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Cybersecurity · head to head

Rhombus Systems vs Soketi

Rhombus Systems logo

Rhombus Systems

Cybersecurity

Cloud-managed cameras, sensors and access control with a per-camera annual licence

From
$149/year
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite
Soketi logo

Soketi

Developer Tools

Self-hosted, Pusher-compatible WebSockets server with a stalled maintenance record

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Soketi has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Rhombus Systems the per-camera annual licence never ends and a camera without an active licence stops working, so the total cost over a ten-year hardware life is several times the hardware price.; 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: Rhombus Systems covers On-camera storage, Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Rhombus Systems and Soketi actually diverge.

Attributes where Rhombus Systems and Soketi differ
AttributeRhombus SystemsSoketi
Starting price$149/yearFree
Pricing modelPer camera per year licence plus hardwareOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidLinux, macOS, Windows
CategoryCybersecurityDeveloper Tools

Identical on both: 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 Rhombus Systems

  • On-camera storage
  • No NVR or server
  • AI search
  • Access control
  • Environmental sensors
  • Unlimited users
  • Ten year hardware warranty
  • Optional cloud archiving

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.

Rhombus Systems

  • A school district running video across dozens of buildings with no local IT at each sitenot Soketi
  • A clinic group needing door access and cameras in one console under a single audit trailnot Soketi
  • A logistics operator that wants to search for a specific vehicle across sites without scrubbing footagenot Soketi
  • An office estate replacing ageing NVRs where nobody remains who knows how to maintain themnot Soketi

Soketi

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

Where each one falls short

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

Rhombus Systems

  • The per-camera annual licence never ends and a camera without an active licence stops working, so the total cost over a ten-year hardware life is several times the hardware price.
  • Cameras must be Rhombus, so there is no reuse of existing IP cameras and migrating away means replacing every device rather than changing software.
  • Cloud archiving is priced separately by retention and stream count, and long retention on multisensor cameras runs into five figures per camera, which can dwarf everything else in the quote.
  • On-camera storage is the default retention, so a camera physically stolen or destroyed takes its unarchived footage with it unless cloud archiving was paid for on that camera.
  • Analytics and integrations are good for mid-market needs but shallower than a dedicated enterprise VMS with a large third-party ecosystem, so specialist requirements like advanced LPR or forensic search hit limits.

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

Rhombus Systems

$149/year
  • Professional$149/year
    • Per camera per year
    • Cloud console and management
    • On-camera storage retention
  • Enterprise$199/year
    • Per camera per year
    • Everything in Professional
    • Flexible cloud archiving options
  • Cloud archiving$undefined/year
    • Priced separately by retention period and stream count
    • Multisensor cameras cost several times a single sensor camera
    • Long retention on multisensor models can reach five figures per camera

Soketi

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Rhombus Systems if

  • You need on-camera storage.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want no nvr or server.
Rhombus Systems 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 Rhombus Systems or Soketi better?
Neither clearly leads. Rhombus Systems starts at $149/year and Soketi at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Rhombus Systems or Soketi?
Soketi has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $149/year for Rhombus Systems and Free for Soketi.
Does Rhombus Systems or Soketi run on more platforms?
Rhombus Systems runs on Web, iOS, Android. Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows.
Can I use Soketi for free?
Yes. Soketi has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Rhombus Systems starts at $149/year.
What is Rhombus Systems best used for?
Rhombus Systems is most often used for a school district running video across dozens of buildings with no local it at each site, a clinic group needing door access and cameras in one console under a single audit trail, a logistics operator that wants to search for a specific vehicle across sites without scrubbing footage, an office estate replacing ageing nvrs where nobody remains who knows how to maintain them. Of those, a school district running video across dozens of buildings with no local it at each site and a clinic group needing door access and cameras in one console under a single audit trail are not what Soketi is typically brought in for.
What can Rhombus Systems do that Soketi cannot?
Rhombus Systems covers On-camera storage, No NVR or server, AI search, Access control. Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Rhombus Systems: Do I need an NVR or a server?

No. Cameras record on board and connect directly to the cloud console, which is the main operational reason organisations pick it.

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.

Rhombus Systems: What does the licence cost?

Roughly $149 per camera per year for Professional and about $199 for Enterprise, typically sold in one, three, five or ten year terms.

Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?

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

Rhombus Systems: Is cloud storage included?

No. On-camera storage is the default. Cloud archiving is a separate charge priced by retention duration and number of streams.

Soketi: What does it cost?

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

Rhombus Systems: Can I use my existing cameras?

No. The platform works only with Rhombus hardware, which is the trade-off for the zero-server architecture.

Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

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