Soketi WebSocket Server - Cost Analysis for 100,000 Collaborative Sessions Date : 2027-01-27
Analysis : Comparing deployment options for Pusher-compatible WebSocket server
Soketi is an open-source, Pusher Protocol v7 compatible WebSocket server built on uWebSockets.js.
Performance Benchmarks (Official)
2 vCPU / 2GB RAM → ~500 concurrent connections @ 6ms latencyBuilt on uWebSockets.js (8.5x faster than Fastify, 10x faster than Socket.IO)
ARM/Graviton instances provide 30% better performance
Capacity Planning for 100,000 Concurrent Sessions
Concurrent Users
Estimated Resources
Notes
500
2 vCPU / 2 GB
Single instance
5,000
4 vCPU / 4 GB
Single instance
50,000
16 vCPU / 16 GB
Multiple instances + Redis
100,000
32 vCPU / 32 GB
Horizontal scaling required
Requirements for 100K sessions:
~32 vCPU total
~32 GB RAM
Redis for horizontal scaling (pub/sub)
Load balancer for traffic distribution
Option 1: Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE) Nodes : 4x e2-standard-8 (8 vCPU, 32GB each)
Total : 32 vCPU, 128 GB RAM
Redis : e2-medium (2 vCPU, 4GB)
Region : us-central1
Component
Spec
On-Demand
1-Year CUD
3-Year CUD
GKE Management
Cluster fee
$72
$72
$72
Compute (4x e2-standard-8)
32 vCPU, 128GB
~$800
~$640
~$320
Redis Instance
e2-medium
~$75
~$60
~$30
Load Balancer
Network LB
~$20
~$20
~$20
Total ~$967 ~$792 ~$442
Already have existing infrastructure
Full control over configuration
Predictable pricing
Can use committed use discounts (up to 70% off)
Pay for idle resources
Management overhead
No automatic global distribution
Option 2: Cloudflare Containers Pricing Model (Updated Nov 2025)
CPU : $0.00002/vCPU-second (usage-based, not provisioned)Memory : $0.0000025/GiB-secondDisk : $0.00000007/GB-secondEgress : $0.025-0.05/GB
Workers Standard Plan Included ($5/mo base)
375 vCPU-minutes
25 GiB-hours
200 GB-hours disk
500GB-1TB egress
Type
RAM
vCPU
dev
256 MB
1/16
basic
1 GB
0.25
standard
4 GB
0.5
Monthly Cost Estimate (100K sessions) Configuration: 8x standard instances (horizontal scaling with Redis)
Total: 4 vCPU, 32 GB RAM (distributed)
Assumption: 30% average CPU utilization
Component
Calculation
Cost
CPU
4 vCPU × 0.3 util × 2,592,000s × $0.00002
~$62
Memory
32 GB × 2,592,000s × $0.0000025
~$207
Disk
10 GB × 2,592,000s × $0.00000007
~$2
Egress
100 GB × $0.025
~$3
Base Plan
Workers Standard
$5
Total ~$279/mo
If traffic is intermittent (e.g., 8 hours/day active):
Scale-to-zero (pay only when active)
Global edge deployment automatic
No infrastructure management
DDoS protection included
Instance size limits (max 4GB RAM, 0.5 vCPU per instance)
Requires horizontal scaling architecture
Beta platform (as of 2025)
External Redis/state management needed
Option 3: Simple VPS + Cloudflare Proxy
Provider
Spec
Monthly Cost
DigitalOcean
32 vCPU / 64 GB Dedicated
~$336
Vultr
32 vCPU / 64 GB Bare Metal
~$350
Hetzner
AX52 (32 vCPU / 64 GB)
~$120
OVH
Advance-2 (32 vCPU / 64 GB)
~$180
Cloudflare Proxy: FREE (SSL, DDoS, caching)
Redis: Self-hosted on same server or managed (~$15-50/mo)
Setup
Monthly Cost
DigitalOcean + Self-hosted Redis
~$350
Hetzner + Self-hosted Redis
~$130
Vultr + Managed Redis
~$400
Simple architecture
Predictable costs
Full root access
No container/K8s complexity
Single point of failure (unless replicated)
Manual scaling
No auto-healing
Regional deployment only
Option 4: Commercial Alternatives (for comparison)
Service
100K Connections
Notes
Pusher
~$500-1,000+/mo
Per-connection pricing
Ably
~$400-800/mo
Enterprise tier
soketi.app (hosted)
Unknown
May be discontinued
Platform
Monthly Cost
Notes
GKE (on-demand) ~$970
Full control, existing infra
GKE (3-year commit) ~$440
Best for long-term
Cloudflare Containers ~$280
Scale-to-zero, global edge
CF Containers (8hr/day) ~$93
Intermittent traffic
DigitalOcean VPS ~$350
Simple, predictable
Hetzner VPS ~$130
Best value, EU-based
Pusher (commercial) ~$500-1,000+
Managed service
If you have existing GKE: Use GKE with committed use discounts
Cost: ~$440/mo (3-year) or ~$792/mo (1-year)
Leverage existing infrastructure and expertise
Add Cloudflare in front for SSL/DDoS (free)
Consider Hetzner + Cloudflare Proxy
Cost: ~$130/mo
Best price-to-performance ratio
Simple architecture
If traffic is variable/intermittent: Cloudflare Containers
Cost: ~$93-280/mo depending on usage
Scale-to-zero capability
Global edge deployment
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CLIENTS │
│ (Web, Mobile, IoT devices) │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ CLOUDFLARE (Free Tier) │
│ SSL Termination │ DDoS Protection │ Load Balancing │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
│
▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ SOKETI CLUSTER │
│ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ ┌──────────┐ │
│ │ Soketi 1 │ │ Soketi 2 │ │ Soketi 3 │ │ Soketi 4 │ │
│ │ 8 vCPU │ │ 8 vCPU │ │ 8 vCPU │ │ 8 vCPU │ │
│ └────┬─────┘ └────┬─────┘ └────┬─────┘ └────┬─────┘ │
│ └─────────────┴─────────────┴─────────────┘ │
│ │ │
│ ▼ │
│ ┌──────────────┐ │
│ │ REDIS │ │
│ │ (Pub/Sub) │ │
│ └──────────────┘ │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
