head to head · open source
kafka vs Soketi
kafka has 33,750 GitHub stars, 15,521 forks, 574 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Soketi has 5,633 stars, 363 forks, 142 open issues and last shipped 1.5 years ago. kafka leads on adoption by 499% (33,750 vs 5,633 stars). kafka is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Soketi is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0. kafka has attracted 46% as many forks as stars, Soketi 6%. kafka was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| kafka | Soketi | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 5.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2025-03-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 363 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kafka if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Soketi if
- You want the Soketi feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Soketi fits your workflow better
About kafka
Apache Kafka is an open source distributed event streaming platform, written in Java and Scala, for organizations that need high performance data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission critical applications.
read the full kafka overview →
About Soketi
Soketi is an open source, Pusher compatible WebSockets server written in TypeScript that lets developers run their own real time channels infrastructure instead of paying for a hosted Pusher plan.
read the full Soketi overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kafka or Soketi more popular?
kafka has 33,750 GitHub stars and Soketi has 5,633. kafka has the larger community by that measure.
Are kafka and Soketi free?
Both are open source. kafka is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Soketi under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kafka and Soketi?
kafka is written in Java and Soketi in TypeScript. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, kafka or Soketi?
Choose kafka if you want the larger community (33,750 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Soketi if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.