Softwr

Cybersecurity · head to head

Netwrix vs Soketi

Netwrix logo

Netwrix

Cybersecurity

Data access governance and change auditing across Active Directory, file shares and Microsoft 365

From
On request
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: Netwrix the portfolio is assembled from acquisitions, so consoles, agents and licensing metrics differ between products and the platform story is ahead of the engineering reality.; 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: Netwrix covers Change auditing, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Netwrix and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Netwrix and Soketi differ
AttributeNetwrixSoketi
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquoteOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindows, WebLinux, 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 Netwrix

  • Change auditing
  • Effective permissions
  • Data classification
  • Access remediation
  • Threat detection
  • Group policy management

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.

Netwrix

  • An organisation that cannot tell an auditor who has access to a sensitive file share and needs an answer with evidencenot Soketi
  • A security team reducing ransomware blast radius by removing Everyone and Domain Users permissions from sensitive datanot Soketi
  • An IT team investigating an unexplained Active Directory change and needing the exact account, time and previous valuenot Soketi
  • A company responding to GDPR data subject access requests that must first locate personal data scattered across legacy sharesnot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Netwrix

  • The portfolio is assembled from acquisitions, so consoles, agents and licensing metrics differ between products and the platform story is ahead of the engineering reality.
  • Licensing metrics vary by product, per enabled user for some and per managed asset for others, which makes assembling a multi-product quote unusually difficult to compare against a single-vendor competitor.
  • Auditing agents and collectors add load to domain controllers and file servers, and large estates need careful sizing to avoid degrading the systems being monitored.
  • It reports and remediates but does not enforce access decisions at request time, so it complements rather than replaces identity governance and buyers still need an IGA tool for certification workflows.
  • Coverage is strongest on Microsoft estates; Linux, NAS appliances and non-Microsoft SaaS are supported unevenly and often need additional modules or trail behind on feature parity.

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

Netwrix

On request
  • Netwrix Platform$undefined/year
    • Priced per enabled user or per managed asset depending on the product
    • Auditing, data classification, privileged access and threat products licensed separately
    • Netwrix 1Secure SaaS console with a 14-day free trial

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Netwrix if

  • You need change auditing.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want effective permissions.
Netwrix 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 Netwrix or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Netwrix starts at On request and Soketi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Netwrix or Soketi?
Soketi has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Netwrix and Free for Soketi.
Does Netwrix or Soketi run on more platforms?
Netwrix runs on Windows, 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. Netwrix starts at On request.
What is Netwrix best used for?
Netwrix is most often used for an organisation that cannot tell an auditor who has access to a sensitive file share and needs an answer with evidence, a security team reducing ransomware blast radius by removing everyone and domain users permissions from sensitive data, an it team investigating an unexplained active directory change and needing the exact account, time and previous value, a company responding to gdpr data subject access requests that must first locate personal data scattered across legacy shares. Of those, an organisation that cannot tell an auditor who has access to a sensitive file share and needs an answer with evidence and a security team reducing ransomware blast radius by removing everyone and domain users permissions from sensitive data are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Netwrix do that Soketi cannot?
Netwrix covers Change auditing, Effective permissions, Data classification, Access remediation. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Netwrix: Does it replace identity governance?

No. It shows you who has access and lets you fix it, but recertification campaigns and access request workflow are an IGA product.

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.

Netwrix: Is there a SaaS option?

Netwrix 1Secure is the cloud console covering data and identity visibility, with a 14-day free trial including full access.

Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?

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

Netwrix: How is it priced?

Per enabled user or per managed asset depending on the product, quoted rather than published. Assume separate line items per module.

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.

Share

Related pages

More on Netwrix

More on Soketi

Keep looking

Other head to heads