AnyCable vs Centrifugo
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted chat & communication options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
AnyCable
Real-time WebSocket server for in-app messaging
VS
Centrifugo
Scalable real-time messaging server for apps and websites
| Feature | AnyCable | Centrifugo |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 86 · Excellent | 93 · Excellent |
| Category | Chat & Communication | Chat & Communication |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,381 | ★ 10,789 |
| First released | 2016 | 2015 |
| Replaces | Pusher, Ably | Pusher, Firebase Realtime Database |
What are AnyCable and Centrifugo?
AnyCable
AnyCable is a real-time messaging server that delivers events to web and mobile clients over WebSockets and is a high-performance drop-in for Rails Action Cable. It scales pub/sub to many connections.
- WebSocket pub/sub
- Drop-in for Rails Action Cable
- Scales to many connections
- gRPC backend protocol
Centrifugo
Centrifugo is a real-time messaging server that handles WebSocket and other transports to push live updates to web and mobile applications. It is language-agnostic and integrates with existing backends over an API.
- WebSocket messaging
- Horizontal scaling
- Language-agnostic API
- Channel presence
AnyCable vs Centrifugo: key differences
Both projects are written in Go. Centrifugo has the considerably larger community, at 10,789 GitHub stars versus 2,381.
Why pick each one
Choose AnyCable if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.4k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Choose Centrifugo if…
- Handles many connections
- Easy to integrate
Watch out for
- Not a chat app itself
- Requires backend integration
Frequently asked questions
Is AnyCable or Centrifugo better?
Neither is universally better. Centrifugo has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are AnyCable and Centrifugo free and open-source?
Yes. AnyCable is licensed under MIT and Centrifugo under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run AnyCable and Centrifugo with Docker?
AnyCable: yes. Centrifugo: yes.