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SignalR vs Socket.IO: What are the differences?
Developers describe SignalR as "A new library for ASP.NET developers that makes developing real-time web functionality easy". 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. On the other hand, Socket.IO is detailed as "Realtime application framework (Node.JS server)". Socket.IO enables real-time bidirectional event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.
SignalR and Socket.IO belong to "Realtime Backend / API" category of the tech stack.
"Supports .NET server" is the top reason why over 7 developers like SignalR, while over 186 developers mention "Real-time" as the leading cause for choosing Socket.IO.
SignalR and Socket.IO are both open source tools. Socket.IO with 46.7K GitHub stars and 8.53K forks on GitHub appears to be more popular than SignalR with 7.73K GitHub stars and 2.19K GitHub forks.
According to the StackShare community, Socket.IO has a broader approval, being mentioned in 555 company stacks & 385 developers stacks; compared to SignalR, which is listed in 20 company stacks and 16 developer stacks.
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.
I would recommend looking hard into Firebase for this project, especially if you do not have dedicated full-stack or backend members on your team.
The real time database, as you mentioned, is a great option, but I would also look into Firestore. Similar to RTDB, it adds more functions and some cool methods as well. Also, another great thing about Firebase is you have easy access to storage and dead simple auth as well.
Node.js Express MongoDB Socket.IO and Apollo are great technologies as well, and may be the better option if you do not wish to cede as much control to third parties in your application.
Overall, I say if you wish to focus more time developing your React application instead of other parts of your stack, Firebase is a great way to do that.
Hello Noam 👋,
I suggest taking a look at Ably, it has all the realtime features you need and the platform is designed to guarantee critical functionality at scale.
Here is an in depth comparison between Ably and Firebase
Hey Noam,
I would recommend you to take a look into 8base. It has features you've requested, also relation database and GraphQL API which will help you to develop rapidly.
Thanks, Ilya
Pros of SignalR
- Supports .NET server29
- Real-time22
- Free16
- Fallback to SSE, forever frame, long polling15
- WebSockets14
- Simple10
- Open source8
- JSON8
- Ease of use7
- Cool5
- Azure0
Pros of Socket.IO
- Real-time217
- Event-based communication141
- Node.js141
- WebSockets102
- Open source101
- Binary streaming26
- No internet dependency21
- Large community10
- Fallback to polling if WebSockets not supported9
- Push notification6
- Ease of access and setup5
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Cons of SignalR
- Expertise hard to get2
- Requires jQuery2
- Weak iOS and Android support1
- Big differences between ASP.NET and Core versions1
Cons of Socket.IO
- Bad documentation11
- Githubs that complement it are mostly deprecated4
- Doesn't work on React Native3
- Small community2
- Websocket Errors2
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