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Cloud · head to head

Chef vs Eclipse Mosquitto

Chef logo

Chef

Cloud

Infrastructure automation and management

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: Chef priced per node per year, at $59 on Business and $189 on Enterprise, so cost scales with fleet size rather than with team size; 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: Chef covers Recipes, 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 Chef and Eclipse Mosquitto actually diverge.

Attributes where Chef and Eclipse Mosquitto differ
AttributeChefEclipse Mosquitto
Pricing modelopen-sourceOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, ApiLinux, Windows, macOS, Docker
CategoryCloudNetworking
Founded2009Unknown

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 Chef

  • Recipes
  • Cookbooks
  • Roles
  • Data bags
  • Attributes
  • Chef Server
  • Chef Infra
  • Chef Compliance

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.

Chef

  • Configuration management and infrastructure automation across server fleetsnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Enforcing compliance and audit policy on managed nodesnot Eclipse Mosquitto

Eclipse Mosquitto

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

Where each one falls short

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

Chef

  • Priced per node per year, at $59 on Business and $189 on Enterprise, so cost scales with fleet size rather than with team size
  • Tripling the price between the two published tiers puts compliance and audit features well above basic automation
  • Enterprise Plus and every self managed deployment are custom quoted with no published price

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

Chef

Free
  • Open SourceFree
    • Chef Infra
    • Community support
    • Full functionality
  • Chef Automate$4000/year
    • Chef Infra
    • Compliance automation
    • Insights

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 Chef if

  • You need recipes.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api.
  • You also want cookbooks.
Chef 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 Chef or Eclipse Mosquitto better?
Neither clearly leads. Chef 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, Chef or Eclipse Mosquitto?
Chef starts at Free and Eclipse Mosquitto at Free.
Does Chef or Eclipse Mosquitto run on more platforms?
Chef runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Api. Eclipse Mosquitto runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker.
Can I use Chef for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Chef best used for?
Chef is most often used for configuration management and infrastructure automation across server fleets, enforcing compliance and audit policy on managed nodes. Of those, configuration management and infrastructure automation across server fleets and enforcing compliance and audit policy on managed nodes are not what Eclipse Mosquitto is typically brought in for.
What can Chef do that Eclipse Mosquitto cannot?
Chef covers Recipes, Cookbooks, Roles, Data bags. Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Chef: How much does Chef cost?

Chef does not publish pricing on its website. The company offers a free trial and directs interested customers to request a demo or contact their sales team for pricing details.

Source
Eclipse Mosquitto: Can Mosquitto be clustered?

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

Chef: Is there a free trial available?

Yes, Chef offers a free trial to interested users, allowing them to evaluate the platform before purchasing.

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.

Chef: What deployment options are available?

Chef is available as SaaS (cloud-hosted), on-premises, and through cloud marketplaces like AWS and Azure, but specific pricing for each deployment model is not published.

Source
Eclipse Mosquitto: How many clients can it handle?

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

Chef: How do I get pricing information?

Sign up for the free trial or request a demo through Chef's website to speak with their sales team about pricing.

Source
Eclipse Mosquitto: Does it support MQTT 5?

Yes, along with 3.1.1 and 3.1.

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