Updated March 6, 2023
Difference Between WebSocket and Socket.io
WebSocket is the communication Protocol that provides bidirectional communication between the Client and the Server over a TCP connection; WebSocket remains open all the time, so they allow real-time data transfer. When clients trigger the request to the server, it does not close the connection on receiving the response; it rather persists and waits for the Client or server to terminate the request.
Socket.IO is a library that enables real-time and full-duplex communication between the Client and the Web servers. It uses the WebSocket protocol to provide the interface. Generally, it is divided into two parts; both WebSocket vs Socket.io are event-driven libraries.
- Client-Side: it is the library that runs inside the browser
- Server Side: It is the library for Node.js
WebSocket
Below are the features:
Key features of WebSocket
- WebSocket helps in real-time communication between the Client and the webserver.
- This protocol helps in transforming to cross-platform in a real-time world between the server and the client.
- This also enables the business worldwide for a real-time web application to enhance and increase the feasibility.
- The major advantage it stands over an HTTP connection that it provides full-duplex communication.
WebSocket protocol schema
Why do we need WebSocket?
- It provides full-duplex communication, which helps in persisting the connection established between the Client and the Web Server.
- It also lives up to the standards and provides the accuracy and efficiency stream events to and from with negligible latency.
- WebSocket removes the overhead and reduce complexity.
- It makes real-time communication effortless and efficient.
Socket.IO
Below are the features
Key features of Socket.IO
- It helps in broadcasting to multiple sockets at a time and handles the connection transparently.
- It works on all platform, server or device, ensuring equality, reliability, and speed.
- It automatically upgrades the requirement to WebSocket if needed.
- It is a custom real-time transport protocol implementation on top of other protocols.
- It requires both libraries to be used Client side as well as a server-side library.
- IO works on work-based events. there are some reserved events that can be accessed using the Socket on the server side like Connect, message, Disconnect, Ping and Reconnect.
- There are some Client based reserved events like Connect, connect- error, connect-timeout and Reconnect etc.
Why do we need Socket.IO:
- I handle all the degradation of your technical alternatives to get full-duplex communication in real-time.
- It also handles the various support level and the inconsistencies from the browser.
- It also gives the additional feature room support for basic publish infrastructure and thinks like automatic reconnect.
- Currently, AFAIK is the most used one and easier to help with vanilla web sockets.
Head To Head Comparison Between WebSocket and Socket.io (Infographics)
Below is the top 5 comparison of WebSocket vs Socket.io:
Key Differences between WebSocket and socket.io
Both WebSocket vs Socket.io are popular choices in the market; let us discuss some of the major Difference Between WebSocket vs Socket.io:
- It provides the Connection over TCP, while Socket.io is a library to abstract the WebSocket connections.
- WebSocket doesn’t have fallback options, while Socket.io supports fallback.
- WebSocket is the technology, while Socket.io is a library for WebSockets.
WebSocket vs Socket.io Comparison Table
Below is the topmost comparison between WebSocket vs Socket.io:
| S. No. | WebSocket | Socket.io |
| 1 | It is the protocol that is established over the TCP connection | It is the library to work with WebSocket |
| 2 | It provides full-duplex communication on TCP connections. | Provides the event-based communication between browser and server. |
| 3 | Proxy and load balancer is not supported in WebSocket. | A connection can be established in the presence of proxies and load balancers. |
| 4. | It doesn’t support broadcasting. | It supports broadcasting. |
| 5. | It doesn’t have a fallback option. | It supports fallback options. |
Conclusion
This is all about the WebSocket vs Socket.io. There is not much theoretically to learn about these topics. You have to be practical about that. Basically, WebSocket is a browser inherited technology; the more you code, the more you will learn.
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