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APIs · head to head

Pusher vs Soketi

Pusher logo

Pusher

APIs

Realtime messaging API for building live features into apps

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: Pusher the free Sandbox plan is capped at 100 concurrent connections, which is quickly outgrown by production apps.; 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: Pusher covers Pub/sub channels, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Pusher and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Pusher and Soketi differ
AttributePusherSoketi
Pricing modelfreemiumOpen source, no licence fee
Platformsweb, ios, android, apiLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryAPIsDeveloper 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 Pusher

  • Pub/sub channels
  • Presence channels
  • Client libraries
  • 24/7 monitoring
  • Priority support

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.

Pusher

  • Adding live chat to a web or mobile appnot Soketi
  • Showing realtime presence of online usersnot Soketi
  • Pushing live notifications or dashboard updatesnot Soketi
  • Building collaborative features without managing WebSocket serversnot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Pusher

  • The free Sandbox plan is capped at 100 concurrent connections, which is quickly outgrown by production apps.
  • Pricing jumps sharply between tiers (e.g. $49 to $99 to $299), leaving few options for teams with moderate but growing usage.
  • Priority support with faster response times costs an additional $3,000/month on top of plan pricing.

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

Pusher

Free
  • SandboxFree
    • 200k messages/day
    • 100 concurrent connections
    • Standard support
  • Startup$49/month
    • 1M messages/day
    • 500 concurrent connections
  • Pro$99/month
    • 4M messages/day
    • 2,000 concurrent connections
  • Business$299/month
    • 10M messages/day
    • 5,000 concurrent connections
    • Premium support

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Pusher if

  • You need pub/sub channels.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on web, ios, android, api.
  • You also want presence channels.
Pusher 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 Pusher or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Pusher 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, Pusher or Soketi?
Pusher starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
Does Pusher or Soketi run on more platforms?
Pusher runs on web, ios, android, api. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Pusher for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Pusher best used for?
Pusher is most often used for adding live chat to a web or mobile app, showing realtime presence of online users, pushing live notifications or dashboard updates, building collaborative features without managing websocket servers. Of those, adding live chat to a web or mobile app and showing realtime presence of online users are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Pusher do that Soketi cannot?
Pusher covers Pub/sub channels, Presence channels, Client libraries, 24/7 monitoring. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends. Both handle Webhooks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Pusher: What does Pusher cost?

Pusher Channels offers a free Sandbox plan (200k messages/day, 100 connections) and paid plans starting at $49/month for Startup, scaling up through Pro, Business, and several higher tiers up to $1,199/month, plus custom Enterprise 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.

Pusher: Can I change or cancel my plan?

Yes, customers can log into the dashboard and adjust their plan at any time, including upgrading, downgrading, or cancelling.

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.

Pusher: How is usage metered?

Usage is measured by concurrent connections and messages per day; a message counts both the publish and each delivery, so publishing one message to 50 subscribers counts as 51 messages.

Source
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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