Real-time without the complexity
Ably's proprietary protocol means proprietary lock-in. Soketify uses the battle-tested Pusher protocol — an open standard with mature SDKs in every language. Simpler architecture, clearer pricing.
Why developers switch from Ably
Ably is powerful but comes with trade-offs that matter at scale.
Proprietary protocol lock-in
Ably uses a custom protocol with proprietary SDKs. If you build on Ably, you're locked to Ably. Soketify uses the Pusher protocol — an industry standard supported by dozens of open-source client and server libraries. You can always switch to any Pusher-compatible provider.
Per-message pricing adds up fast
Ably charges per message, per connection minute, and per channel. This pricing model punishes high-frequency use cases like typing indicators, cursor positions, and live feeds. Soketify uses flat-tier pricing: pick a plan and build without metering anxiety.
Over-engineered for most use cases
Ably offers message history, global ordering guarantees, and a complex feature set that most real-time apps don't need. You pay for that complexity in pricing and integration time. Soketify focuses on what 95% of apps actually need: fast pub/sub with channels and presence.
Ably vs Soketify
Side-by-side comparison for real-time WebSocket infrastructure.
| Ably | Soketify | |
|---|---|---|
| Protocol | Proprietary Ably protocol | Open Pusher protocol |
| SDK ecosystem | Ably-specific SDKs | Pusher SDKs (all languages) |
| Vendor lock-in | High (proprietary protocol) | None (standard protocol) |
| Pricing model | Per-message + connection minutes | Flat monthly tiers |
| 100M msgs/mo | ~$299/mo | $19/mo |
| Public channels | Yes | Yes |
| Private channels | Yes | Yes |
| Presence | Yes | Yes |
| Message history | Yes (adds cost) | Not included |
| Free tier | 6M msgs, 200 connections | 6M msgs, 200 connections |
| Transparent pricing | Custom pricing at scale | Public pricing up to 20K |
| Migration effort | Full SDK rewrite required | Config change (if from Pusher) |
The Pusher protocol advantage
Soketify builds on an established, widely-adopted protocol instead of inventing a new one.
Ecosystem, not lock-in
The Pusher protocol has official and community SDKs in JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, Python, Java, Swift, .NET, Go, and more. You're never locked into a single vendor.
Battle-tested at scale
The Pusher protocol has been in production for over a decade, powering billions of messages daily across thousands of applications worldwide.
Simple mental model
Channels, events, presence. That's it. No complex ordering guarantees, no message persistence layers, no rewind tokens. Just fast, reliable pub/sub.
Proven authentication
Signature-based channel authentication is simple to implement, well-documented, and battle-tested across millions of applications.
Pricing that doesn't punish success
Ably's per-message pricing means your bill grows with every feature you ship. Soketify's flat tiers mean you can build without a calculator open.
Ably at 50M msgs/mo
$149+
Per-message + connection minutes
Ably at 400M msgs/mo
$599+
Custom pricing required
Soketify at 400M msgs/mo
$60
Flat price, 6K connections included
Migrating from Ably
Since Ably uses a proprietary protocol, migration requires switching to Pusher-compatible SDKs. Here's what that looks like.
import Ably from "ably";
const ably = new Ably.Realtime({
key: "your-ably-key"
});
const channel = ably.channels.get(
"my-channel"
);
channel.subscribe("event", (msg) => {
console.log(msg.data);
});import Pusher from "pusher-js";
const pusher = new Pusher("app-key", {
wsHost: "ws.soketify.com",
forceTLS: true,
});
const channel = pusher.subscribe(
"my-channel"
);
channel.bind("event", (data) => {
console.log(data);
});The client API surface is similar. The main difference is switching from Ably's proprietary SDK to the standard Pusher SDK, which works with Soketify out of the box.
Simpler protocol. Clearer pricing.
Better real-time.
Stop paying per message. Stop using proprietary SDKs. Build on an open protocol with predictable costs.
Free tier with 200 connections and 6M messages. No credit card.