Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

SockJS VS Pusher

Compare SockJS VS Pusher and see what are their differences

SockJS logo SockJS

SockJS is a browser JavaScript library that provides a WebSocket-like object.

Pusher logo Pusher

Pusher is a hosted API for quickly, easily and securely adding scalable realtime functionality via WebSockets to web and mobile apps.
  • SockJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-24
  • Pusher Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-05

SockJS features and specs

  • Cross-browser Compatibility
    SockJS provides a consistent WebSocket-like API that works across all modern browsers, including fallback options for older browsers that don't support WebSockets.
  • Fallback Options
    SockJS automatically uses the best-available transport method, such as JSONP, XHR streaming, or XHR polling, ensuring connectivity even in challenging network environments.
  • Reliability
    By offering multiple transport methods, SockJS provides reliable real-time communication even when WebSocket connections might be unstable or unsupported.
  • Ease of Use
    SockJS abstracts the complexity of managing various transport protocols, allowing developers to focus on implementing application logic rather than handling connection details.
  • Server Support
    SockJS is supported by several server-side implementations in different programming languages, enabling flexibility in choosing backend technologies.

Possible disadvantages of SockJS

  • Overhead
    The additional abstraction layer and fallback mechanisms may introduce some overhead compared to using native WebSockets directly, impacting performance to some extent.
  • Configuration Complexity
    Setting up SockJS with proper fallback handling and configuring the server-side components might be more complex than using native WebSockets, especially for simple use cases.
  • Less Control
    Developers have less control over the specific transport protocols being used, which might be a disadvantage in scenarios where such control is necessary for optimization or monitoring purposes.
  • Potential Latency
    Using fallback transports like polling can introduce higher latency compared to native WebSocket connections, which might not be suitable for highly time-sensitive applications.
  • Project Maintenance
    As an open-source project, SockJS relies on community support for maintenance and updates. This could pose a risk if development and support decline over time.

Pusher features and specs

  • Real-Time Capabilities
    Pusher offers real-time data transfer, enabling instant updates and live feeds without the need for page refreshes. Its WebSockets-based architecture ensures low latency communication.
  • Ease of Use
    The API is straightforward to integrate, with comprehensive documentation and SDKs for various programming languages and platforms, making implementation quick and painless.
  • Scalability
    Pusher can handle a large number of concurrent connections, making it suitable for applications that need to scale seamlessly as user demand grows.
  • Security
    Pusher provides built-in authentication and authorization options, ensuring that data is secure and accessible only to authorized users.
  • Managed Service
    As a managed service, it eliminates the need for maintaining the infrastructure for real-time functionality, freeing up resources and reducing operational complexity.

Possible disadvantages of Pusher

  • Cost
    Pusher can become expensive, especially for applications with high traffic or requiring a large number of concurrent connections, making it less suitable for startups or small-scale projects on a tight budget.
  • Vendor Lock-In
    Relying heavily on Pusher's services can lead to vendor lock-in, making it challenging to migrate to another service or in-house solution in the future.
  • Limited Offline Functionality
    Pusher is designed for real-time online communication, and it does not inherently support offline capabilities, which can be a limitation for applications that need to function without a constant internet connection.
  • Complexity for Advanced Use Cases
    While it's easy to set up for basic use cases, implementing more complex scenarios may require additional configuration and a deeper understanding of the architecture.
  • Latency
    Even though Pusher boasts low-latency communication, network conditions and geographical distances can still introduce lag, which might not be acceptable for ultra-low-latency requirements like high-frequency trading.

SockJS videos

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Pusher videos

Mark Kermode reviews Pusher

More videos:

  • Review - Pusher (1996) - Movie Review
  • Review - Film Recommendations: The Pusher Trilogy

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to SockJS and Pusher)
Developer Tools
11 11%
89% 89
Mobile Push Messaging
9 9%
91% 91
App Development
100 100%
0% 0
Web Push Notifications
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare SockJS and Pusher

SockJS Reviews

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Pusher Reviews

SignalR Alternatives
Pusher as a signal Alternative comes into the picture when it is simple and has free plans for the fallback of SSE to make the frame and log polling also available to the developers for troubleshooting as well.
Source: www.educba.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Pusher seems to be a lot more popular than SockJS. While we know about 55 links to Pusher, we've tracked only 2 mentions of SockJS. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

SockJS mentions (2)

  • WebSockets and Node.js - testing WS and SockJS by building a web app
    SockJS is a library that mimics the native WebSockets API. Additionally, it will fall back to HTTP whenever a WebSocket fails to connect, or if the browser being used doesn’t support WebSockets. Like WS, SockJS requires a server counterpart; its maintainers provide both a JavaScript client library and a Node.js server library. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Top WebSocket libraries for Node.js in 2022
    SockJS is a JavaScript library that provides communication between the client and the server in a way similar to the native WebSockets API. SockJS functions with a server counterpart in the form of sockjs-node and SockJS-client, a JavaScript client library. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago

Pusher mentions (55)

  • 5 Must-Watch Tutorials to Build Your SaaS App in 2025
    In this tutorial, you’ll create a Next.js project with TailwindCSS and build custom authentication pages for Clerk without the watermark. This means you’ll create a custom Clerk authentication component, allowing you to have a UI without the Clerk branding in the authentication component. You’ll then set up file uploads using Uploadcare and create custom theming with Shadcn UI for light and dark modes. A real-time... - Source: dev.to / 2 months ago
  • PubNub vs Pusher creating a realtime messaging app in React
    When talking about general IM applications, having the ability to speak to someone in real-time opens up the door to so many unique possibilities. Our world has become ever more connected as a result of these newfound capabilities. In todays article we will learn all about messaging as we build a real-time messaging application. The application will be able to connect to two different real-time application... - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • 10 Must-Use APIs for Your Next SaaS Project
    For real-time notifications, Pusher’s APIs allow you to implement in-app notifications, chat features, and collaboration tools easily. You can find it here. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • How to Build a Real-time Chat App with Laravel, Vue.js, and Pusher
    Pusher is a cloud-hosted service that makes adding real-time functionality to applications easy. It acts as a real-time communication layer between servers and clients. This allows your backend server to instantly broadcast new data via Pusher to your Vue.js client. - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Show HN: Webhooked.email (2023)
    Feature request received! Pusher as in this thing -- https://pusher.com/ right? Any other places you want to push to? Slack? - Source: Hacker News / 9 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing SockJS and Pusher, you can also consider the following products

Socket.io - Realtime application framework (Node.JS server)

SocketCluster - An open, scalable realtime engine for Node.js

Firebase - Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications for mobile and web.

UbSub - Quickly and easily distribute your events between services. See a log stream and debug events before they even get to your services.

PubNub - PubNub is a real-time messaging system for web and mobile apps that can handle API for all platforms and push messages to any device anywhere in the world in a fraction of a second without having to worry about proxies, firewalls or mobile drop-offs.

Faye - Simple pub/sub messaging for the web