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Developer Tools · head to head

Soketi vs Zabbix Cloud

Soketi logo

Soketi

Developer Tools

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

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Full reviewWebsite
Zabbix Cloud logo

Zabbix Cloud

Technology

Zabbix monitoring, fully managed

From
$50/month
Free plan
No
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Soketi has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • 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.; Zabbix Cloud billed by NVPS (new values per second) rather than by number of monitored hosts, so cost scales with metric volume: Nano starts at $50/month for 50 NVPS and 2xLarge reaches $5,000/month for 10,000 NVPS
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Soketi and Zabbix Cloud actually diverge.

Attributes where Soketi and Zabbix Cloud differ
AttributeSoketiZabbix Cloud
Starting priceFree$50/month
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feesubscription
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, macOS, WindowsWeb
CategoryDeveloper ToolsTechnology

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 Soketi

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

Only in Zabbix Cloud

Nothing recorded that Soketi does not also cover.

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 Zabbix Cloud
  • Realtime notifications or presence indicators where data must not leave your own infrastructure for compliance reasonsnot Zabbix Cloud
  • A local or CI environment that needs a Pusher-compatible server without hitting a paid accountnot Zabbix Cloud
  • A high-connection-count application where hosted per-connection pricing has become the largest line in the infrastructure billnot Zabbix Cloud

Zabbix Cloud

  • Network performance monitoring and detectionnot Soketi
  • Server health and performance trackingnot Soketi
  • Container monitoring in Kubernetes environmentsnot Soketi
  • Database performance across vendor platformsnot Soketi
  • VMware and Windows infrastructure observationnot 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.

Zabbix Cloud

  • Billed by NVPS (new values per second) rather than by number of monitored hosts, so cost scales with metric volume: Nano starts at $50/month for 50 NVPS and 2xLarge reaches $5,000/month for 10,000 NVPS
  • The free trial lasts only 5 days before a paid subscription is required
  • Annual subscription is needed to get the 10% discount; the base prices listed are monthly rates

Pricing, plan by plan

Soketi

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

Zabbix Cloud

$50/month
  • Nano$50/month
    • 50 NVPS
    • 10GB storage free
  • Micro$100/month
    • 100 NVPS
  • Small$250/month
    • 250 NVPS
  • Medium$750/month
    • 1000 NVPS

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 Zabbix Cloud if

Nothing in the data separates Zabbix Cloud from Soketi on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Zabbix Cloud review

Questions people ask

Is Soketi or Zabbix Cloud better?
Neither clearly leads. Soketi starts at Free and Zabbix Cloud at $50/month, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Soketi or Zabbix Cloud?
Soketi has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Soketi and $50/month for Zabbix Cloud.
Does Soketi or Zabbix Cloud run on more platforms?
Soketi runs on Linux, macOS, Windows. Zabbix Cloud runs on Web.
Can I use Soketi for free?
Yes. Soketi has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Zabbix Cloud starts at $50/month.
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 Zabbix Cloud is typically brought in for.
What can Soketi do that Zabbix Cloud cannot?
Soketi covers Pusher protocol compatibility, Presence and private channels, Horizontal scaling, App management backends.

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.

Zabbix Cloud: What is the starting price for Zabbix Cloud?

Zabbix Cloud starts at $50 per month for the Nano tier, which includes 50 NVPS and 10GB of free storage. Pricing scales up to $5000 monthly for the 2xLarge tier with 10000 NVPS.

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.

Zabbix Cloud: Is there a free trial for Zabbix Cloud?

Yes, Zabbix Cloud offers a 5-day free trial with no credit card required. After the trial, you save 10% by converting to an annual subscription.

Source
Soketi: What does it cost?

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

Zabbix Cloud: How does annual billing work with Zabbix Cloud?

Annual subscribers receive a 10% discount on monthly pricing. A pricing calculator is available to estimate costs based on devices, metrics, update intervals, and storage requirements.

Source
Soketi: What are people moving to?

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

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