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Networking · head to head

Grafana vs Eclipse Mosquitto

Grafana logo

Grafana

Networking

Observability and Data Visualization

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: Grafana the free tier retains metrics, logs and traces for 14 days only; 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: Grafana covers Dashboard creation, 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 Grafana and Eclipse Mosquitto actually diverge.

Attributes where Grafana and Eclipse Mosquitto differ
AttributeGrafanaEclipse Mosquitto
Pricing modelusage-basedOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsWeb, ApiLinux, Windows, macOS, Docker
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 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.

Grafana

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

Eclipse Mosquitto

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

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

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

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 Grafana if

  • You need dashboard creation.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Api.
  • You also want alerting.
Grafana 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 Grafana or Eclipse Mosquitto better?
Neither clearly leads. Grafana 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, Grafana or Eclipse Mosquitto?
Grafana starts at Free and Eclipse Mosquitto at Free.
Does Grafana or Eclipse Mosquitto run on more platforms?
Grafana runs on Web, Api. Eclipse Mosquitto runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker.
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 Eclipse Mosquitto is typically brought in for.
What can Grafana do that Eclipse Mosquitto cannot?
Grafana covers Dashboard creation, Alerting, Data source integration, Visualization plugins. Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener.

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
Eclipse Mosquitto: Can Mosquitto be clustered?

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

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
Eclipse Mosquitto: What licence is it?

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

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
Eclipse Mosquitto: How many clients can it handle?

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

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
Eclipse Mosquitto: Does it support MQTT 5?

Yes, along with 3.1.1 and 3.1.

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