SockJS vs Socket.IO

Overview

Socket.IO

Stacks13.6K

Followers11.0K

Votes776

SockJS

Stacks27

Followers60

Votes0

GitHub Stars2.1K

Forks306

SockJS vs Socket.IO: What are the differences?

Socket.IO and SockJS are both JavaScript libraries that provide real-time communication capabilities between a server and a client. Let's explore the key differences between the two.

Connection Protocol: The major difference between SockJS and Socket.IO lies in the underlying connection protocol. SockJS utilizes AJAX and WebSocket protocols for establishing a connection between the server and the client. On the other hand, Socket.IO supports multiple protocols and can automatically choose the best available one, including WebSocket, HTTP long-polling, and HTTP streaming.
Fallback Mechanism: SockJS provides a fallback mechanism to ensure compatibility with older browsers or environments where WebSocket is not supported. It falls back to other protocols like HTTP long-polling or HTTP streaming, allowing the communication to continue. In contrast, Socket.IO does not explicitly provide a fallback mechanism, as it can automatically choose the best available protocol.
API Simplicity: SockJS provides a simpler API compared to Socket.IO. The SockJS API is minimalistic and focuses mainly on establishing and handling the connection, sending and receiving messages using standard JavaScript events. On the other hand, Socket.IO offers a more extensive API, allowing developers to utilize various features and options including namespaces, rooms, and detailed error handling.
Browser Compatibility: SockJS has better compatibility with older browsers compared to Socket.IO. SockJS is designed to work with various browser versions and environments, providing support even for older browsers that do not support WebSocket directly. Socket.IO, while widely used and supported, might face compatibility issues with certain older browsers that lack WebSocket or have limited support for it.
Community Support and Documentation: Socket.IO has been around for a longer time and has a larger community support compared to SockJS. This translates into a wider range of resources, tutorials, plugins, and examples available for Socket.IO. Additionally, Socket.IO has comprehensive documentation that covers various aspects of the library, making it easier for developers to get started and troubleshoot any issues.
Transport Efficiency: Socket.IO is generally considered more efficient in terms of transport due to its ability to use WebSockets directly. WebSocket is a full-duplex communication protocol, allowing both the server and client to send and receive data simultaneously. SockJS, while providing fallback options, is limited to uni-directional communication using various protocols like long-polling.

In summary, SockJS focuses on providing a WebSocket-like API with fallback options for browsers that do not support WebSocket, while Socket.IO is a more feature-rich library offering WebSocket support along with additional features like automatic reconnection and multiplexing.

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Advice on Socket.IO, SockJS

Noam

Jul 16, 2020

Needs adviceon

Node.js

ExpressJS

React

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.

1.15M views1.15M

Comments

Anil

Mar 7, 2020

Needs advice

I want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real-time chatting, for that, I have to draw a UML and ufd diagram flow then I have to implement it in my code, my stack is node js, android, express, MongoDB, Redis. how can I do this? I want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real-time chatting, for that, I have to draw a UML and ufd diagram flow then I have to implement it in my code, my stack is node js, android, express, MongoDB, Redis. how can I do this?I want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real-time chatting, for that, I have to draw a UML and ufd diagram flow then I have to implement it in my code, my stack is node js, android, express, MongoDB, Redis. how can I do this?i want to add uWebSockets.js in my application for real time chatting, for that i have to draw a uml and ufd diagram flow then i have to implement it in my code , my stack is node js , android , express , mongoDb, redis . how can i do a this?

46.7k views46.7k

Comments

Detailed Comparison

Socket.IO	SockJS
It enables real-time bidirectional event-based communication. It works on every platform, browser or device, focusing equally on reliability and speed.	It gives you a coherent, cross-browser, Javascript API which creates a low latency, full duplex, cross-domain communication channel between the browser and the web server, with WebSockets or without.
Real-time analytics - Push data to clients that gets represented as real-time counters, charts or logs.;Binary streaming - Starting in 1.0, it's possible to send any blob back and forth: image, audio, video.;Instant messaging and chat - Socket.IO's "Hello world" is a chat app in just a few lines of code.;Document collaboration - Allow users to concurrently edit a document and see each other's changes.	-
Statistics
GitHub Stars -	GitHub Stars 2.1K
GitHub Forks -	GitHub Forks 306
Stacks 13.6K	Stacks 27
Followers 11.0K	Followers 60
Votes 776	Votes 0
Pros & Cons
Pros 219 Real-time 143 Node.js 141 Event-based communication 102 WebSockets 102 Open source Cons 12 Bad documentation 4 Githubs that complement it are mostly deprecated 3 Doesn't work on React Native 2 Websocket Errors 2 Small community	No community feedback yet
Integrations
Auth0 Gatsby Flutter React Backbone.js Cloud Firestore Outbrain	No integrations available

What are some alternatives to Socket.IO, SockJS?

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.

Underscore

A JavaScript library that provides a whole mess of useful functional programming helpers without extending any built-in objects.

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 is the category leader in delightful APIs for app developers building communication and collaboration features.

SignalR

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.

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.

Deno

It is a secure runtime for JavaScript and TypeScript built with V8, Rust, and Tokio.

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

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.

SocketCluster

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.

Related Comparisons

SockJS vs Socket.IO: What are the differences?

Socket.IO and SockJS are both JavaScript libraries that provide real-time communication capabilities between a server and a client. Let's explore the key differences between the two.

Connection Protocol: The major difference between SockJS and Socket.IO lies in the underlying connection protocol. SockJS utilizes AJAX and WebSocket protocols for establishing a connection between the server and the client. On the other hand, Socket.IO supports multiple protocols and can automatically choose the best available one, including WebSocket, HTTP long-polling, and HTTP streaming.
Fallback Mechanism: SockJS provides a fallback mechanism to ensure compatibility with older browsers or environments where WebSocket is not supported. It falls back to other protocols like HTTP long-polling or HTTP streaming, allowing the communication to continue. In contrast, Socket.IO does not explicitly provide a fallback mechanism, as it can automatically choose the best available protocol.
API Simplicity: SockJS provides a simpler API compared to Socket.IO. The SockJS API is minimalistic and focuses mainly on establishing and handling the connection, sending and receiving messages using standard JavaScript events. On the other hand, Socket.IO offers a more extensive API, allowing developers to utilize various features and options including namespaces, rooms, and detailed error handling.
Browser Compatibility: SockJS has better compatibility with older browsers compared to Socket.IO. SockJS is designed to work with various browser versions and environments, providing support even for older browsers that do not support WebSocket directly. Socket.IO, while widely used and supported, might face compatibility issues with certain older browsers that lack WebSocket or have limited support for it.
Community Support and Documentation: Socket.IO has been around for a longer time and has a larger community support compared to SockJS. This translates into a wider range of resources, tutorials, plugins, and examples available for Socket.IO. Additionally, Socket.IO has comprehensive documentation that covers various aspects of the library, making it easier for developers to get started and troubleshoot any issues.
Transport Efficiency: Socket.IO is generally considered more efficient in terms of transport due to its ability to use WebSockets directly. WebSocket is a full-duplex communication protocol, allowing both the server and client to send and receive data simultaneously. SockJS, while providing fallback options, is limited to uni-directional communication using various protocols like long-polling.

SockJS vs Socket.IO

Overview