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APIs · head to head

Kong vs Soketi

Kong logo

Kong

APIs

Cloud-native API gateway and service connectivity platform

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: Kong the Plus plan includes 1M API requests a month and charges $200 a month for each additional million; 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: Kong covers API Gateway, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Kong and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Kong and Soketi differ
AttributeKongSoketi
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, Docker, KubernetesLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryAPIsDeveloper Tools
Founded2010Unknown

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 Kong

  • API Gateway
  • Authentication & Authorization
  • Rate Limiting
  • Kubernetes
  • Consul
  • Eureka
  • PostgreSQL
  • Linux support

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.

Kong

  • API gateway management and routingnot Soketi
  • API development and testingnot Soketi
  • Enterprise API security and governancenot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Kong

  • The Plus plan includes 1M API requests a month and charges $200 a month for each additional million
  • Plus is capped at 10M requests a month, so growth past that forces an Enterprise contract
  • Plus limits published APIs to 20 and includes one Developer Portal, with a second at $200 a month
  • SSO and audit logging are Enterprise only
  • Enterprise pricing is custom and billed annually

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

Kong

Free
  • Kong Konnect Free TrialFree
    • 30-day free trial
    • Full enterprise functionality
    • Unlimited gateways
  • Kong Konnect Plus$null/month
    • Per gateway pricing billed monthly
    • Up to 5 Serverless Gateways, 2 Hybrid, 2 Dedicated Cloud Gateways
    • 1M API requests included per month
  • Kong Insomnia EssentialsFree
    • Unlimited projects and CLI access
    • Up to 3 Git Sync users
    • 1,000 mock server requests per month
  • Kong Insomnia Pro$12/month
    • Unlimited users with Git Sync access
    • Unlimited organizations
    • RBAC

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Kong if

  • You need api gateway.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want authentication & authorization.
Kong 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 Kong or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Kong 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, Kong or Soketi?
Kong starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Kong or Soketi run on more platforms?
Kong runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Kong for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Kong best used for?
Kong is most often used for api gateway management and routing, api development and testing, enterprise api security and governance. Of those, api gateway management and routing and api development and testing are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Kong do that Soketi cannot?
Kong covers API Gateway, Authentication & Authorization, Rate Limiting, Kubernetes. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Kong: Does Kong offer a free trial?

Yes, Kong Konnect offers a 30-day free trial with full enterprise functionality, unlimited gateways, and no credit card required.

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.

Kong: How much does Kong Insomnia Pro cost?

Kong Insomnia Pro is $12 per user per month with 15% savings available for annual billing.

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.

Kong: What are Kong Konnect Plus API request limits?

Kong Konnect Plus includes 1M API requests per month; additional requests cost $200 per 1M (maximum 10M per month).

Source
Soketi: What does it cost?

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

Kong: What is included in Kong Insomnia Enterprise?

Kong Insomnia Enterprise is $45 per user per month with SSO, SCIM, vault integrations, unlimited mock server requests, and Konnect integration.

Source
Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

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