IT Glossary
What is a WebSocket?
A permanent connection between browser and server through which data travels instantly, in both directions, without reloading the page.
A phone call stays open while you talk; you do not hang up and redial after every sentence. The classic web works the other way round: the browser calls, the server answers, the conversation closes. A WebSocket changes that rule by opening a permanent line between browser and server, over which either side can send data at any moment, instantly. That is why chat, live dashboards, price feeds, auctions and online games feel alive — the server pushes news straight onto the screen without anybody pressing refresh. For a company the practical question is simple: does the product need information in real time, such as the status of an order, a live bid, or several colleagues working inside the same document? If the answer is yes, this is the right technology, and the improvised alternative of reloading data every few seconds consumes far more server capacity while delivering a visibly worse experience. If the answer is no, adding it buys complexity for nothing, because most business applications are served perfectly well by ordinary requests and a sensibly placed refresh.
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Why it matters for your business
A live experience for users
Notifications, statuses and figures update themselves on screen, so the product feels modern and nobody presses refresh to check whether anything has changed.
Lower server cost at scale
One open connection consumes less than thousands of repeated polling requests, so with many simultaneous sessions the infrastructure bill drops noticeably.
Simultaneous collaboration made possible
Features such as several colleagues editing one document, or seeing who else is online, become technically feasible rather than awkwardly simulated.
Frequently asked questions
How does a WebSocket differ from an ordinary programming interface?
A classic interface answers only when asked; over a persistent connection the server can take the initiative and push data to the browser the moment it appears. The two coexist happily inside one application: ordinary requests for operations such as saving and searching, the persistent channel for live updates. Choosing one to replace the other entirely is usually a sign that an architecture conversation went wrong somewhere earlier.
Do persistent connections work through corporate firewalls?
In the great majority of cases, yes: the connection begins as a normal web request on the standard ports and only then upgrades into a permanent channel, so it passes wherever ordinary web traffic passes. Restrictive corporate proxies occasionally interfere, which is why serious implementations include a fallback mechanism rather than assuming every network on earth behaves the same way.
How many simultaneous connections can one server hold?
A correctly sized server holds tens of thousands of simultaneous connections, but serious growth needs architecture designed for it — distribution across several nodes with messaging between them, so a message arriving at one node still reaches users connected to another. This is a topic to discuss at the start of a project rather than after launch, because retrofitting it is considerably more expensive.
Let’s talk about your project
Message us on WhatsApp or send an email — you talk directly to a developer.
office@northdan.com · +40 752 070 247