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Developer Tools · head to head

Penpot vs Soketi

Penpot logo

Penpot

Developer Tools

Open source design and prototyping 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: Penpot smaller user base and community compared to Figma means fewer templates and resources; 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: Penpot covers Vector editing, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Penpot and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Penpot and Soketi differ
AttributePenpotSoketi
Pricing modelUnknownOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, Windows, macOS, LinuxLinux, macOS, Windows
Founded2021Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Developer Tools).

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 Penpot

  • Vector editing
  • Interactive prototyping
  • Design systems
  • Components & libraries
  • Real-time collaboration
  • SVG support
  • CSS Grid & Flexbox
  • Code export

Only in Soketi

  • Pusher protocol compatibility
  • Presence and private channels
  • Horizontal scaling
  • App management backends
  • Prometheus metrics

Both cover

  • Webhooks

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Penpot

  • UI/UX designnot Soketi
  • Prototypingnot Soketi
  • Design systemsnot Soketi
  • Developer handoffnot Soketi
  • Open source projectsnot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Penpot

  • Smaller user base and community compared to Figma means fewer templates and resources
  • Self-hosting requires Linux server and Docker knowledge for technical setup
  • Real-time collaboration features may have performance issues with very large design files

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

Penpot

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Cloud-based design
    • Real-time collaboration
    • Components and variants
  • Unlimited$7/month
    • All free features
    • Priority support
    • Advanced cloud features
  • Enterprise$950/month
    • Custom enterprise features
    • Dedicated support
    • Advanced security

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Penpot if

  • You need vector editing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux.
  • You also want interactive prototyping.
Penpot 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 Penpot or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Penpot 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, Penpot or Soketi?
Penpot starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Penpot or Soketi run on more platforms?
Penpot runs on Web, Windows, macOS, Linux. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Penpot for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Penpot best used for?
Penpot is most often used for ui/ux design, prototyping, design systems, developer handoff. Of those, ui/ux design and prototyping are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Penpot do that Soketi cannot?
Penpot covers Vector editing, Interactive prototyping, Design systems, Components & libraries. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends. Both handle Webhooks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Penpot: Is Penpot really free?

Yes. Penpot is completely free with no feature gates. The open-source version can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure for zero cost beyond server expenses.

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.

Penpot: Can I self-host Penpot?

Yes. Penpot can be self-hosted on your own infrastructure with no licensing costs. Organizations with specific privacy or governance needs can run Penpot on their own servers.

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.

Penpot: What are the paid plans if I use Penpot cloud?

Penpot's cloud service offers a free tier, Unlimited plan at $7 per user per month for professionals and medium teams, and Enterprise starting at $950 per month for larger organizations.

Source
Soketi: What does it cost?

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

Penpot: What platforms does Penpot support?

Penpot runs in the browser, so it works on Windows, Mac, Linux, and any OS with a web browser. No platform-specific downloads required.

Source
Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

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