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

SignalR vs SocketCluster

OverviewComparisonAlternatives

Overview

SocketCluster
SocketCluster
Stacks47
Followers168
Votes47
GitHub Stars6.2K
Forks322
SignalR
SignalR
Stacks656
Followers1.2K
Votes146
GitHub Stars9.3K
Forks2.3K

SignalR vs SocketCluster: What are the differences?

SignalR and SocketCluster are both real-time communication libraries that enable bi-directional communication between clients and servers. Each of them has its own unique features and strengths that distinguish them from each other.

  1. Transport protocol: SignalR primarily uses WebSockets as its main transport protocol, providing a low-latency, full-duplex communication channel. On the other hand, SocketCluster supports multiple transport protocols including WebSockets, HTTP long-polling, and TLS encryption.

  2. Scalability: SignalR relies on a centralized server for managing connections and message routing, which can become a bottleneck in highly scalable applications. SocketCluster, however, adopts a decentralized architecture with built-in support for horizontal scaling, making it more suitable for handling a large number of concurrent connections.

  3. Brokering: SignalR does not provide built-in support for message brokering between servers, which may limit its scalability in a distributed environment. In contrast, SocketCluster offers a decentralized pub/sub system that enables seamless message brokering across multiple nodes, facilitating efficient communication in a clustered setup.

  4. Programming language: SignalR is primarily designed for .NET applications, allowing developers to integrate real-time capabilities into their .NET projects seamlessly. SocketCluster, on the other hand, supports multiple programming languages such as JavaScript, Python, and Java, making it a versatile choice for developers working across different technology stacks.

  5. Extensibility: SignalR provides a comprehensive set of features and APIs for building real-time applications, but its extensibility may be limited compared to SocketCluster. SocketCluster offers a modular architecture with support for custom plugins and middleware, allowing developers to tailor the platform to their specific needs and requirements.

  6. Community support: SignalR has a large and active community of developers, providing extensive documentation, tutorials, and support resources for users. In contrast, SocketCluster, although growing in popularity, may have a smaller community footprint, which could potentially impact the availability of resources and assistance for developers.

In Summary, SignalR and SocketCluster differ in their transport protocols, scalability, brokering mechanisms, supported programming languages, extensibility, and community support levels, making them suitable for different use cases and development environments.

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CLI (Node.js)
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Detailed Comparison

SocketCluster
SocketCluster
SignalR
SignalR

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.

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.

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
6.2K
GitHub Stars
9.3K
GitHub Forks
322
GitHub Forks
2.3K
Stacks
47
Stacks
656
Followers
168
Followers
1.2K
Votes
47
Votes
146
Pros & Cons
Pros
  • 12
    Cluster mode is awesome
  • 8
    WebSockets
  • 7
    Scalability
  • 4
    Security
  • 4
    JWT based Authentication
Pros
  • 32
    Supports .NET server
  • 25
    Real-time
  • 18
    Free
  • 16
    Fallback to SSE, forever frame, long polling
  • 15
    WebSockets
Cons
  • 2
    Expertise hard to get
  • 2
    Requires jQuery
  • 1
    Big differences between ASP.NET and Core versions
  • 1
    Weak iOS and Android support
Integrations
Node.js
Node.js
.NET
.NET

What are some alternatives to SocketCluster, SignalR?

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.

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.

NATS

NATS

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.

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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