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Developer Tools · head to head

Ansible vs Eclipse Mosquitto

Ansible logo

Ansible

Developer Tools

Simple, agentless IT automation

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Eclipse Mosquitto logo

Eclipse Mosquitto

Networking

Small, EPL-licensed MQTT broker that runs on hardware other brokers cannot

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Ansible the open source project gives the engine and the language; the automation controller, automation mesh, automation hub, analytics and governance all belong to the paid Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform; Eclipse Mosquitto there is no clustering: Mosquitto is a single process, so high availability means building your own failover and accepting session loss on switchover.
  • They diverge on capability: Ansible covers Playbooks, Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Ansible and Eclipse Mosquitto actually diverge.

Attributes where Ansible and Eclipse Mosquitto differ
AttributeAnsibleEclipse Mosquitto
Pricing modelopen-sourceOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, ApiLinux, Windows, macOS, Docker
CategoryDeveloper ToolsNetworking
Founded2012Unknown

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Ansible

  • Playbooks
  • Inventory management
  • Module library
  • Variables and templating
  • Handlers
  • Roles
  • Async tasks
  • Plugins

Only in Eclipse Mosquitto

  • MQTT 5.0 support
  • Very small footprint
  • Bridging
  • WebSockets listener
  • Command line clients
  • Dynamic security plugin

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Ansible

  • Configuration managementnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Server provisioningnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Application deploymentnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Multi-node managementnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Orchestrationnot Eclipse Mosquitto

Eclipse Mosquitto

  • A home or building automation stack where the broker must run on the same small computer as everything elsenot Ansible
  • An industrial gateway that buffers local telemetry and bridges selected topics to a cloud brokernot Ansible
  • Local development and testing of MQTT clients without provisioning a cloud IoT servicenot Ansible
  • An air-gapped deployment where a broker with no licence server and no phone-home behaviour is a requirementnot Ansible

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Ansible

  • The open source project gives the engine and the language; the automation controller, automation mesh, automation hub, analytics and governance all belong to the paid Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
  • Event-Driven Ansible and the AI coding assistant are platform features rather than open source ones
  • Red Hat does not publish platform pricing
  • Running open source Ansible at scale means building the control plane the platform otherwise provides

Eclipse Mosquitto

  • There is no clustering: Mosquitto is a single process, so high availability means building your own failover and accepting session loss on switchover.
  • Persistence is a local file rather than a replicated store, so a disk failure or an unclean shutdown can lose retained messages and queued QoS traffic.
  • Practical capacity is a few thousand concurrent clients on typical hardware, so a growing device fleet eventually forces a migration to a clustered broker.
  • The Eclipse Public Licence is weak copyleft rather than permissive, which some legal teams treat as a blocker when embedding the broker in a shipped commercial product.
  • There is no commercial support to buy from the project, so production incidents rely on community mailing lists or on paying a third party who happens to know the codebase.

Pricing, plan by plan

Ansible

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Community edition
    • Unlimited nodes
    • Full functionality
  • Ansible Automation Platform$5000/year
    • Enterprise support
    • Ansible Tower
    • Advanced features

Eclipse Mosquitto

Free
  • Eclipse MosquittoFree
    • Eclipse Public License 2.0 with Eclipse Distribution Licence
    • MQTT 5.0, 3.1.1 and 3.1
    • No client or message limits beyond your hardware

Which should you pick?

Choose Ansible if

  • You need playbooks.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
  • You also want inventory management.
Ansible review

Choose Eclipse Mosquitto if

  • You need mqtt 5.0 support.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker.
  • You also want very small footprint.
Eclipse Mosquitto review

Questions people ask

Is Ansible or Eclipse Mosquitto better?
Neither clearly leads. Ansible starts at Free and Eclipse Mosquitto at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Ansible or Eclipse Mosquitto?
Ansible starts at Free and Eclipse Mosquitto at Free.
Does Ansible or Eclipse Mosquitto run on more platforms?
Ansible runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api. Eclipse Mosquitto runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker.
Can I use Ansible for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Ansible best used for?
Ansible is most often used for configuration management, server provisioning, application deployment, multi-node management. Of those, configuration management and server provisioning are not what Eclipse Mosquitto is typically brought in for.
What can Ansible do that Eclipse Mosquitto cannot?
Ansible covers Playbooks, Inventory management, Module library, Variables and templating. Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Ansible: Is Ansible free for commercial use?

Ansible Collaborative is open source. The page describes it as 'an open source IT automation engine' and does not impose restrictions on commercial use for the open source version.

Source
Eclipse Mosquitto: Can Mosquitto be clustered?

No. It is a single process. High availability requires an external failover arrangement you build yourself.

Ansible: What is the difference between open source Ansible and the commercial alternative?

The page references Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform as an enterprise alternative to Ansible Collaborative, but does not disclose specific differences, pricing, or feature comparisons between the two offerings.

Source
Eclipse Mosquitto: What licence is it?

Eclipse Public License 2.0 alongside the Eclipse Distribution License, a weak copyleft rather than a permissive licence.

Ansible: Is there paid support available for Ansible?

The page does not disclose whether paid support contracts are available for open source Ansible or whether Red Hat offers support plans for their enterprise Ansible Automation Platform.

Source
Eclipse Mosquitto: How many clients can it handle?

A few thousand concurrent connections on ordinary hardware; beyond that, use a clustered broker.

Eclipse Mosquitto: Does it support MQTT 5?

Yes, along with 3.1.1 and 3.1.

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