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Cybersecurity · head to head

Microsoft Intune vs Soketi

Microsoft Intune logo

Microsoft Intune

Cybersecurity

Manage and protect cloud-connected endpoints across device platforms, apps and operating systems

From
$8/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: Microsoft Intune individual add-ons at $2-5/user/month can become expensive when deploying multiple modules; 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.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Microsoft Intune and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Microsoft Intune and Soketi differ
AttributeMicrosoft IntuneSoketi
Starting price$8/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebLinux, 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 Microsoft Intune

Nothing recorded that Soketi does not also cover.

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.

Microsoft Intune

  • Mobile device and endpoint managementnot Soketi
  • Enterprise device compliancenot Soketi
  • Privilege access managementnot Soketi
  • Remote device supportnot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Microsoft Intune

  • Individual add-ons at $2-5/user/month can become expensive when deploying multiple modules
  • Full Intune Suite at $10/user/month becomes better value when deploying two or more modules

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

Microsoft Intune

$8/month
  • Microsoft Intune Plan 1$8/month
    • Device management
    • Mobile device management
    • Basic compliance policies
  • Intune Suite (Full)$10/month
    • Endpoint Privilege Management
    • Enterprise Application Management
    • Advanced Analytics
  • Intune Suite Add-on: Remote Help$2/month
    • Remote device support
  • Intune Suite Add-on: Endpoint Privilege Management$2/month
    • Privilege access control

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Microsoft Intune if

Nothing in the data separates Microsoft Intune from Soketi on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Microsoft Intune 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 Microsoft Intune or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Microsoft Intune starts at $8/month and Soketi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Microsoft Intune or Soketi?
Soketi has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $8/month for Microsoft Intune and Free for Soketi.
Does Microsoft Intune or Soketi run on more platforms?
Microsoft Intune runs on Web. 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. Microsoft Intune starts at $8/month.
What is Microsoft Intune best used for?
Microsoft Intune is most often used for mobile device and endpoint management, enterprise device compliance, privilege access management, remote device support. Of those, mobile device and endpoint management and enterprise device compliance are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Microsoft Intune do that Soketi cannot?
Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Microsoft Intune: How much does Microsoft Intune cost?

Microsoft Intune Plan 1 costs $8/user/month for basic device management. The full Intune Suite costs $10/user/month including endpoint privilege management, enterprise application management, advanced analytics, remote help, Intune Plan 2, and Microsoft Cloud PKI.

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.

Microsoft Intune: What add-ons are available for Microsoft Intune?

Individual Intune Suite add-ons range from $2-5/user/month and include Endpoint Privilege Management, Enterprise Application Management, Advanced Analytics, Remote Help, Intune Plan 2, and Microsoft Cloud PKI. Microsoft recommends the full Intune Suite at $10/user/month when deploying two or more modules for better value.

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.

Microsoft Intune: Is Intune included in Microsoft 365 E5?

Starting in CY26 Q3, Intune Suite capabilities are included with Microsoft 365 E5 and E7 subscriptions, with select capabilities also in Microsoft 365 E3. These bundled versions do not have separate additional pricing.

Source
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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Related pages

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