Real-Time Laravel: Why WebSockets Beat Polling Every Time

npm install laravel-echo

In resources/js/bootstrap.js (or any other JS app you use in your application):

import Echo from 'laravel-echo';

import Pusher from 'pusher-js';
window.Pusher = Pusher;

window.Echo = new Echo({
    broadcaster: 'pusher',
    key: import.meta.env.VITE_PUSHER_APP_KEY,
    cluster: import.meta.env.VITE_PUSHER_APP_CLUSTER,
    forceTLS: true
});

Now Subscribe to listen to the updates:

window.Echo.channel('orders')
    .listen('OrderPlaced', (e) => {
        console.log("New order received:", e.orderId);
    });

When someone checks out, everyone connected instantly sees the update. No reload. No delay.

Understanding Reverb Channel Types

When working with Reverb, everything revolves around channels. A channel is like a “room” where your events get broadcast and your clients listen in. Laravel gives you a few types of channels, each suited to different use cases.

1. Public Channels

These are open to everyone. Any connected client can listen to them without authentication.

When to use: For data that doesn’t depend on user identity, like live counters, public feeds, or dashboards.

// routes/channels.php
Broadcast::channel('updates', function () {
    return true; // No auth required
});

On the frontend: 

window.Echo.channel('updates')
    .listen('NewPostCreated', (e) => {
        console.log(e.post);
    });

// routes/channels.php
Broadcast::channel('user.{id}', function ($user, $id) {
    return (int) $user->id === (int) $id;
});

window.Echo.private(`user.${userId}`)
    .listen('MessageReceived', (e) => {
        console.log('New message:', e.message);
    });

// routes/channels.php
Broadcast::channel('chat.{roomId}', function ($user, $roomId) {
    return ['id' => $user->id, 'name' => $user->name];
});

window.Echo.join(`chat.${roomId}`)
    .here((users) => {
        console.log('Currently online:', users);
    })
    .joining((user) => {
        console.log(user.name, 'joined');
    })
    .leaving((user) => {
        console.log(user.name, 'left');
    });

What You Can Build with Reverb

Once you have Reverb set up, it’s hard not to see possibilities everywhere. A few ideas to get your imagination going:

• 💬 Chat apps
  The classic. Whether it’s a simple support chat or a Slack-style team tool, WebSockets make sure messages appear instantly without refreshes.

• 📊 Live dashboards
  Think server monitoring, sales dashboards, or even real-time sports stats. Instead of refreshing every few seconds, numbers just flow in.

• 🔔 Instant notifications
  Push alerts when someone comments, likes, tags, or @mentions you, just like you’d expect in modern social apps.

• 🛒 E-commerce stock updates
  Flash sales, countdown timers, “only 2 left in stock” messages, all powered by live updates instead of page reloads.

• 🎮 Multiplayer games
  Card games, trivia, real-time scoreboards, or even collaborative drawing apps. WebSockets make every move visible across players immediately.

• 📈 Financial & trading apps
  Stock tickers, crypto price changes, order books, users expect those to update by the second.

• 🚌 Real-time maps & tracking
  Show delivery drivers, public transport locations, or even “your order is on the way” updates. One socket connection, everyone sees the live movement.

• 📝 Collaborative editing
  Think Google Docs style: multiple people editing the same document or whiteboard at once, with changes appearing live.

• 🎤 Live Q&A / polling systems
  Great for conferences, online classrooms, or webinars, attendees vote or submit questions, and results appear instantly.

• 🎧 Music & watch parties
  Sync playback of audio or video across users, everyone presses play at the same time, and Reverb keeps streams aligned.

• ⚡ IoT dashboards
  Monitor connected devices in real-time (temperature sensors, smart meters, etc.) and update the UI without refreshing.

• 📦 Logistics & delivery tracking
  Show customers when their package leaves the warehouse, when it’s on the truck, and when it’s about to arrive, all updated instantly.

• 🎟️ Ticketing systems
  When event seats sell out, reflect that immediately so two users aren’t fighting over the same last ticket.

Final Thoughts

Polling had its moment. It was simple, it worked, and it let us fake “real-time” before the web was ready for it.

But today, users expect immediacy. A chat that lags feels broken. A dashboard that only updates every 10 seconds feels outdated.

Laravel Reverb changes the game by making real-time features part of Laravel itself. No extra infrastructure, no expensive third-party services, just native WebSockets that “feel Laravel.”

So the next time you reach for setInterval, pause.

Ask yourself: Would this be better as an event broadcast over Reverb?
Chances are, the answer is yes.

And your users will feel the difference.

Keep building great stuff! 🚀