data warehouse integration and dedicated customer success management.

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.

Heap: Does Heap include session replay and A/B testing?

Heap includes integrated session replay showing exactly what users did on your site. However, Heap does not include built-in A/B testing or feature flags. Teams requiring these capabilities must use separate tools or integrate with third-party platforms.

Source
Soketi: What does it cost?

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

Heap: What integrations does Heap support?

Heap supports over 100 integrations connecting to business tools including marketing platforms, CRMs, and data warehouses. This allows insights to reach relevant teams and ensures data flows to other business systems automatically.

Source
Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

Heap: Does Heap offer self-hosting or is it cloud-only?

Heap is cloud-only and does not offer self-hosted options. Organizations requiring on-premises deployment should consider alternatives like PostHog which supports self-hosting alongside its cloud product.

Source
Heap: What is Sense and how does it help with analytics?

Sense Chat is Heap's AI assistant that enables users to access analytics without extensive technical knowledge. It allows teams to ask questions about user behavior and get answers directly without lengthy onboarding or technical expertise, making insights more accessible to non-technical stakeholders.

Source
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