Developer Tools · head to head
pnpm vs Soketi
Soketi
Developer Tools
Self-hosted, Pusher-compatible WebSockets server with a stalled maintenance record
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: pnpm requires command-line proficiency to use; 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.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which pnpm and Soketi actually diverge.
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 pnpm
Nothing recorded that Soketi does not also cover.
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.
pnpm
- Installing dependencies faster than npm in monorepo workspacesnot Soketi
- Sharing common dependencies across multiple projects to save disk spacenot Soketi
- Preventing dependency version conflicts in workspace environmentsnot Soketi
- Managing workspaces with many interdependent packagesnot Soketi
Soketi
- A Laravel application that already uses Echo and wants to stop paying a hosted realtime providernot pnpm
- Realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasonsnot pnpm
- A local or CI environment that needs a Pusher-compatible server without hitting a paid accountnot pnpm
- A high-connection-count application where hosted per-connection pricing has become the largest line in the infrastructure billnot pnpm
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
pnpm
- Requires command-line proficiency to use
- Community-driven support only
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
pnpm
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the pnpm review.
Soketi
Free- SoketiFree
- MIT licensed
- Unlimited connections subject to your own hardware
- No vendor billing
Which should you pick?
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.
Questions people ask
- Is pnpm or Soketi better?
- Neither clearly leads. pnpm 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, pnpm or Soketi?
- pnpm starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
- Does pnpm or Soketi run on more platforms?
- pnpm runs on Linux, Windows, macOS. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
- Can I use pnpm for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is pnpm best used for?
- pnpm is most often used for installing dependencies faster than npm in monorepo workspaces, sharing common dependencies across multiple projects to save disk space, preventing dependency version conflicts in workspace environments, managing workspaces with many interdependent packages. Of those, installing dependencies faster than npm in monorepo workspaces and sharing common dependencies across multiple projects to save disk space are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
- What can pnpm do that Soketi cannot?
- Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
pnpm: Is pnpm free and open source?
Yes. pnpm is free and open source software developed for Node.js. Version 10 and 11 are currently available.
SourceSoketi: 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.
pnpm: How does pnpm save disk space?
pnpm uses a content-addressable store with hard linking and symlinks to avoid duplication. All files are saved in a single place on disk and hard-linked to individual projects, dramatically reducing storage requirements compared to npm.
SourceSoketi: Do I need to change my client code?
No. Pusher client SDKs and Laravel Echo work by changing the host, port and credentials.
pnpm: Is pnpm faster than npm?
Yes. pnpm performs installation in three stages: dependency resolution, directory structure calculation, and linking. Packages are fetched and linked as soon as possible, making it significantly faster than npm's sequential approach.
SourceSoketi: What does it cost?
Nothing in licence fees. It is MIT licensed; you pay for the server it runs on.
pnpm: Does pnpm support monorepos?
Yes. pnpm has built-in support for monorepositories. You can create a workspace using pnpm-workspace.yaml to unite multiple projects in a single repository.
SourceSoketi: What are people moving to?
Laravel Reverb for Laravel applications, and Sockudo, a Rust reimplementation, for others.
pnpm: How does pnpm handle node_modules differently than npm?
pnpm uses symlinks to add only direct dependencies to node_modules root, preventing accidental access to undeclared dependencies. This encourages more explicit dependency management compared to npm's flattened node_modules structure.
SourceRelated pages
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