Softwr

Testing · head to head

Puppeteer vs Soketi

Puppeteer logo

Puppeteer

Testing

Node.js library for controlling Chrome and Firefox

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: Puppeteer chrome and Firefox only, with no Safari or WebKit story; 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: Puppeteer covers DevTools Protocol, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Puppeteer and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Puppeteer and Soketi differ
AttributePuppeteerSoketi
CategoryTestingDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Open source, no licence fee), free tier (Yes), platforms (Linux, macOS, Windows), 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 Puppeteer

  • DevTools Protocol
  • Headless by default
  • PDF and screenshots
  • Network interception

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.

Puppeteer

  • Generating PDFs or screenshots of rendered pages on a servernot Soketi
  • Scraping sites that require JavaScript executionnot Soketi
  • Automating browser tasks where a full test framework is unnecessarynot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Puppeteer

  • Chrome and Firefox only, with no Safari or WebKit story
  • Not a test framework: assertions, retries and reporting need Jest or similar bolted on
  • Bundles a Chromium download, which makes installs large and awkward in constrained CI images

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

Puppeteer

Free
  • PuppeteerFree
    • Full functionality
    • Unlimited tests
    • Community support

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Puppeteer if

  • You need devtools protocol.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
  • You also want headless by default.
Puppeteer 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 Puppeteer or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Puppeteer 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, Puppeteer or Soketi?
Puppeteer starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Puppeteer or Soketi run on more platforms?
Both run on Linux, macOS, Windows, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
Can I use Puppeteer for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Puppeteer best used for?
Puppeteer is most often used for generating pdfs or screenshots of rendered pages on a server, scraping sites that require javascript execution, automating browser tasks where a full test framework is unnecessary. Of those, generating pdfs or screenshots of rendered pages on a server and scraping sites that require javascript execution are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Puppeteer do that Soketi cannot?
Puppeteer covers DevTools Protocol, Headless by default, PDF and screenshots, Network interception. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Puppeteer: Is Puppeteer free?

Yes, open source from the Chrome team.

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.

Puppeteer: Puppeteer or Playwright?

Playwright came from the same original team, adds WebKit and Firefox support, automatic waiting and a test runner. Puppeteer stays a focused Chrome automation library, which is simpler if automation rather than testing is the goal.

Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?

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

Puppeteer: Can Puppeteer generate PDFs?

Yes, and it is one of the most common uses — rendering a page and printing it to PDF server-side.

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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