Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

uWebSockets VS SockJS

Compare uWebSockets VS SockJS and see what are their differences

uWebSockets logo uWebSockets

Simple, secure & standards compliant web I/O for the most demanding of applications - uNetworking/uWebSockets

SockJS logo SockJS

SockJS is a browser JavaScript library that provides a WebSocket-like object.
  • uWebSockets Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-27
  • SockJS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-24

uWebSockets features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

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.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to uWebSockets and SockJS)
App Development
51 51%
49% 49
Developer Tools
47 47%
53% 53
Mobile Push Messaging
41 41%
59% 59
Backend As A Service
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, SockJS seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 2 times since March 2021. 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.

uWebSockets mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of uWebSockets yet. Tracking of uWebSockets recommendations started around Mar 2021.

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

What are some alternatives?

When comparing uWebSockets and SockJS, 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.

Faye - Simple pub/sub messaging for the web

SignalR - SignalR is a server-side software system designed for writing scalable Internet applications, notably web servers.