Documentation · head to head
Read the Docs vs Soketi
Read the Docs
Documentation
Documentation hosting with versioning built for open source
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
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: Read the Docs build configuration is finicky, and build failures on dependency changes are a common frustration; 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: Read the Docs covers Build on commit, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Read the Docs and Soketi actually diverge.
| Attribute | Read the Docs | Soketi |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Free for open source; paid business plans for private documentation | Open source, no licence fee |
| Platforms | Web, Cloud | Linux, macOS, Windows |
| Category | Documentation | Developer 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 Read the Docs
- Build on commit
- Version by branch and tag
- Pull request previews
- Free for open source
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.
Read the Docs
- Open-source projects needing free hosted versioned documentationnot Soketi
- Teams wanting docs rebuilt automatically on every commitnot Soketi
- Reviewing documentation changes in a pull request before mergenot Soketi
Soketi
- A Laravel application that already uses Echo and wants to stop paying a hosted realtime providernot Read the Docs
- Realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasonsnot Read the Docs
- A local or CI environment that needs a Pusher-compatible server without hitting a paid accountnot Read the Docs
- A high-connection-count application where hosted per-connection pricing has become the largest line in the infrastructure billnot Read the Docs
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
Read the Docs
- Build configuration is finicky, and build failures on dependency changes are a common frustration
- Default themes are recognisable and dated, so sites look alike unless customised
- Private documentation requires a paid business plan
- Build times on large projects are slow enough to interrupt a review cycle
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
Read the Docs
Free- FreeFree
- Core functionality
- Public projects
Soketi
Free- SoketiFree
- MIT licensed
- Unlimited connections subject to your own hardware
- No vendor billing
Which should you pick?
Choose Read the Docs if
- You need build on commit.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Cloud.
- You also want version by branch and tag.
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 Read the Docs or Soketi better?
- Neither clearly leads. Read the Docs 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, Read the Docs or Soketi?
- Read the Docs starts at Free and Soketi at Free.
- Does Read the Docs or Soketi run on more platforms?
- Read the Docs runs on Web, Cloud. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
- Can I use Read the Docs for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is Read the Docs best used for?
- Read the Docs is most often used for open-source projects needing free hosted versioned documentation, teams wanting docs rebuilt automatically on every commit, reviewing documentation changes in a pull request before merge. Of those, open-source projects needing free hosted versioned documentation and teams wanting docs rebuilt automatically on every commit are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
- What can Read the Docs do that Soketi cannot?
- Read the Docs covers Build on commit, Version by branch and tag, Pull request previews, Free for open source. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
Read the Docs: Is Read the Docs free?
Free for open-source public projects. Private documentation requires a paid business plan.
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.
Read the Docs: What does it build from?
Most commonly Sphinx or MkDocs sources kept in your repository.
Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?
No. Pusher client SDKs and Laravel Echo work by changing the host, port and credentials.
Read the Docs: How does versioning work?
It maps branches and tags to documentation versions, so several releases are served side by side without manual work.
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.
Related pages
More on Read the Docs
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- Soketi vs MkDocs
- Soketi vs Sphinx
- Soketi vs Docsify
- Soketi vs GitBook
- Soketi vs Doxygen
- Soketi vs BookStack
- Soketi vs Antora
- Soketi vs Outline
- Soketi vs Bump.sh
- Soketi vs Fumadocs
- Soketi vs Scalar
- Soketi vs Grammarly
- Soketi vs Slab
- Soketi vs Starlight
- Soketi vs VitePress
- Soketi vs Guidde
- Soketi vs PartyKit
- Soketi vs Penpot
- Soketi vs Atlantis
- Soketi vs Coder
- Soketi vs Backstage
- Soketi vs Visual Studio Code
- Soketi vs GNU Emacs
- Soketi vs Bazel
- Soketi vs Eclipse IDE
- Soketi vs Pants Build
- Soketi vs Swagger UI
- Soketi vs Ansible
- Soketi vs Cody
- Soketi vs ConfigCat
- Soketi vs Cortex
- Soketi vs Dagger
- Soketi vs Deno
- Soketi vs Fig