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Networking · head to head

Grafana vs HiveMQ

Grafana logo

Grafana

Networking

Observability and Data Visualization

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
HiveMQ logo

HiveMQ

Networking

Enterprise MQTT broker for industrial IoT with a published self-managed price list

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Grafana the free tier retains metrics, logs and traces for 14 days only; HiveMQ the Community Edition lacks clustering, persistence extensions, the control centre and all enterprise bridges, so a prototype built on it does not become production by buying support.
  • They diverge on capability: Grafana covers Dashboard creation, HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Grafana and HiveMQ actually diverge.

Attributes where Grafana and HiveMQ differ
AttributeGrafanaHiveMQ
Pricing modelusage-basedPer month by connections and throughput
PlatformsWeb, ApiLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web
Founded2014Unknown

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

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 Grafana

  • Dashboard creation
  • Alerting
  • Data source integration
  • Visualization plugins
  • API
  • Webhooks
  • REST
  • Web support

Only in HiveMQ

  • MQTT 5 and 3.1.1
  • Native clustering
  • Data Hub
  • Extension framework
  • Enterprise bridges
  • Control centre

What people use each for

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

Grafana

  • Metrics visualization and monitoringnot HiveMQ
  • Log aggregation and analysisnot HiveMQ
  • Distributed traces managementnot HiveMQ
  • System performance profilingnot HiveMQ

HiveMQ

  • A connected vehicle fleet where devices drop off the network for hours and sessions must survivenot Grafana
  • An industrial plant bridging MQTT telemetry into Kafka without writing and operating the bridgenot Grafana
  • A utility that needs message-level schema validation so one faulty firmware release cannot corrupt the data lakenot Grafana
  • An IoT project that needs a self-managed broker price for a budget submission without entering a sales processnot Grafana

Where each one falls short

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

Grafana

  • The free tier retains metrics, logs and traces for 14 days only
  • Free is capped at 10,000 active metric series and 50 GB each of logs and traces a month
  • The Pro plan carries a $19 a month platform fee before any usage charges
  • Logs and traces are billed on three separate meters, at $0.050 per GB processed, $0.400 per GB written and $0.100 per GB retained
  • Retaining data is an ongoing charge rather than a one off, so historical data costs every month it exists

HiveMQ

  • The Community Edition lacks clustering, persistence extensions, the control centre and all enterprise bridges, so a prototype built on it does not become production by buying support.
  • The entry commercial tiers cap at ten thousand connections, and device fleets grow, so the step to Enterprise capacity pricing arrives sooner than most projects plan for.
  • It is a JVM application, so memory tuning and garbage collection behaviour become the operator’s problem at high connection counts, unlike the C-based brokers in this space.
  • Extensions are written in Java against HiveMQ’s SPI, which means custom authentication logic is locked to the platform and cannot move to another broker.
  • For simple use cases it is substantially heavier and more expensive than Mosquitto or EMQX, and small deployments frequently pay enterprise prices for clustering they never use.

Pricing, plan by plan

Grafana

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Limited usage across all services
    • 14-day retention for metrics, logs, traces, profiles
    • Community support only
  • Pro$19/month
    • Pay-as-you-go pricing with volume discounts
    • 13-month retention for metrics
    • 30-day retention for logs/traces/profiles
  • Enterprise$25000/year
    • Custom pricing based on annual volume
    • Premium support included
    • Custom retention options

HiveMQ

Free
  • Community EditionFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence
    • MQTT 3.1.1 and 5 support
    • Single broker, no clustering
  • Launch$299/month
    • Ten thousand connections
    • Five hundred messages per second
    • Single broker deployment
  • Run$499/month
    • Ten thousand connections
    • One thousand messages per second
    • Single broker deployment
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Priced by connections and throughput
    • Multi-broker and multi-site deployments
    • Distributed data intelligence

Which should you pick?

Choose Grafana if

  • You need dashboard creation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want alerting.
Grafana review

Choose HiveMQ if

  • You need mqtt 5 and 3.1.1.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web.
  • You also want native clustering.
HiveMQ review

Questions people ask

Is Grafana or HiveMQ better?
Neither clearly leads. Grafana starts at Free and HiveMQ at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Grafana or HiveMQ?
Grafana starts at Free and HiveMQ at Free.
Does Grafana or HiveMQ run on more platforms?
Grafana runs on Web, Api. HiveMQ runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web.
Can I use Grafana for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Grafana best used for?
Grafana is most often used for metrics visualization and monitoring, log aggregation and analysis, distributed traces management, system performance profiling. Of those, metrics visualization and monitoring and log aggregation and analysis are not what HiveMQ is typically brought in for.
What can Grafana do that HiveMQ cannot?
Grafana covers Dashboard creation, Alerting, Data source integration, Visualization plugins. HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Native clustering, Data Hub, Extension framework.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Grafana: What is Grafana's pricing model?

Grafana offers a freemium model with a free tier, Pro tier starting at 19 USD/month with pay-as-you-go usage charges, and Enterprise plans starting at 25000 USD/year.

Source
HiveMQ: Is HiveMQ free?

The Community Edition is Apache 2.0 and free, but it has no clustering and none of the enterprise extensions.

Grafana: How long is data retention for each plan?

Free tier provides 14-day retention for metrics, logs, traces, and profiles. Pro tier extends this to 13 months for metrics and 30 days for logs/traces/profiles. Enterprise offers custom retention options.

Source
HiveMQ: What does the commercial version cost?

Self-managed Launch is 299 US dollars a month for ten thousand connections; Run is 499 with higher throughput.

Grafana: What support is included in each tier?

Free tier includes community support only. Pro tier provides 8 times 5 email support. Enterprise includes premium 24/7 support.

Source
HiveMQ: Does it support MQTT 5?

Yes, both MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, including shared subscriptions and session expiry intervals.

Grafana: Does Grafana offer volume discounts?

Yes, Grafana uses adaptive pricing with automatic volume discounts as usage scales, and provides cost-optimization tools to help eliminate spending on unused data.

Source
HiveMQ: Can it bridge into Kafka?

Yes, via a commercial enterprise extension, not in the Community Edition.

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