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Networking · head to head

HiveMQ vs Netdata

HiveMQ logo

HiveMQ

Networking

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Netdata logo

Netdata

Networking

Per-second metrics collection with automatic dashboards and on-node anomaly detection

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.; Netdata the dashboard interface is under a restrictive Netdata licence rather than GPL and is served from Netdata infrastructure by default, so the deployment is not fully self-contained without extra configuration.
  • They diverge on capability: HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Netdata covers Per-second collection.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which HiveMQ and Netdata actually diverge.

Attributes where HiveMQ and Netdata differ
AttributeHiveMQNetdata
Pricing modelPer month by connections and throughputOpen source, no licence fee
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, WebLinux, macOS, FreeBSD, Docker, Kubernetes, Windows

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 Netdata

  • Per-second collection
  • Zero-configuration discovery
  • Edge machine learning
  • Tiered database engine
  • Streaming and replication
  • Health alarms

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 Netdata
  • An industrial plant bridging MQTT telemetry into Kafka without writing and operating the bridgenot Netdata
  • A utility that needs message-level schema validation so one faulty firmware release cannot corrupt the data lakenot Netdata
  • An IoT project that needs a self-managed broker price for a budget submission without entering a sales processnot Netdata

Netdata

  • Diagnosing a short-lived performance incident where one-minute averages hide the spike entirelynot HiveMQ
  • Kubernetes clusters where per-series billing from a hosted vendor has become the largest observability costnot HiveMQ
  • Adding dense host visibility to an estate that already has Prometheus for application metricsnot HiveMQ
  • Small teams with no monitoring engineer who need working dashboards on the day of installationnot 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.

Netdata

  • The dashboard interface is under a restrictive Netdata licence rather than GPL and is served from Netdata infrastructure by default, so the deployment is not fully self-contained without extra configuration.
  • Retention is limited by disk on each node unless you build and maintain a parent tier, which makes it a poor archive for year-over-year capacity planning.
  • Per-second collection consumes noticeable CPU and memory on small or heavily loaded nodes, and on constrained edge hardware the monitoring becomes part of the problem.
  • Default alerting is generous and fires on conditions many teams consider normal, so the first weeks involve pruning alarms rather than responding to them.
  • Fleet-level features that make it usable across hundreds of nodes sit in Netdata Cloud, so the free agent alone leaves you visiting individual node dashboards.

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

Netdata

Free
  • Netdata AgentFree
    • GPLv3 agent with unlimited nodes
    • Per-second metrics and edge anomaly detection
    • Local dashboards and alerting
  • Netdata Cloud paid tiers$undefined/month
    • Per-node subscription for fleet management features
    • Role based access control and longer alert history
    • Business and enterprise support options

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 Netdata if

  • You need per-second collection.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, Docker, Kubernetes, Windows.
  • You also want zero-configuration discovery.
Netdata review

Questions people ask

Is HiveMQ or Netdata better?
Neither clearly leads. HiveMQ starts at Free and Netdata at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, HiveMQ or Netdata?
HiveMQ starts at Free and Netdata at Free.
Does HiveMQ or Netdata run on more platforms?
HiveMQ runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web. Netdata runs on Linux, macOS, FreeBSD, Docker, Kubernetes, Windows.
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 Netdata is typically brought in for.
What can HiveMQ do that Netdata cannot?
HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Native clustering, Data Hub, Extension framework. Netdata covers Per-second collection, Zero-configuration discovery, Edge machine learning, Tiered database engine.

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.

Netdata: Is Netdata fully open source?

The agent is GPLv3. The current dashboard interface is under a separate restrictive licence, so the complete product is open core rather than open 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.

Netdata: Can it run without any connection to Netdata Cloud?

Yes, agents work standalone and dashboards can be served locally, but you lose fleet-wide views and need to configure local interface serving deliberately.

HiveMQ: Does it support MQTT 5?

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

Netdata: Does it replace Prometheus?

For host and container infrastructure metrics it often does. For custom application metrics with an existing exporter ecosystem and long retention, most teams keep both.

HiveMQ: Can it bridge into Kafka?

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

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