Who Centrifugo is for#
Backend teams adding live product updates
Use Centrifugo for notifications, collaboration state, chats, and dashboards where the core app publishes events to connected clients.
Skip if:
Skip if server-sent events or periodic polling are enough for your latency needs.
SaaS teams replacing hosted realtime APIs
It fits teams that want to move Pusher-style workloads onto their own infrastructure for cost or control reasons.
Skip if:
Skip if you need a fully managed realtime service and do not want to run socket infrastructure.
The problem it solves#
Realtime features look simple until thousands of clients need reliable fan-out, authorization, reconnect behavior, and presence state. Custom WebSocket code tends to leak application complexity into the transport layer, while hosted realtime APIs can become expensive or restrictive once traffic grows.
How it solves it#
Realtime client fan-out
Handles WebSocket and realtime messaging patterns so the application backend can publish events instead of managing every client socket.
Language-agnostic backend integration
Centrifugo sits beside existing backends, which lets teams keep their app in any language while using a dedicated realtime server.
Presence and channel patterns
Supports common realtime primitives such as channels and connection state that products need for collaboration, notifications, and live dashboards.
Strengths and trade-offs#
Strengths
- Dedicated realtime layerTeams avoid embedding socket lifecycle code directly into the main application server, which keeps realtime delivery easier to scale and observe.
- Apache-2.0 self-hosted optionThe Apache-2.0 repository gives teams a permissive path for commercial use and infrastructure ownership.
Trade-offs
- -Requires an application-side auth designCentrifugo does not remove the need to decide who can subscribe, publish, or see presence. Teams still need a clean token and permission model.
What it's built on#
- Languages
- Go
- Frameworks
- gRPCSocket.IO
- Infrastructure
- HTTP/3
- Messaging
- Server-Sent EventsWebSocketWebTransport
- Cache
- Redis
FAQ#
What is Centrifugo used for?
Centrifugo is used to add realtime messaging, pub/sub, and client fan-out to web and mobile applications.
Is Centrifugo self-hosted?
Yes. Centrifugo is distributed as server software that can run alongside your existing backend.
Is Centrifugo a full chat app?
No. It provides the realtime messaging layer. You still build product-specific chat UI, persistence, moderation, and permissions.
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