Developer Tools · head to head
Soketi vs VerneMQ
Soketi
Developer Tools
Self-hosted, Pusher-compatible WebSockets server with a stalled maintenance record
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
VerneMQ
Databases
Erlang MQTT broker whose source is Apache 2.0 but whose official binaries need a paid subscription
- 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.; VerneMQ the official binaries and Docker images are not Apache 2.0 but sit under a EULA requiring a yearly commercial subscription, a distinction easy to miss and awkward to discover during a licence audit.
- They diverge on capability: Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, VerneMQ covers Erlang/OTP clustering.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Soketi and VerneMQ actually diverge.
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 VerneMQ
- Erlang/OTP clustering
- MQTT 5.0 support
- Plugin system
- Backpressure handling
- Bridge support
- Metrics export
- MQTT over WebSockets
- Pluggable auth backends
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 VerneMQ
- Realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasonsnot VerneMQ
- A local or CI environment that needs a Pusher-compatible server without hitting a paid accountnot VerneMQ
- A high-connection-count application where hosted per-connection pricing has become the largest line in the infrastructure billnot VerneMQ
VerneMQ
- An industrial operator that wants an MQTT broker with predictable memory behaviour and no data integration features it will not usenot Soketi
- A team building from source to stay strictly under Apache 2.0 terms with no vendor licence entanglementnot Soketi
- A deployment needing custom authentication logic implemented as a plugin in Lua or over a webhooknot Soketi
- An organisation that wants a broker maintained by a small European company rather than by a vendor that keeps changing licencesnot 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.
VerneMQ
- The official binaries and Docker images are not Apache 2.0 but sit under a EULA requiring a yearly commercial subscription, a distinction easy to miss and awkward to discover during a licence audit.
- Octavo Labs is a very small company, so support depth, response times and the bus factor on the codebase are materially thinner than at HiveMQ or EMQ.
- There is no data integration or rule engine layer, so routing messages into a database means writing and operating your own consumer service.
- Operating an Erlang cluster requires runtime knowledge that most teams do not have and will use for nothing else in their stack.
- There is no vendor-managed cloud offering, so every deployment is self-operated with the infrastructure and on-call cost that implies.
Pricing, plan by plan
Soketi
Free- SoketiFree
- MIT licensed
- Unlimited connections subject to your own hardware
- No vendor billing
VerneMQ
Free- Source buildFree
- Apache 2.0 licensed source from GitHub
- Full clustering and plugin capability
- You compile and package it yourself
- Binary packages and Docker images$undefined/year
- Covered by the VerneMQ EULA, not Apache 2.0
- Yearly usage subscription expected for commercial use
- Official builds and Docker images
- Commercial support$undefined/year
- Evaluation, customisation and operations assistance
- Custom development
- Long-term maintenance agreements
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 VerneMQ if
- You need erlang/otp clustering.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Docker, macOS, Kubernetes.
- You also want mqtt 5.0 support.
Questions people ask
- Is Soketi or VerneMQ better?
- Neither clearly leads. Soketi starts at Free and VerneMQ at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Soketi or VerneMQ?
- Soketi starts at Free and VerneMQ at Free.
- Does Soketi or VerneMQ run on more platforms?
- Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows. VerneMQ runs on Linux, Docker, macOS, Kubernetes.
- 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 VerneMQ is typically brought in for.
- What can Soketi do that VerneMQ cannot?
- Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends. VerneMQ covers Erlang/OTP clustering, MQTT 5.0 support, Plugin system, Backpressure handling.
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.
VerneMQ: Is VerneMQ free?
The source is Apache 2.0 and free. The official binary packages and Docker images are covered by a separate EULA that expects a yearly fee for commercial use.
Soketi: Do I need to change my client code?
No. Pusher client SDKs and Laravel Echo work by changing the host, port and credentials.
VerneMQ: Is the project still maintained?
Yes. Octavo Labs AG in Zurich continues to publish 2.x releases, most recently in 2026.
Soketi: What does it cost?
Nothing in licence fees. It is MIT licensed; you pay for the server it runs on.
VerneMQ: Does it have a managed cloud?
No. Every deployment is self-hosted, with commercial support available from Octavo Labs.
Soketi: What are people moving to?
Laravel Reverb for Laravel applications, and Sockudo, a Rust reimplementation, for others.
VerneMQ: How does it compare to EMQX?
Narrower in features and without a rule engine, but with a simpler licence story for source builds after EMQX moved to BSL.
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