head to head · open source
Soketi vs Workbench
Soketi has 5,634 GitHub stars, 363 forks, 142 open issues and last shipped 1.5 years ago. Workbench has 442 stars, 43 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped 4 months ago. Soketi leads on adoption by 1,175% (5,634 vs 442 stars). Soketi is written in TypeScript under AGPL-3.0; Workbench is written in TypeScript under MIT. Soketi has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, Workbench 10%. Workbench was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (nodejs), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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
| Soketi | Workbench | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 5.6K | ★ 442 |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Written in | TypeScript | TypeScript |
| Last push | 2025-03-03 | 2026-06-01 |
| Forks | ⑂ 363 | ⑂ 43 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Soketi if
- You weight community size — 5.6K stars and counting
- You want the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Workbench if
- You want the Workbench feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches TypeScript
- You evaluated both and Workbench fits your workflow better
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 →
About Workbench
Workbench is an open source, MIT licensed dashboard for BullMQ that lets Node.js and Bun teams inspect, debug, and replay Redis backed job queues from inside their own backend, behind their own authentication.
read the full Workbench overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Soketi or Workbench more popular?
Soketi has 5,634 GitHub stars and Workbench has 442. Soketi has the larger community by that measure.
Are Soketi and Workbench free?
Both are open source. Soketi is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Workbench under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Soketi and Workbench?
Soketi is written in TypeScript and Workbench 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, Soketi or Workbench?
Choose Soketi if you want the larger community (5,634 stars) or its AGPL-3.0 licence terms. Choose Workbench if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.