# Soketify: the Ably alternative on an open protocol

The Pusher-protocol alternative to Ably: open-standard SDKs instead of a proprietary protocol, and flat pricing instead of per-message billing.

Canonical page: https://soketify.com/ably-alternative · Last reviewed: 2026-08-21

## Pusher protocol compatibility

Supported end to end: the WebSocket connection protocol, the REST trigger API,
batch triggers, channel authorization signed with the app secret, presence
member tracking, client events, and webhooks with signature verification.

Channel types: public, private, encrypted, presence, cache.

Client SDKs that work unchanged: pusher-js, pusher-websocket-swift, pusher-websocket-java, pusher-websocket-react-native, Laravel Echo.

Server SDKs that work unchanged: pusher (Node.js), pusher-http-php, pusher-http-python, pusher-http-ruby, pusher-http-go, pusher-http-java, pusher-http-dotnet.

The `cluster` option is still required by pusher-js and is accepted and
ignored, because routing is global rather than per cluster.

## Pricing

Every plan is a flat monthly fee. There is no per-message charge, no
per-connection overage charge, and no separate charge for large event payloads.

| Plan | Price (USD/month) | Concurrent connections | Messages / month | Apps | Max event payload |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Free | $0 | 200 | 6,000,000 | 3 | 100 KB |
| Indie | $9 | 500 | 50,000,000 | 5 | 256 KB |
| Startup | $19 | 2,000 | 150,000,000 | 10 | 512 KB |
| Scale | $59 | 6,000 | 400,000,000 | 15 | 1 MB |
| Scale-1 | $149 | 10,000 | 1,000,000,000 | 25 | 2 MB |
| Scale-2 | $299 | 20,000 | 1,800,000,000 | 50 | 4 MB |

Plans can be changed at any time and take effect immediately. The Free plan
needs no credit card.

### Cost against Pusher at comparable usage

| Usage | Pusher (estimated) | Soketify | Difference |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 200 concurrent connections, 6M messages/month | $0/mo | $0/mo | Both free |
| 500 concurrent connections, 30M messages/month | $49/mo | $9/mo | About 82% less |
| 1,000 concurrent connections, 100M messages/month | $299/mo | $19/mo | About 94% less |
| 2,000 concurrent connections, 400M messages/month | $599/mo | $59/mo | About 90% less |
| 10,000 concurrent connections, 1B+ messages/month | Sales call required | $149/mo | Pusher requires a sales call; Soketify stays list-priced |

Pusher figures are estimates from published Pusher Channels pricing as of 2026
and can change. Soketify figures are list prices. Pusher's default maximum event
size is 10 KB, above which it requires a paid add-on, and it does not deliver
events larger than 256 KB at any price; Soketify includes 100 KB on
Free and up to 4 MB on the top plan at no extra charge.

## Frequently asked questions

### What is a good alternative to Ably?

Soketify, if your priority is an open protocol and predictable pricing. Ably runs a proprietary protocol reached through Ably's own SDKs, so the integration is specific to Ably. Soketify runs the Pusher protocol, which has mature open-source SDKs in every mainstream language, so the client code is portable between any Pusher-compatible provider.

### How is Soketify pricing different from Ably pricing?

Ably meters messages and channel minutes, so the invoice tracks product engagement. Soketify charges a flat monthly fee per plan, from $0 to $299 per month, with no per-message component. Two months of very different traffic produce the same Soketify invoice as long as you stay inside your plan.

### Does moving off Ably mean rewriting my client code?

It means replacing Ably's SDK with an official Pusher SDK, then pointing that SDK at Soketify. That is more work than migrating from Pusher, where nothing but the host changes, and it is the cost of leaving any proprietary protocol. After the move the code is standard Pusher-protocol code.

### Does Soketify support presence and history like Ably?

Presence yes, history no. Presence channels track members joining and leaving with the same semantics as the Pusher protocol. Soketify does not persist messages, so there is no message history API: undelivered messages are not replayed on reconnect, and applications that need replay store messages in their own database.