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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
  3. Platform as a Service
  4. Realtime Backend API
  5. NATS vs SocketCluster

NATS vs SocketCluster

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

NATS
NATS
Stacks393
Followers498
Votes60
SocketCluster
SocketCluster
Stacks47
Followers168
Votes47
GitHub Stars6.2K
Forks322

NATS vs SocketCluster: What are the differences?

What is NATS? Lightweight publish-subscribe & distributed queueing messaging system. Unlike traditional enterprise messaging systems, NATS has an always-on dial tone that does whatever it takes to remain available. This forms a great base for building modern, reliable, and scalable cloud and distributed systems.

What is SocketCluster? An open, scalable realtime engine for Node.js. SocketCluster is a fast, highly scalable HTTP + realtime server engine which lets you build multi-process realtime servers that make use of all CPU cores on a machine/instance. It removes the limitations of having to run your Node.js server as a single thread and makes your backend resilient by automatically recovering from worker crashes and aggregating errors into a central log.

NATS and SocketCluster can be primarily classified as "Realtime Backend / API" tools.

"Fastest pub-sub system out there" is the primary reason why developers consider NATS over the competitors, whereas "Cluster mode is awesome" was stated as the key factor in picking SocketCluster.

SocketCluster is an open source tool with 5.35K GitHub stars and 283 GitHub forks. Here's a link to SocketCluster's open source repository on GitHub.

According to the StackShare community, NATS has a broader approval, being mentioned in 26 company stacks & 12 developers stacks; compared to SocketCluster, which is listed in 6 company stacks and 3 developer stacks.

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CLI (Node.js)
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Manual

Detailed Comparison

NATS
NATS
SocketCluster
SocketCluster

Unlike traditional enterprise messaging systems, NATS has an always-on dial tone that does whatever it takes to remain available. This forms a great base for building modern, reliable, and scalable cloud and distributed systems.

SocketCluster is a fast, highly scalable HTTP + realtime server engine which lets you build multi-process realtime servers that make use of all CPU cores on a machine/instance. It removes the limitations of having to run your Node.js server as a single thread and makes your backend resilient by automatically recovering from worker crashes and aggregating errors into a central log.

-
Resilient on both the client and backend - Process crashes, lost connections and other failures are handled seamlessly.;Scales linearly as you add more CPU cores and workers (assuming a decent OS) - Tested with up to 16 cores.;Also designed to scale horizontally across multiple machines. See sc-redis sample.
Statistics
GitHub Stars
-
GitHub Stars
6.2K
GitHub Forks
-
GitHub Forks
322
Stacks
393
Stacks
47
Followers
498
Followers
168
Votes
60
Votes
47
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 22
    Fastest pub-sub system out there
  • 16
    Rock solid
  • 12
    Easy to grasp
  • 4
    Easy, Fast, Secure
  • 4
    Light-weight
Cons
  • 2
    Persistence with Jetstream supported
  • 1
    No Order
  • 1
    No Persistence
Pros
  • 12
    Cluster mode is awesome
  • 8
    WebSockets
  • 7
    Scalability
  • 4
    Real-time
  • 4
    JWT based Authentication
Integrations
No integrations available
Node.js
Node.js

What are some alternatives to NATS, SocketCluster?

Firebase

Firebase

Firebase is a cloud service designed to power real-time, collaborative applications. Simply add the Firebase library to your application to gain access to a shared data structure; any changes you make to that data are automatically synchronized with the Firebase cloud and with other clients within milliseconds.

Socket.IO

Socket.IO

It enables real-time bidirectional event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.

PubNub

PubNub

PubNub makes it easy for you to add real-time capabilities to your apps, without worrying about the infrastructure. Build apps that allow your users to engage in real-time across mobile, browser, desktop and server.

Pusher

Pusher

Pusher is the category leader in delightful APIs for app developers building communication and collaboration features.

SignalR

SignalR

SignalR allows bi-directional communication between server and client. Servers can now push content to connected clients instantly as it becomes available. SignalR supports Web Sockets, and falls back to other compatible techniques for older browsers. SignalR includes APIs for connection management (for instance, connect and disconnect events), grouping connections, and authorization.

Ably

Ably

Ably offers WebSockets, stream resume, history, presence, and managed third-party integrations to make it simple to build, extend, and deliver digital realtime experiences at scale.

Syncano

Syncano

Syncano is a backend platform to build powerful real-time apps more efficiently. Integrate with any API, minimize boilerplate code and control your data - all from one place.

deepstream.io

deepstream.io

Scalable Server for Realtime Web Apps with JSON structures that can be read, manipulated and listened to, messages that can be sent to one or more subscribers, and request response workflows, between two clients or servers.

8base

8base

A cloud service designed to power enterprise-grade web and mobile applications that require support for large numbers of users, complex data and transactional requirements, comprehensive role-based security and a modern look-and-feel.

Supabase

Supabase

Supabase is currently in early-Alpha .It is an open-source Firebase alternative. It adds realtime and RESTful APIs to your PostgreSQL database without a single line of code.

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