Eight Node.js WebSocket Libraries to Consider in 2022

In this article we discuss eight Node.js WebSocket libraries you should consider in 2022.

How WebSockets Work

WebSockets provide an open, bidirectional connection between client and server, enabling real‑time communication without the overhead of HTTP polling, making them ideal for messaging, streaming, notifications, and live updates.

SockJS

SockJS is a JavaScript library that offers a client‑server communication API similar to the native WebSocket API, with server implementation sockjs-node and client library SockJS-client. It has over 7,000 GitHub stars and roughly 7 million weekly npm downloads.

ws

The ws library is one of the most popular Node.js WebSocket implementations, boasting over 17,500 GitHub stars and about 35 million weekly npm downloads. It is fast, well‑documented, and thoroughly tested.

Installation commands:

npm install ws<br/>//
npm i ws

Optional performance‑enhancing packages:

npm install --save-optional bufferutil

npm install --save-optional utf-8-validate

Socket.IO

Created in 2010, Socket.IO is a widely used WebSocket library adopted by companies like Trello and Microsoft. It provides load balancing, binary streaming, proxy support, and event‑based communication.

Faye WebSocket

Extracted from the Faye project, Faye WebSocket offers a standard WebSocket API for Node.js without providing a server implementation. Install with:

npm install faye-WebSocket

SocketCluster

SocketCluster is a highly scalable framework and real‑time HTTP server engine that utilizes all CPU cores for multi‑process real‑time servers. It supports client‑server and pub/sub communication, with automatic recovery from failures.

At the time of writing it has nearly 6,000 GitHub stars and about 7,000 weekly npm downloads.

Sockette

Sockette is a lightweight WebSocket wrapper (~367 bytes) that automatically reconnects when the connection is lost. Install with: npm install --save sockette It has roughly 2 k GitHub stars and 9 k weekly npm downloads.

Feathers

Feathers builds on Socket.IO to provide real‑time updates, flexible plugins, and RESTful APIs. It is known for its lightweight nature and easy database integration. Install with: npm install -g @feathersjs/cli Feathers has nearly 14 k GitHub stars and about 26 k weekly npm downloads.