Softwr

ERP · head to head

iDempiere vs Soketi

iDempiere logo

iDempiere

ERP

Community-governed open source ERP, CRM and supply chain built on Java, OSGi and PostgreSQL

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: iDempiere there is no vendor, so there is no support contract, no service level agreement and nobody to escalate to; you either build the skills internally or you depend entirely on a local partner whose quality you must judge yourself.; 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: iDempiere covers Application dictionary, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which iDempiere and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where iDempiere and Soketi differ
AttributeiDempiereSoketi
PlatformsWeb, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, WindowsLinux, 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 iDempiere

  • Application dictionary
  • OSGi plug-in architecture
  • Multi-organisation accounting
  • Materials management
  • Manufacturing
  • Workflow engine
  • Report and print engine
  • No paid edition

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.

iDempiere

  • A distributor wants multi-organisation, multi-currency accounting and warehouse costing without a per-user ERP licence that scales with headcount.not Soketi
  • An organisation that has been caught by an open core vendor moving features into a paid tier wants an ERP with no company that can make that decision.not Soketi
  • A team needs heavy customisation of screens, fields and approval workflows that must survive version upgrades, which the application dictionary makes possible without forking.not Soketi
  • A public sector or university body in Latin America or Indonesia needs a locally supportable ERP where the source and the implementation skills are both available in-country.not Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

iDempiere

  • There is no vendor, so there is no support contract, no service level agreement and nobody to escalate to; you either build the skills internally or you depend entirely on a local partner whose quality you must judge yourself.
  • It demands real Java, OSGi and PostgreSQL administration, so the running cost is a systems engineer rather than a subscription, and that engineer is harder to hire than a PHP developer.
  • The ZK-based interface is dense and dated, with a data-entry feel inherited from Compiere that staff used to modern software find hostile, which drives up training cost.
  • Localisation depends on community contribution, so tax, payroll and statutory reporting for your country may be absent, out of date or maintained by one person, and you may end up funding it yourself.
  • The documentation is a community wiki with gaps and stale pages, and much of the practical knowledge sits in forum threads and partner heads rather than in anything you can hand to a new administrator.

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

iDempiere

Free
  • iDempiereFree
    • Full ERP, CRM and supply chain source
    • Unlimited users and organisations
    • No enterprise edition and no feature gating
  • Implementation partner$undefined/year
    • Local partners provide installation, configuration, training and support
    • Priced per engagement, not published
    • Realistically the only viable route for a production deployment

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose iDempiere if

  • You need application dictionary.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, Windows.
  • You also want osgi plug-in architecture.
iDempiere 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 iDempiere or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. iDempiere 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, iDempiere or Soketi?
iDempiere starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does iDempiere or Soketi run on more platforms?
iDempiere runs on Web, Self-hosted, Docker, Linux, Windows. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use iDempiere for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is iDempiere best used for?
iDempiere is most often used for a distributor wants multi-organisation, multi-currency accounting and warehouse costing without a per-user erp licence that scales with headcount., an organisation that has been caught by an open core vendor moving features into a paid tier wants an erp with no company that can make that decision., a team needs heavy customisation of screens, fields and approval workflows that must survive version upgrades, which the application dictionary makes possible without forking., a public sector or university body in latin america or indonesia needs a locally supportable erp where the source and the implementation skills are both available in-country.. Of those, a distributor wants multi-organisation, multi-currency accounting and warehouse costing without a per-user erp licence that scales with headcount. and an organisation that has been caught by an open core vendor moving features into a paid tier wants an erp with no company that can make that decision. are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can iDempiere do that Soketi cannot?
iDempiere covers Application dictionary, OSGi plug-in architecture, Multi-organisation accounting, Materials management. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

iDempiere: Is iDempiere the same as ADempiere or Compiere?

It shares the lineage. iDempiere forked from ADempiere in 2011 to rebuild the platform on OSGi, and it is the branch that remains actively developed.

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.

iDempiere: Is there a paid or enterprise edition?

No. There is no commercial owner and no feature gating. Money is spent on implementation partners and hosting, not on licences.

Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?

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

iDempiere: What does it actually cost to run?

Nothing in licence fees, and a great deal in skills: expect a partner implementation and ongoing Java and PostgreSQL administration, which for a mid-sized company is comparable to a commercial subscription.

Soketi: What does it cost?

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

iDempiere: Which database does it need?

PostgreSQL or Oracle. PostgreSQL is the mainstream community choice and the one most partners deploy.

Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

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