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Faye vs Socket.IO: What are the differences?
Introduction:
Faye and Socket.IO are both popular JavaScript libraries used for real-time communication between a client and a server. While they serve similar purposes, there are key differences between them that are important to understand.
Architecture: The architecture of Faye and Socket.IO is significantly different. Faye follows a publish-subscribe model, where clients subscribe to specific channels and receive messages published to those channels. On the other hand, Socket.IO utilizes a bidirectional event-based communication model, allowing real-time data transfer between client and server in both directions.
Transport protocols: Faye primarily relies on the WebSocket protocol for communication, offering efficient and low-latency real-time data transfer. In contrast, Socket.IO supports various transport protocols, including WebSocket, HTTP long-polling, and others. This flexibility allows Socket.IO to function even in environments where WebSocket connections are not available.
Compatibility: Faye is designed to be compatible with the Bayeux protocol, enabling interoperability with other Bayeux clients and servers. Socket.IO, on the other hand, does not adhere to any specific protocol and is implemented as a custom library. This gives Socket.IO more flexibility but may require additional effort for interoperability with other frameworks.
Browser support: Faye provides excellent support for modern browsers that have native WebSocket capabilities. However, for environments that do not support WebSocket, Faye falls back to using HTTP long-polling, albeit with reduced efficiency. Socket.IO, on the other hand, offers broader browser support by utilizing a range of transport protocols, making it suitable for older browsers or environments with limited WebSocket availability.
Event-driven API: Socket.IO provides a more event-driven API compared to Faye. It offers various event handlers, such as "connect," "disconnect," and "message," allowing developers to handle different stages of the connection and react to incoming messages with ease. Faye, although capable of handling events, does not expose a similar event-driven API out-of-the-box, requiring developers to implement event handling logic themselves.
Scalability and performance: Socket.IO is known for its scalability and can handle a large number of concurrent connections efficiently. It achieves this through features like load balancing, horizontal scaling, and support for multiple nodes. While Faye can also handle multiple connections, its scalability capabilities are not as extensive as Socket.IO's.
In summary, Faye and Socket.IO differ in terms of architecture, transport protocols, compatibility, browser support, event-driven API, and scalability. These differences play a significant role in choosing the most suitable library for real-time communication needs.
We (my team) are building an App where we want to have Bi-directional texting, Single Directional Picture, and audio transfer.
We are building all this using Flutter.
There will essentially be 3 apps, 2 Mobile-based (Android and iOS) and 1 Microsoft Based. We've built up most of the code already, and made a few major mistakes but fixed it(namely had no proper state management).
How things will work:
Person A has a Mobile app 1, Person A presses a button that sends a "communication request" into a Pool of requests. Person B on Desktop App chooses a "communication request" from the pool, and engages in Bi-directional texting with Person A. Person B also opens communication with Person C who is on Mobile app 2, and they engage in Bi-directional texting. Person C will be notified of communication requests through Push Notifications.
So far we've been using Socket.IO, however, I'm starting to think that's not the best.
A problem we've encountered so far is that Person A(Mobile App 1 User), is the person who sends a "communication request" into the "Communication Pool". The Mobile App 1 User, can "cancel" the communication at any point in time. When they do that, I would like for a notification to be sent to Person B, the Desktop User, For them to pick up another communication request.
I am not sure how this should be done however, should it be done in the Back-end, then how does the Front-end get notified of the change?
Any advice on which to choose?
It's so simple when you use Firebase to manage the requests just make new field to the request for example callstate with values like "requesting" "incall" "cancelled" and both A and B can update this field.
We are starting to work on a web-based platform aiming to connect artists (clients) and professional freelancers (service providers). In-app, timeline-based, real-time communication between users (& storing it), file transfers, and push notifications are essential core features. We are considering using Node.js, ExpressJS, React, MongoDB stack with Socket.IO & Apollo, or maybe using Real-Time Database and functionalities of Firebase.
I would recommend looking hard into Firebase for this project, especially if you do not have dedicated full-stack or backend members on your team.
The real time database, as you mentioned, is a great option, but I would also look into Firestore. Similar to RTDB, it adds more functions and some cool methods as well. Also, another great thing about Firebase is you have easy access to storage and dead simple auth as well.
Node.js Express MongoDB Socket.IO and Apollo are great technologies as well, and may be the better option if you do not wish to cede as much control to third parties in your application.
Overall, I say if you wish to focus more time developing your React application instead of other parts of your stack, Firebase is a great way to do that.
Hello Noam 👋,
I suggest taking a look at Ably, it has all the realtime features you need and the platform is designed to guarantee critical functionality at scale.
Here is an in depth comparison between Ably and Firebase
Hey Noam,
I would recommend you to take a look into 8base. It has features you've requested, also relation database and GraphQL API which will help you to develop rapidly.
Thanks, Ilya