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  1. Stackups
  2. Application & Data
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  4. Realtime Backend API
  5. Sanic vs Socket.IO

Sanic vs Socket.IO

OverviewDecisionsComparisonAlternatives

Overview

Socket.IO
Socket.IO
Stacks13.6K
Followers11.0K
Votes776
Sanic
Sanic
Stacks128
Followers133
Votes10

Sanic vs Socket.IO: What are the differences?

Introduction

Sanic and Socket.IO are both popular frameworks used for building web applications. While they both help in creating real-time applications, there are several key differences between them.

  1. Event-driven architecture: Sanic is an asynchronous web framework based on the asynchronous framework uvloop. It utilizes the asyncio library and provides high performance due to its event-driven architecture. On the other hand, Socket.IO is a library that enables real-time bidirectional communication between clients and servers. It uses WebSockets as the primary protocol and falls back to other techniques if WebSockets are not supported.

  2. Real-time communication: Socket.IO focuses on providing real-time communication between the server and the client. It allows pushing the data to the clients instantly without the need for frequent polling. Sanic, on the other hand, does not have built-in support for real-time communication. It is primarily designed for creating traditional web applications with HTTP requests and responses.

  3. Compatibility with frontend frameworks: Socket.IO is compatible with various frontend frameworks like Angular, React, and Vue.js, making it easier to integrate with existing projects. It provides a JavaScript library that can be used on the client-side to establish a connection with the server. Sanic, being a backend framework, does not have direct compatibility with frontend frameworks. However, it can be used as the backend for any frontend framework by making HTTP requests to the Sanic API endpoints.

  4. Scalability: As Sanic is built on top of the uvloop library, it is designed to handle a large number of concurrent connections efficiently. It can handle thousands of requests per second, making it suitable for high-performance applications. Socket.IO also supports scalability and can handle a large number of concurrent connections. However, the scalability of Socket.IO depends on the underlying server infrastructure that it is deployed on.

  5. Language support: Sanic is built using Python and thus provides all the benefits of the Python ecosystem. It supports various Python libraries and frameworks, making it easier to integrate with other Python-based tools. Socket.IO is language-agnostic and can be used with different programming languages, including JavaScript, Python, Java, and more. This makes Socket.IO a versatile option for developers working with different languages.

  6. Tightly coupled vs loosely coupled: Sanic is a tightly coupled framework where you have more control over the flow of your application. Socket.IO, on the other hand, is more loosely coupled as it provides a higher-level abstraction for real-time communication. With Socket.IO, you can focus on the real-time functionality without worrying about the low-level details of the underlying protocols.

In summary, Sanic is an asynchronous web framework primarily used for building traditional web applications with high performance, while Socket.IO is a library that enables real-time bidirectional communication between clients and servers, making it suitable for real-time applications with compatibility across different frontend frameworks and programming languages.

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Advice on Socket.IO, Sanic

Noam
Noam

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceonNode.jsNode.jsExpressJSExpressJSReactReact

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.

1.15M views1.15M
Comments
Anil
Anil

Mar 7, 2020

Needs advice

I want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real-time chatting, for that, I have to draw a UML and ufd diagram flow then I have to implement it in my code, my stack is node js, android, express, MongoDB, Redis. how can I do this? I want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real-time chatting, for that, I have to draw a UML and ufd diagram flow then I have to implement it in my code, my stack is node js, android, express, MongoDB, Redis. how can I do this?I want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real-time chatting, for that, I have to draw a UML and ufd diagram flow then I have to implement it in my code, my stack is node js, android, express, MongoDB, Redis. how can I do this?i want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real time chatting, for that i have to draw a uml and ufd diagram flow then i have to implement it in my code , my stack is node js , android , express , mongoDb, redis . how can i do a this?

46.7k views46.7k
Comments

Detailed Comparison

Socket.IO
Socket.IO
Sanic
Sanic

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

Sanic is a Flask-like Python 3.5+ web server that's written to go fast. It's based on the work done by the amazing folks at magicstack. On top of being Flask-like, Sanic supports async request handlers.

Real-time analytics - Push data to clients that gets represented as real-time counters, charts or logs.;Binary streaming - Starting in 1.0, it's possible to send any blob back and forth: image, audio, video.;Instant messaging and chat - Socket.IO's "Hello world" is a chat app in just a few lines of code.;Document collaboration - Allow users to concurrently edit a document and see each other's changes.
-
Statistics
Stacks
13.6K
Stacks
128
Followers
11.0K
Followers
133
Votes
776
Votes
10
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 219
    Real-time
  • 143
    Node.js
  • 141
    Event-based communication
  • 102
    Open source
  • 102
    WebSockets
Cons
  • 12
    Bad documentation
  • 4
    Githubs that complement it are mostly deprecated
  • 3
    Doesn't work on React Native
  • 2
    Small community
  • 2
    Websocket Errors
Pros
  • 5
    Asyncio
  • 2
    Fast
  • 2
    Easy to use server
  • 1
    Websockets
Integrations
Auth0
Auth0
Gatsby
Gatsby
Flutter
Flutter
React
React
Backbone.js
Backbone.js
Cloud Firestore
Cloud Firestore
Outbrain
Outbrain
Python
Python

What are some alternatives to Socket.IO, Sanic?

NGINX

NGINX

nginx [engine x] is an HTTP and reverse proxy server, as well as a mail proxy server, written by Igor Sysoev. According to Netcraft nginx served or proxied 30.46% of the top million busiest sites in Jan 2018.

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.

Apache HTTP Server

Apache HTTP Server

The Apache HTTP Server is a powerful and flexible HTTP/1.1 compliant web server. Originally designed as a replacement for the NCSA HTTP Server, it has grown to be the most popular web server on the Internet.

Unicorn

Unicorn

Unicorn is an HTTP server for Rack applications designed to only serve fast clients on low-latency, high-bandwidth connections and take advantage of features in Unix/Unix-like kernels. Slow clients should only be served by placing a reverse proxy capable of fully buffering both the the request and response in between Unicorn and slow clients.

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.

Microsoft IIS

Microsoft IIS

Internet Information Services (IIS) for Windows Server is a flexible, secure and manageable Web server for hosting anything on the Web. From media streaming to web applications, IIS's scalable and open architecture is ready to handle the most demanding tasks.

Pusher

Pusher

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

Apache Tomcat

Apache Tomcat

Apache Tomcat powers numerous large-scale, mission-critical web applications across a diverse range of industries and organizations.

Passenger

Passenger

Phusion Passenger is a web server and application server, designed to be fast, robust and lightweight. It takes a lot of complexity out of deploying web apps, adds powerful enterprise-grade features that are useful in production, and makes administration much easier and less complex.

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.

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