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Networking · head to head

pfSense vs Soketi

pfSense logo

pfSense

Networking

Open source firewall software with a free Community Edition and a separate commercial Plus edition sold by Netgate

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: pfSense pfSense CE and pfSense Plus are not simply the same software with a support contract layered on top; Plus is a separately developed edition with its own feature set, and moving between them is a migration, not a toggle; 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: pfSense covers Stateful firewall and NAT, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which pfSense and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where pfSense and Soketi differ
AttributepfSenseSoketi
Pricing modelOpen source Community Edition, free; commercial Plus edition sold separately by NetgateOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinuxLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryNetworkingDeveloper 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 pfSense

  • Stateful firewall and NAT
  • VPN support
  • Traffic shaping and QoS
  • Package ecosystem
  • CE and Plus editions

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.

pfSense

  • A home user or small business wanting a free, fully-featured firewall on commodity hardware with no licence costnot Soketi
  • A business wanting an integrated firewall appliance with vendor support, typically buying a Netgate appliance bundled with pfSense Plusnot Soketi
  • A team wanting to evaluate advanced features like real-time threat intelligence before committing to Netgate hardware or a Plus migrationnot Soketi
  • An organisation replacing an expensive commercial firewall with an open source alternative while retaining the option to add commercial support laternot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

pfSense

  • pfSense CE and pfSense Plus are not simply the same software with a support contract layered on top; Plus is a separately developed edition with its own feature set, and moving between them is a migration, not a toggle
  • Running Plus on non-Netgate hardware depends on Netgate's current migration terms, which have changed over time, so a buyer planning to use white-box hardware with Plus should verify current eligibility rather than assume it works as it did previously
  • CE has no official vendor support channel; a business relying on it for production firewalling without a support contract is self-supporting on community forums
  • Some newer features and threat intelligence integrations are Plus-only, so CE users do not get feature parity going forward even though both editions remain under active development
  • Netgate's own appliance pricing and the terms of the CE-to-Plus migration path are not always clearly presented in one place, requiring some digging to understand the real total cost of a Plus deployment on non-Netgate hardware
  • As with any self-managed firewall, security depends on the operator applying updates and correctly configuring rules; there is no managed security operations layer included even in Plus

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

pfSense

Free
  • pfSense CEFree
    • Full firewall and routing functionality
    • No vendor lock-in to hardware
    • Community support
  • pfSense Plus (via Netgate appliance)$undefined/one-time
    • Bundled with Netgate hardware appliances from around $189
    • Threat intelligence feeds
    • Certified support tiers

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose pfSense if

  • You need stateful firewall and nat.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux.
  • You also want vpn support.
pfSense 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 pfSense or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. pfSense 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, pfSense or Soketi?
pfSense starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does pfSense or Soketi run on more platforms?
pfSense runs on Linux. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use pfSense for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is pfSense best used for?
pfSense is most often used for a home user or small business wanting a free, fully-featured firewall on commodity hardware with no licence cost, a business wanting an integrated firewall appliance with vendor support, typically buying a netgate appliance bundled with pfsense plus, a team wanting to evaluate advanced features like real-time threat intelligence before committing to netgate hardware or a plus migration, an organisation replacing an expensive commercial firewall with an open source alternative while retaining the option to add commercial support later. Of those, a home user or small business wanting a free, fully-featured firewall on commodity hardware with no licence cost and a business wanting an integrated firewall appliance with vendor support, typically buying a netgate appliance bundled with pfsense plus are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can pfSense do that Soketi cannot?
pfSense covers Stateful firewall and NAT, VPN support, Traffic shaping and QoS, Package ecosystem. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

pfSense: What is the difference between pfSense CE and pfSense Plus?

CE is the free, open source edition installable on any compatible hardware; Plus is a commercial edition from Netgate with additional features and support, typically bundled with Netgate appliances.

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.

pfSense: Can I run pfSense Plus on my own hardware?

It is possible through a migration from a CE installation via Netgate's official channel, but the terms and availability of that path have changed over time and should be confirmed directly with Netgate.

Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?

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

pfSense: Is pfSense CE really free with no catch?

Yes, CE has no licence fee and no hardware lock-in, though it comes with community rather than vendor support.

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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