Relay vs Laravel Reverb
An honest comparison for developers choosing a WebSocket server.
Reverb is Laravel's official first-party WebSocket server, maintained by Taylor Otwell and the Laravel team. It is deeply integrated into the Laravel ecosystem and an excellent choice for Laravel-first teams. Relay takes a different approach — a standalone Go binary with no runtime dependencies, better resource efficiency, and a built-in channel inspector. Here is the honest breakdown.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | Relay | Laravel Reverb |
|---|---|---|
| Language | Go | PHP |
| Runtime required to host | None — standalone binary | PHP + Laravel app required |
| Managed cloud option | ✓ Relay Cloud | ✓ Laravel Cloud |
| Self-hostable | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Open source | ✓ MIT | ✓ MIT |
| Works with any Pusher client | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Multi-app support | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Channel Inspector | ✓ Built-in | ✗ No |
| Memory at 1,000 connections | ~38 MB | ~63 MB |
| CPU at 1,000 connections | ~18% | ~95% |
| Exit from managed hosting | ✓ Self-host same binary | ✗ Locked to Laravel Cloud |
| First-party Laravel package | ✓ Yes | ✓ Built into Laravel |
Runtime and Performance
The fundamental architectural difference: Reverb requires a running PHP and Laravel application to host the WebSocket server. Relay is a standalone Go binary — no PHP, no Composer, no Laravel runtime required. Deploy it anywhere you can run a binary or a Docker container.
Go's concurrency model handles WebSocket connections via goroutines — lightweight, cheap to schedule, and shared-nothing. PHP runs in a synchronous event loop (ReactPHP under the hood in Reverb). At low connection counts the difference is negligible. At thousands of concurrent connections, the gap in resource usage is significant.
In our benchmark at 1,000 concurrent connections: Relay used ~18% CPU and ~38 MB RAM. Reverb used ~95% CPU and ~63 MB RAM on equivalent hardware. Go's goroutine model handles WebSocket concurrency more efficiently than PHP's event loop. This isn't a criticism of PHP — it's simply the difference between a language designed for long-lived connections and one adapted for them.
Channel Inspector
Relay includes a built-in Channel Inspector — a live dashboard view of active channels, subscriber counts, and real-time event payloads with syntax highlighting. This is invaluable for debugging WebSocket connections during development and monitoring production traffic. Nothing equivalent exists in Reverb or Laravel Cloud.
The Managed Cloud Option
Both Relay and Reverb have managed hosting options. Laravel Cloud offers fully managed Reverb clusters integrated into the Laravel ecosystem. Relay Cloud offers managed WebSocket hosting with plans starting at $0 for the Hobby tier.
The key difference is exit strategy. Laravel Cloud WebSockets ties you to their ecosystem — there is no way to take your managed Reverb setup and self-host it independently. Relay Cloud is the only managed WebSocket platform where you can take the same binary and self-host with two environment variable changes. No lock-in.
Pusher and Ably are also options, but neither offers a self-hosted version. With Relay, you always have an open source exit ramp.
When to Choose Reverb
Reverb is a great product and the right choice for many teams. Choose Reverb if:
- You are running a pure Laravel stack and want first-party Taylor Otwell support
- You want deep integration with Laravel Pulse for monitoring
- You want a WebSocket server that's built into the Laravel framework with no extra binary to deploy
- You are comfortable with Laravel Cloud for managed hosting
- Simplicity within the Laravel ecosystem is your top priority
When to Choose Relay
Choose Relay if:
- You want a lightweight standalone server with no PHP or Laravel runtime dependency
- You want better resource efficiency — lower CPU and memory per connection at scale
- You want a built-in Channel Inspector for debugging live connections and event payloads
- You want a managed cloud option without lock-in — self-host the same binary anytime
- You want better performance per dollar at scale
- You want to self-host now and move to cloud later (or vice versa) with no code changes
Pricing
Relay Cloud pricing is simple and transparent: Hobby free, Startup $19/mo, Business $49/mo.
Get Started
Ready to try Relay?
- Relay Cloud — Managed hosting, free tier, production-ready in 60 seconds
- Self-host Relay — One binary, Docker or bare metal, MIT licensed