Faye vs SocketCluster
Faye
faye.jcoglan.comSocketCluster
socketcluster.ioSide by side
| Figure | Faye | SocketCluster |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · WebSocket Tools | 8.8 (#3) | 7.7 (#9) |
| Spec score · Message Broker Software | 8.7 (#6) | 7.6 (#25) |
| Integrations | The download instructions provide installation through npm for Node.js and RubyGems for Ruby. | The documentation describes running SocketCluster with frameworks such as Express and deploying it on Kubernetes inside Docker containers. |
| License | Faye is open-source software released under the Apache 2.0 license. | The SocketCluster repository states that the project is distributed under the MIT License. |
| Purpose | Faye is a publish-subscribe messaging system based on the Bayeux protocol. | SocketCluster is an HTTP and WebSockets server environment for building scalable, multi-process real-time systems such as pub/sub and RPC applications. |
| Reconnect behavior | The browser client can retry connections and redeliver messages after network errors. | When a client loses its connection, its channels enter a pending state and automatically resubscribe after reconnection. |
| Scaling | The default in-process engine cannot run one Faye service across multiple front-end web servers; separate Redis and Couchbase engines are documented for distributed deployments. | It is designed to scale vertically across processes and horizontally across machines or instances. |
Plans
In their own words
Faye
Faye is a publish-subscribe messaging system that uses the Bayeux protocol. It provides message servers for Node.js and Ruby, plus clients for servers and major web browsers. Browser clients rely on a Faye server to relay messages; they can retry after a lost connection and redeliver dropped messages. Transport adapters cover WebSocket, HTTP long-polling, Cross Origin Resource Sharing, and JSON-P callback-polling. Server and client extensions can intercept or modify messages, including to add subscription authentication. The monitoring API reports handshakes, subscriptions, unsubscriptions, publishes, and disconnections. Faye runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and can be self-hosted. Its default in-process engine cannot span multiple front-end web servers, but Redis and Couchbase engines are documented for distributed deployments. Faye is free and open source under the Apache 2.0 license; the listed plan is free. Install the Node.js server through npm or the Ruby server through RubyGems.
SocketCluster
SocketCluster has no write-up on Specifiction yet; its figures are above.