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Cybersecurity · head to head

Passbolt vs Soketi

Passbolt logo

Passbolt

Cybersecurity

Open-source password manager for teams with self-hosted or cloud deployment

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: Passbolt pro Edition requires a minimum of 10 users, making it costlier for very small teams.; 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: Passbolt covers Password sharing and folders, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Passbolt and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Passbolt and Soketi differ
AttributePassboltSoketi
Pricing modelopen-sourceOpen source, no licence fee
Platformsweb, windows, mac, linux, apiLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

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 Passbolt

  • Password sharing and folders
  • Groups and role-based access
  • Browser extensions and CLI
  • Open API
  • LDAP provisioning and SSO
  • Activity audit log

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.

Passbolt

  • Self-hosting a team password manager for data sovereigntynot Soketi
  • Provisioning vault access from an existing LDAP/AD directorynot Soketi
  • Sharing credentials across engineering or IT teams via folders and groupsnot Soketi
  • Automating credential retrieval through the CLI or open APInot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Passbolt

  • Pro Edition requires a minimum of 10 users, making it costlier for very small teams.
  • Community Edition lacks SSO and LDAP provisioning, which many organizations need for onboarding at scale.
  • Self-hosting the Community Edition requires infrastructure and maintenance effort compared to fully managed competitors.
  • Enterprise-tier support and HA consulting require custom, quote-based pricing rather than transparent rates.

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

Passbolt

Free
  • Community EditionFree
    • Unlimited users
    • Password sharing and folders
    • Role-based access control
  • Pro Edition$4.9/month
    • Minimum 10 users, billed annually
    • LDAP/AD provisioning
    • Single sign-on
  • Enterprise Edition$undefined/month
    • High availability and disaster recovery consulting
    • White-glove migration
    • Custom feature development

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Passbolt if

  • You need password sharing and folders.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, windows, mac, linux, api.
  • You also want groups and role-based access.
Passbolt 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 Passbolt or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Passbolt 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, Passbolt or Soketi?
Passbolt starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Passbolt or Soketi run on more platforms?
Passbolt runs on web, windows, mac, linux, api. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Passbolt for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Passbolt best used for?
Passbolt is most often used for self-hosting a team password manager for data sovereignty, provisioning vault access from an existing ldap/ad directory, sharing credentials across engineering or it teams via folders and groups, automating credential retrieval through the cli or open api. Of those, self-hosting a team password manager for data sovereignty and provisioning vault access from an existing ldap/ad directory are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Passbolt do that Soketi cannot?
Passbolt covers Password sharing and folders, Groups and role-based access, Browser extensions and CLI, Open API. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Passbolt: Is Passbolt free to use?

Yes. The Community Edition is free forever with unlimited users, including password sharing, folders, groups, role-based access, browser extensions, a CLI, and an open API.

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.

Passbolt: What does the Pro Edition cost and add?

Pro Edition costs $4.90 per user per month billed annually, with a 10-user minimum, and adds LDAP/AD provisioning, single sign-on, account recovery escrow, activity audit logs, and next-business-day support.

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.

Passbolt: What license is Passbolt distributed under?

All Passbolt editions, including Pro and Enterprise, are distributed under the AGPL v3 open-source license.

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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