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Networking · head to head

HiveMQ vs LibreNMS

HiveMQ logo

HiveMQ

Networking

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
LibreNMS logo

LibreNMS

Networking

Free, community-driven network monitoring with commercial support sold by a third-party partner, not the project itself

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; LibreNMS there is no official LibreNMS company; commercial support runs through a single designated third-party partner, Config Services Ltd, rather than a broad vendor support market
  • They diverge on capability: HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, LibreNMS covers SNMP auto-discovery.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which HiveMQ and LibreNMS actually diverge.

Attributes where HiveMQ and LibreNMS differ
AttributeHiveMQLibreNMS
Pricing modelPer month by connections and throughputOpen source, no licence fee; commercial support sold by a third-party partner
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, WebLinux, Web

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 HiveMQ

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

Only in LibreNMS

  • SNMP auto-discovery
  • Device and OS support
  • Alerting
  • API
  • Distributed polling

What people use each for

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

HiveMQ

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

LibreNMS

  • A network team wanting SNMP-based device monitoring with zero licence cost and full control over the deploymentnot HiveMQ
  • An organisation with in-house Linux and networking expertise that does not need a vendor support contractnot HiveMQ
  • A team wanting an alternative to Icinga that is focused specifically on network device polling rather than general infrastructure monitoringnot HiveMQ
  • A company wanting SLA-backed support for LibreNMS but without wanting to build that capability in-house, contracting the designated partner insteadnot HiveMQ

Where each one falls short

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

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.

LibreNMS

  • There is no official LibreNMS company; commercial support runs through a single designated third-party partner, Config Services Ltd, rather than a broad vendor support market
  • Self-hosting and maintaining LibreNMS requires real Linux and SNMP expertise, and there is no vendor obligated to fix issues without a separate paid support arrangement
  • Device and OS support quality varies because it is community-contributed, so obscure or newer hardware may have thinner or less accurate polling templates than mainstream vendors
  • The web interface, while functional, is less polished out of the box than commercial tools like PRTG, and dashboard customisation takes more manual configuration
  • Scaling to a very large device count requires manually configuring distributed polling, which is more operational work than a SaaS tool that scales transparently
  • Project direction depends on community and contributor priorities rather than a company roadmap, so feature development pace and priorities can be less predictable than a commercial vendor's

Pricing, plan by plan

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

LibreNMS

Free
  • LibreNMSFree
    • Full functionality
    • No usage limits
    • Community forum and GitHub support

Which should you pick?

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

Choose LibreNMS if

  • You need snmp auto-discovery.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Web.
  • You also want device and os support.
LibreNMS review

Questions people ask

Is HiveMQ or LibreNMS better?
Neither clearly leads. HiveMQ starts at Free and LibreNMS at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, HiveMQ or LibreNMS?
HiveMQ starts at Free and LibreNMS at Free.
Does HiveMQ or LibreNMS run on more platforms?
HiveMQ runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web. LibreNMS runs on Linux, Web.
Can I use HiveMQ for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is HiveMQ best used for?
HiveMQ is most often used for a connected vehicle fleet where devices drop off the network for hours and sessions must survive, an industrial plant bridging mqtt telemetry into kafka without writing and operating the bridge, a utility that needs message-level schema validation so one faulty firmware release cannot corrupt the data lake, an iot project that needs a self-managed broker price for a budget submission without entering a sales process. Of those, a connected vehicle fleet where devices drop off the network for hours and sessions must survive and an industrial plant bridging mqtt telemetry into kafka without writing and operating the bridge are not what LibreNMS is typically brought in for.
What can HiveMQ do that LibreNMS cannot?
HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Native clustering, Data Hub, Extension framework. LibreNMS covers SNMP auto-discovery, Device and OS support, Alerting, API.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

HiveMQ: Is HiveMQ free?

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

LibreNMS: Is LibreNMS really free with no paid tier of the software?

Yes, the software itself has no licence fee; only optional third-party support is paid.

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.

LibreNMS: Who provides paid support?

Config Services Ltd is the designated partner offering SLA-backed support and consultancy for LibreNMS.

HiveMQ: Does it support MQTT 5?

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

LibreNMS: Does LibreNMS require SNMP access to every device?

Yes, its core monitoring approach relies on SNMP polling, so devices must have SNMP enabled and reachable.

HiveMQ: Can it bridge into Kafka?

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

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