Is Apinator truly free, or is there a catch?

Apinator is free to use. You self-host it on servers you control. The only cost is your server — a $5-20/month VPS is enough for small to medium deployments. There is no artificial "free tier" with stripped-down features; the full feature set is available on every self-hosted instance.

Is Apinator open source?

The SDKs (client and server libraries) are open source. The Apinator server itself is free to use and self-host, but the server source is not publicly available. You can run it freely without any payment — the SDKs let you inspect exactly how the client-server protocol works.

Do I need technical expertise to self-host?

Basic Linux and Docker knowledge is sufficient. The deployment includes Docker Compose files with Postgres, Redis, and Caddy (for automatic TLS). If you prefer not to manage infrastructure, the managed Apinator cloud is available.

What about upgrades and security patches?

New versions are published as Docker images. Self-hosted users pull the new image to upgrade. The managed cloud is updated automatically.

Free to Use

Free WebSocket Server — Self-Hosted

Production-ready WebSocket infrastructure. Free to use, deploy anywhere, no payment required.

Apinator is a free WebSocket server with channels, presence, and webhooks. Self-host it on any server and pay only for the infrastructure you already own. No SaaS fees, no per-message charges, no vendor lock-in.

Get Started Free View Docs

Free to Use

Apinator costs nothing to use. Your only cost is the server you deploy it on — which you may already have.

SDKs Are Open Source

All client and server SDKs are open source. Inspect them, fork them, contribute back. The server itself is free to deploy.

Full Feature Set

Public, private, and presence channels. Client events. Webhooks. Multi-region. Not a stripped-down free tier.

No Vendor Lock-In

Run it on your VPS, Kubernetes, or any cloud. You own the infrastructure and the data.

Pusher-Compatible

The same channel and event API as Pusher. Existing client code works without changes.

SDKs for Every Stack

Client SDKs for JS, Swift, and Kotlin. Server SDKs for Node.js, Python, Go, and PHP.

Up and Running in Minutes

Deploy Apinator with Docker and connect your first client — no SaaS account, no credit card.

quickstart.js
// 1. Deploy: docker compose up -d
//    (docker-compose.yml from the Apinator repo)

// 2. Create an app via the console or API, then connect:
import { RealtimeClient } from '@apinator/client'

const client = new RealtimeClient('APP_KEY', {
  host: 'wss://localhost:8080'
})

const ch = client.subscribe('live-updates')
ch.bind('new-record', (data) => {
  console.log('Live update:', data)
})

// 3. Publish from any backend:
import { ApinatorServer } from '@apinator/server'
const apinator = new ApinatorServer({ appId, key, secret })
await apinator.trigger('live-updates', 'new-record', { id: 42 })

Frequently Asked Questions

Self-Hosted Setup Complete deployment guide Pusher Alternative Migrate from Pusher for free Documentation Full API and setup reference

Ready to get started?

Completely free, no credit card required. Deploy in minutes.

Get Started Free View Docs

Free WebSocket Server — Self-Hosted

Free to Use

SDKs Are Open Source

Full Feature Set

No Vendor Lock-In

Pusher-Compatible

SDKs for Every Stack

Up and Running in Minutes

Frequently Asked Questions

Related

Ready to get started?