Real-Time Web Technologies Guide

Note: This page is a work in progress. I plan to update this page with new technologies as I find them and increase the information on each as I find the time. If you have any questions or find a technology that should be listed please email me.

Hosted Realtime Services
Self Hosted Realtime Services
WebSocket Client Libraries

Hosted Realtime Services

Pusher – Who I work for: WebSockets, Fallback-support, Real-Time Client Push, Real-Time messaging, Real-Time Data, in-built security, HTML5, JavaScript, Objective-C, Ruby, Rails, PHP, node.js, .NET, Silverlight, ActionScript, Google App Engine (GAE), Erlang, Perl, Coldfusion, Games, Python, Groovy, Java, REST API, Presence
Beacon Push (service to be disabled September 2012): WebSockets, Comet, Fallback-support, Real-Time Client Push, Real-time messaging, Real-Time Data, Python, Ruby, PHP, node.js, REST API
WebSync on-demand (by FrozenMountain): Comet, Real-Time Client Push, Real-Time messaging, Real-Time data
PubNub: BOSH, Fallback-support, Real-Time Client Push, Real-Time messaging, Real-Time data, Coldfusion, .NET, Erlang, Google App Engine (GAE), Java, JavaScript, Lua-Corona, node.js, Objective-C, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Silverlight, Titanium, REST API
Echo: HTTP Polling, PHP, .NET
OpenPush
Superfeedr: RSS, PubSubHubbub
DataSift: Social Media data, RSS, HTTP Streaming
x-stream.ly: JavaScript, REST API, Presence, Real-Time Client Push

Self Hosted Realtime Services

SignalR: Long-polling, ASP.NET, IIS
SockJS: SockJS is a browser JavaScript library that provides a WebSocket-like object. SockJS 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.

WebSockets, Fallback-support, HTTP Streaming, HTTP Polling, JSONP Polling, Cross Domain support, EventSource
socket.io: WebSockets, Fallback-support
Cramp: WebSockets, Server Sent Events, Ruby
nowjs: node, (uses Socket.io)
SuperWebSocket, a .NET WebSocket server: WebSockets, .NET
Fleck: Fleck is a WebSocket server implementation in C#. Fleck requires no inheritance, container, or additional references.

WebSockets, .NET
Persevere: Comet
Migratory: Comet, WebSockets, More information
Meteor: Comet
LightStreamer: Comet
Jetty: WebSockets, HTTP Streaming
Ratchet: A PHP 5.3 (PSR-0 compliant) component library for serving/consuming sockets and building socket based applications. Build up your application (like Lego!) through simple interfaces using the decorator and command patterns. Re-use your application without changing any of its code just by wrapping it in a different protocol.

PHP, WebSockets
WebSockets and Joomla: PHP, WebSockets, Joomla
Atmosphere: Comet, WebSockets, Scala, Groovy, Java
erlycomet: Comet
cometD: Comet
Pokein: Comet, ASP.NET, Mono
APE Project: WebSockets, Comet
StreamHub
Caplin System’s Liberator: Comet, Fallback-support
ICEfaces
Kaazing: WebSockets, Fallback-support
FAYE: Real-Time messaging, Bayeux, node.js, Ruby
XSockets: WebSockets, .NET, Fallback-support
misultin: WebSockets, Erlang
Cowboy: WebSockets, Erlang
YAWS (Yet Another Web Server): WebSockets, HTTP Long-Polling, HTTP Streaming, Erlang
juggernaut: WebSockets, Comet, Fallback-support, node.js
PHP WebSocket: PHP, WebSockets
apache-websocket: WebSocket module for Apache

PHP, WebSockets, Apache
jwebsocket: Java, WebSockets
WaterSpout Server: Java, WebSockets
Goliath: Ruby, Asynchronous, non-blocking, HTTP Streaming