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Cybersecurity · head to head

Nessus vs Soketi

Nessus logo

Nessus

Cybersecurity

The most trusted vulnerability assessment solution

From
$4790/year
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: Nessus nessus Professional is $4,790 for one year, with no free or low cost commercial tier; 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: Nessus covers Vulnerability scanning, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Nessus and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Nessus and Soketi differ
AttributeNessusSoketi
Starting price$4790/yearFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsDesktop, ApiLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools
Founded2002Unknown

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 Nessus

  • Vulnerability scanning
  • Configuration auditing
  • Malware detection
  • Web application scanning
  • Cloud scanning
  • Compliance checks
  • Patch auditing
  • Pre-built policies

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.

Nessus

  • Vulnerability scanning for individual practitionersnot Soketi
  • Enterprise vulnerability managementnot Soketi
  • Web application security assessmentsnot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Nessus

  • Nessus Professional is $4,790 for one year, with no free or low cost commercial tier
  • Multi year terms are the only discount route, at $9,330.95 for two years and $13,637.54 for three
  • It is a single user scanner, so team workflows mean migrating to another Tenable product
  • Tenable One vulnerability management is priced separately, starting at $3,500 a year for 100 assets

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

Nessus

$4790/year
  • Nessus Professional$4790/year
    • 1 year license
    • Best for individual security professionals
  • Nessus Professional 2-Year$9330.95/2 years
    • 2 year license with discounted rate vs. annual
  • Nessus Professional 3-Year$13637.54/3 years
    • 3 year license with discounted rate vs. annual
  • Nessus Expert$6790/year
    • 1 year license
    • Enhanced capabilities vs. Professional

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Nessus if

  • You need vulnerability scanning.
  • You work on Desktop, Api.
  • You also want configuration auditing.
Nessus 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 Nessus or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Nessus starts at $4790/year and Soketi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Nessus or Soketi?
Soketi has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $4790/year for Nessus and Free for Soketi.
Does Nessus or Soketi run on more platforms?
Nessus runs on Desktop, Api. 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. Nessus starts at $4790/year.
What is Nessus best used for?
Nessus is most often used for vulnerability scanning for individual practitioners, enterprise vulnerability management, web application security assessments. Of those, vulnerability scanning for individual practitioners and enterprise vulnerability management are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Nessus do that Soketi cannot?
Nessus covers Vulnerability scanning, Configuration auditing, Malware detection, Web application scanning. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Nessus: What is the cheapest Nessus option?

Nessus Professional starts at $4,790 per year for a 1-year license. Multi-year commitments offer discounts, with 2-year licenses at $9,330.95 and 3-year licenses at $13,637.54.

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.

Nessus: What is the difference between Nessus Professional and Expert?

Nessus Expert costs $6,790 per year for a 1-year license (compared to $4,790 for Professional) and includes enhanced capabilities. Multi-year rates are available at discounted prices.

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.

Nessus: Does Nessus offer optional support or training?

Yes, Nessus offers add-on services: Advanced Support at $400/year provides 24x365 access to phone, email, community, and chat support. On-Demand Training costs $275/year for Fundamentals course access or $385/year for both Fundamentals and Advanced courses.

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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