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Technology · head to head

PostHog vs Soketi

PostHog logo

PostHog

Technology

The single platform to analyze, test, observe, and deploy new features

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: PostHog the free tier covers 1M events, 5K web session recordings and 2.5K mobile recordings per month before usage-based billing starts; 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: PostHog covers Product analytics, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which PostHog and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where PostHog and Soketi differ
AttributePostHogSoketi
Pricing modelusage-basedOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, ApiLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryTechnologyDeveloper Tools
Founded2020Unknown

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 PostHog

  • Product analytics
  • Session recording
  • Feature flags
  • A/B testing
  • Heatmaps
  • SQL access
  • Data warehouse
  • Apps platform

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.

PostHog

  • Product analyticsnot Soketi
  • Feature experimentationnot Soketi
  • User behavior trackingnot Soketi
  • A/B testingnot Soketi
  • Debug production issuesnot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

PostHog

  • The free tier covers 1M events, 5K web session recordings and 2.5K mobile recordings per month before usage-based billing starts
  • Accounts without a card on file are limited to 1 project; adding one raises it to 6
  • Data retention is 1 year until a card is added, which extends it to 7 years
  • Support is community-only until the account is on a paid plan
  • Error tracking is capped at 100K exceptions and surveys at 1500 responses per month on the free tier

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

PostHog

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 1M events/month
    • 5K sessions/month
    • Unlimited users
  • Paid$undefined/month
    • $0.00031/event
    • $0.005/session
    • Advanced permissions
  • Enterprise$undefined/month
    • SAML SSO
    • Advanced security
    • Dedicated support

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose PostHog if

  • You need product analytics.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want session recording.
PostHog 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 PostHog or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. PostHog 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, PostHog or Soketi?
PostHog starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does PostHog or Soketi run on more platforms?
PostHog runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use PostHog for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is PostHog best used for?
PostHog is most often used for product analytics, feature experimentation, user behavior tracking, a/b testing. Of those, product analytics and feature experimentation are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can PostHog do that Soketi cannot?
PostHog covers Product analytics, Session recording, Feature flags, A/B testing. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

PostHog: What does PostHog's free tier include per month?

PostHog free tier includes: 1M analytics events, 5K session replays, 1M feature flag requests, 100K error tracking exceptions, 1,500 survey responses, 1M data warehouse rows, 10K data pipeline events, 100K AI observability events, 500 PostHog AI credits, 10K workflow messages, and 10GB log ingestion. Source: https://posthog.com/pricing

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.

PostHog: How much data retention does PostHog provide on paid plans?

PostHog free tier provides 1-year data retention. Pay-as-you-go plans offer 7-year data retention across all projects, enabling longer historical analysis. Source: https://posthog.com/pricing

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.

PostHog: What percentage of PostHog users stay on the free tier?

PostHog states that 97% of companies use PostHog for free, indicating extensive free tier adoption. However, specific per-unit pricing rates for overages on paid plans are not published. Source: https://posthog.com/pricing

Source
Soketi: What does it cost?

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

PostHog: When does PostHog provide priority support on paid plans?

PostHog provides email or Slack support for accounts exceeding $2,000/month on pay-as-you-go plans. Specific response times and support SLAs are not detailed on their pricing page. Source: https://posthog.com/pricing

Source
Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

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