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Soketi vs Tenable Nessus

Soketi logo

Soketi

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Tenable Nessus logo

Tenable Nessus

Cybersecurity

Network vulnerability scanner

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; Tenable Nessus nessus Professional is $4,790 for one year, sold as an annual licence rather than a per scan or usage based fee
  • They diverge on capability: Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Tenable Nessus covers Network scanning.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Soketi and Tenable Nessus actually diverge.

Attributes where Soketi and Tenable Nessus differ
AttributeSoketiTenable Nessus
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
PlatformsLinux, macOS, WindowsWindows, Linux, Macos, Cloud
CategoryDeveloper ToolsCybersecurity
FoundedUnknown2002

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 Soketi

  • Pusher protocol compatibility
  • Presence and private channels
  • Horizontal scaling
  • App management backends
  • Webhooks
  • Prometheus metrics

Only in Tenable Nessus

  • Network scanning
  • Vulnerability detection
  • Configuration assessment
  • Malware detection
  • Compliance checking
  • Cloud security assessment
  • Mobile scanning
  • API access

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Soketi

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

Tenable Nessus

  • Vulnerability scanning of servers, network devices and web applicationsnot Soketi
  • Configuration and compliance auditing against hardening benchmarksnot Soketi
  • Point in time assessments by consultants and penetration testersnot Soketi

Where each one falls short

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

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.

Tenable Nessus

  • Nessus Professional is $4,790 for one year, sold as an annual licence rather than a per scan or usage based fee
  • Support beyond the base entitlement costs an extra $400 per year for Advanced Support with 24x365 phone and chat access
  • The on demand training course is a separate $275 purchase for a single person for one year
  • Multi year discounts require paying for two or three years up front

Pricing, plan by plan

Soketi

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

Tenable Nessus

Free
  • Nessus EssentialsFree
    • Up to 16 ips
    • Network scanning
    • Vulnerability assessment
  • Nessus Professional$2600/year
    • Unlimited targets
    • Enterprise features
    • Advanced analytics
  • Nessus Expert$5200/year
    • All Professional features
    • Cloud integration
    • Advanced reporting

Which should you pick?

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

Choose Tenable Nessus if

  • You need network scanning.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, Linux, Macos, Cloud.
  • You also want vulnerability detection.
Tenable Nessus review

Questions people ask

Is Soketi or Tenable Nessus better?
Neither clearly leads. Soketi starts at Free and Tenable Nessus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Soketi or Tenable Nessus?
Soketi starts at Free and Tenable Nessus at Free.
Does Soketi or Tenable Nessus run on more platforms?
Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows. Tenable Nessus runs on Windows, Linux, Macos, Cloud.
Can I use Soketi for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Soketi best used for?
Soketi is most often used for a laravel application that already uses echo and wants to stop paying a hosted realtime provider, realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasons, a local or ci environment that needs a pusher-compatible server without hitting a paid account, a high-connection-count application where hosted per-connection pricing has become the largest line in the infrastructure bill. Of those, a laravel application that already uses echo and wants to stop paying a hosted realtime provider and realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasons are not what Tenable Nessus is typically brought in for.
What can Soketi do that Tenable Nessus cannot?
Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends. Tenable Nessus covers Network scanning, Vulnerability detection, Configuration assessment, Malware detection.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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.

Tenable Nessus: What are the three Nessus offerings?

Nessus Essentials is a free introductory offering for educators, students, and career starters, limited to 16 IPs for scanning. Nessus Professional is designed for consultants and SMBs, providing unlimited IT scans across any location. Nessus Expert is the premium offering extending Professional with web application scanning, infrastructure-as-code scanning, and external attack surface assessment up to 5 domains.

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.

Tenable Nessus: What OS platforms does Nessus support?

Nessus runs on Debian/Kali Linux, Fedora, FreeBSD, Mac OS X, Red Hat/CentOS, SUSE Linux, Ubuntu, and various Windows versions including Server 2008, 2012, and Windows 7-10.

Source
Soketi: What does it cost?

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

Tenable Nessus: Can I use Nessus to scan third-party networks as a consultant?

Yes, Tenable permits you to use Nessus to scan third-party networks. Nessus Professional is ideal for consultants.

Source
Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

Tenable Nessus: Can Nessus perform PCI external scanning?

Yes, you can use Nessus Professional to perform external network scans as required by the PCI DSS 11.2.2 requirement.

Source
Tenable Nessus: What additional features does Nessus Expert provide?

Web application scanning, which is dynamic application security testing (DAST) providing comprehensive visibility and insight into web application security issues; scanning code repositories for vulnerabilities; and assessing external attack surface with subdomain discovery.

Source
Tenable Nessus: What support options exist for Nessus Professional?

Standard Support includes software upgrades, patches, plugin access, and 24x7 support via chat and community portal. Advanced Support adds 24x7 phone access and committed SLAs: P1 less than 2 hours, P2 less than 4 hours, P3 less than 12 hours, P4 less than 24 hours.

Source
Tenable Nessus: How frequently are Nessus plugins updated?

Nessus plugins are updated daily, based on when vendors and security research sites publish new vulnerabilities.

Source
Tenable Nessus: How does licensing work in virtual machine environments?

Whether you are using Nessus in a physical or a virtual environment, the IP addresses or hosts that you are scanning from must be licensed.

Source
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