Faye vs SockJS

Struggling to choose between Faye and SockJS? Both products offer unique advantages, making it a tough decision.

Faye is a Online Services solution with tags like realtime, websockets, publishsubscribe, notifications.

It boasts features such as Real-time pub/sub messaging, Bidirectional communication via WebSockets, Client libraries for Ruby, Node.js, JavaScript and more, Message filtering based on channels, Extensible and pluggable architecture, Horizontal scalability with message load balancing and pros including Lightweight and fast, Great for real-time web apps, Easy to integrate with Ruby on Rails apps, More scalable than alternatives like RabbitMQ, Open source and free to use.

On the other hand, SockJS is a Development product tagged with websocket, realtime, communication.

Its standout features include WebSocket emulation - Provides a WebSocket-like object in the browser, Transparent fallback - Automatically falls back to other transports like HTTP long-polling if WebSockets are not available, Cross-browser - Works across all major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc, Multiple transports - Supports WebSocket, HTTP streaming, HTTP long-polling, etc, Heartbeats - Sends heartbeat messages to detect broken connections, Session multiplexing - Allows sharing a connection for multiple sessions, and it shines with pros like Easy to use API, Good cross-browser support, Transparent fallback provides reliability, Actively maintained and updated.

To help you make an informed decision, we've compiled a comprehensive comparison of these two products, delving into their features, pros, cons, pricing, and more. Get ready to explore the nuances that set them apart and determine which one is the perfect fit for your requirements.

Faye

Faye

Faye is an open-source web messaging and notification system based on the publish-subscribe pattern. It allows real-time communication between a server and clients using bidirectional connections over websockets.

Categories:
realtime websockets publishsubscribe notifications

Faye Features

  1. Real-time pub/sub messaging
  2. Bidirectional communication via WebSockets
  3. Client libraries for Ruby, Node.js, JavaScript and more
  4. Message filtering based on channels
  5. Extensible and pluggable architecture
  6. Horizontal scalability with message load balancing

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Lightweight and fast

Great for real-time web apps

Easy to integrate with Ruby on Rails apps

More scalable than alternatives like RabbitMQ

Open source and free to use

Cons

Limited documentation and community support

Not ideal for extremely high throughput

Requires Faye server to be always online


SockJS

SockJS

SockJS is a JavaScript library that provides a WebSocket-like object in the browser. It automatically falls back to other transports like HTTP long-polling if WebSockets are not available.

Categories:
websocket realtime communication

SockJS Features

  1. WebSocket emulation - Provides a WebSocket-like object in the browser
  2. Transparent fallback - Automatically falls back to other transports like HTTP long-polling if WebSockets are not available
  3. Cross-browser - Works across all major browsers like Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc
  4. Multiple transports - Supports WebSocket, HTTP streaming, HTTP long-polling, etc
  5. Heartbeats - Sends heartbeat messages to detect broken connections
  6. Session multiplexing - Allows sharing a connection for multiple sessions

Pricing

  • Open Source

Pros

Easy to use API

Good cross-browser support

Transparent fallback provides reliability

Actively maintained and updated

Cons

Can add complexity when not needed

Additional dependency

May have lower performance than raw WebSockets