Developer Tools · head to head
Soketi vs TestNG
Soketi
Developer Tools
Self-hosted, Pusher-compatible WebSockets server with a stalled maintenance record
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
TestNG
Testing
Java testing framework created by Cedric Beust, still actively maintained but effectively a single-lead project
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
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.; TestNG maintainership is concentrated around creator Cedric Beust rather than a broad team or foundation, which is a real continuity risk compared to JUnit's independent team or Jest's foundation backing.
- They diverge on capability: Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, TestNG covers Test dependencies.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Soketi and TestNG actually diverge.
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 Soketi
- Pusher protocol compatibility
- Presence and private channels
- Horizontal scaling
- App management backends
- Webhooks
- Prometheus metrics
Only in TestNG
- Test dependencies
- XML suite configuration
- Native parallel execution
- Data providers
- Grouping
- Flexible reporting
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 TestNG
- Realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasonsnot TestNG
- A local or CI environment that needs a Pusher-compatible server without hitting a paid accountnot TestNG
- A high-connection-count application where hosted per-connection pricing has become the largest line in the infrastructure billnot TestNG
TestNG
- A Java integration test suite that needs to skip dependent tests automatically when a prerequisite test failsnot Soketi
- A team wanting XML-based suite configuration to manage large, grouped test suites without touching code for each runnot Soketi
- A project needing native parallel test execution at the class or method level without adding a separate pluginnot Soketi
- A Selenium-based UI test suite that uses TestNG as the underlying runner for grouping and parallelisationnot 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.
TestNG
- Maintainership is concentrated around creator Cedric Beust rather than a broad team or foundation, which is a real continuity risk compared to JUnit's independent team or Jest's foundation backing.
- It is a smaller ecosystem than JUnit, so fewer third-party integrations, tutorials and Stack Overflow answers exist for edge cases.
- XML-based suite configuration, while powerful, is an extra file and syntax to maintain alongside the codebase, which some teams find adds friction JUnit's more code-centric model avoids.
- There is no commercial support tier or vendor relationship of any kind, unlike JUnit's OpenElements arrangement, so an enterprise wanting a support contract has no route to buy one.
- Release cadence, while active, is slower and less frequent than JUnit 5's, since it depends on a much smaller pool of active maintainers.
Pricing, plan by plan
Soketi
Free- SoketiFree
- MIT licensed
- Unlimited connections subject to your own hardware
- No vendor billing
TestNG
Free- TestNGFree
- Full functionality, no usage limits
- Community support via GitHub
- No commercial support tier exists
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.
Choose TestNG if
- You need test dependencies.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, macOS, Windows.
- You also want xml suite configuration.
Questions people ask
- Is Soketi or TestNG better?
- Neither clearly leads. Soketi starts at Free and TestNG at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Soketi or TestNG?
- Soketi starts at Free and TestNG at Free.
- Does Soketi or TestNG run on more platforms?
- Both run on Linux, macOS, Windows, so platform support will not decide this one for you.
- 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 TestNG is typically brought in for.
- What can Soketi do that TestNG cannot?
- Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends. TestNG covers Test dependencies, XML suite configuration, Native parallel execution, Data providers.
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.
TestNG: Is TestNG still actively maintained in 2026?
Yes, it continues to receive releases in its 7.x line with support for current Java versions, though maintenance is concentrated around a small team led by its creator.
Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?
No. Pusher client SDKs and Laravel Echo work by changing the host, port and credentials.
TestNG: What does TestNG offer that JUnit does not?
Native test dependencies, XML-based suite configuration and built-in parallel execution without needing external plugins, all of which JUnit users typically add via separate libraries.
Soketi: What does it cost?
Nothing in licence fees. It is MIT licensed; you pay for the server it runs on.
TestNG: Is there a commercial support option for TestNG?
No, unlike JUnit there is no commercial support arrangement; support is purely community-based through GitHub.
Soketi: What are people moving to?
Laravel Reverb for Laravel applications, and Sockudo, a Rust reimplementation, for others.
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- TestNG vs Visual Studio Code
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- TestNG vs Bazel
- TestNG vs Eclipse IDE
- TestNG vs Pants Build
- TestNG vs Swagger UI
- TestNG vs Ansible
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- TestNG vs ConfigCat
- TestNG vs Cortex
- TestNG vs Dagger
- TestNG vs Deno
- TestNG vs Fig
- TestNG vs JUnit
- TestNG vs pytest
- TestNG vs Appium
- TestNG vs Selenium
- TestNG vs Vitest
- TestNG vs Katalon
- TestNG vs QA Wolf
- TestNG vs Robot Framework
- TestNG vs Xray Test Management
- TestNG vs Testsigma
- TestNG vs Zephyr Scale
- TestNG vs Qase
- TestNG vs Applitools
- TestNG vs Percy
- TestNG vs Jest
- TestNG vs WebdriverIO