Is HiveMQ or Particle better?

Neither clearly leads. HiveMQ starts at Free and Particle at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, HiveMQ or Particle?

HiveMQ starts at Free and Particle at Free.

Does HiveMQ or Particle run on more platforms?

HiveMQ runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web. Particle runs on Particle devices, Custom hardware, Cloud, Mobile apps.

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 Particle is typically brought in for.

What can HiveMQ do that Particle cannot?

HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Native clustering, Data Hub, Extension framework. Particle covers Device OS, Cloud Platform, Device Management, OTA Updates.

Networking · head to head

HiveMQ vs Particle

HiveMQ

Networking

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

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Particle

Smart Home

Edge-to-cloud IoT platform for connected devices

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

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.; Particle paid capacity is sold in blocks of 100 devices rather than per device, so 101 devices costs the same as 200
They diverge on capability: HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Particle covers Device OS.
Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which HiveMQ and Particle actually diverge.

Attributes where HiveMQ and Particle differ
Attribute	HiveMQ	Particle
Pricing model	Per month by connections and throughput	subscription
Platforms	Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web	Particle devices, Custom hardware, Cloud, Mobile apps
Category	Networking	Smart Home
Founded	Unknown	2013

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 HiveMQ

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

Only in Particle

Device OS
Cloud Platform
Device Management
OTA Updates
REST API
WebHooks
Integration marketplace
3rd party services

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

Particle

Connecting cellular and wifi IoT devices to a managed cloud platformnot HiveMQ
Deploying firmware updates and collecting device telemetry at fleet scalenot 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.

Particle

Paid capacity is sold in blocks of 100 devices rather than per device, so 101 devices costs the same as 200
The Basic block is $299 a month and the Plus block $599 a month
The free tier allows 100 devices and 100,000 data operations a month
Data operations are the billing unit, so chatty firmware costs more than the device count suggests
No overage rates are published at any tier, so exceeding an allowance has no stated cost

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

Particle

Free

MakerFree
- 5 free devices
- Cloud access
- Basic features
Production$100/month
- Unlimited devices
- Advanced analytics
- Enterprise 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 Particle if

You need device os.
You want to start without paying.
You work on Particle devices, Custom hardware, Cloud, Mobile apps.
You also want cloud platform.

Particle review

Questions people ask

Is HiveMQ or Particle better?: Neither clearly leads. HiveMQ starts at Free and Particle at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, HiveMQ or Particle?: HiveMQ starts at Free and Particle at Free.
Does HiveMQ or Particle run on more platforms?: HiveMQ runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web. Particle runs on Particle devices, Custom hardware, Cloud, Mobile apps.
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 Particle is typically brought in for.
What can HiveMQ do that Particle cannot?: HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Native clustering, Data Hub, Extension framework. Particle covers Device OS, Cloud Platform, Device Management, OTA Updates.

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.

Particle: What are the Particle pricing tiers and their costs?

Particle offers Free ($0, 100 devices, 100K Data Operations/month), Basic ($299/month per block), Plus ($599/month per block), Professional (custom pricing), and Enterprise (custom pricing). Each block supports 100 devices.

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.

Particle: What is a Data Operation and how is it charged?

A Data Operation is Particle's billing unit for user-controlled activities. One operation is charged per device-to-cloud message, cloud-to-device message, Location Fusion call, Ledger sync, or Logic function run. Network transmission and management tasks are included at no additional cost.

Source

HiveMQ: Does it support MQTT 5?

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

Particle: What location data retention does each tier provide?

Location data retention ranges from 3 days in the Free tier up to 6+ months in Professional and Enterprise tiers.

Source

HiveMQ: Can it bridge into Kafka?

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

Particle: Are there additional costs for support or single sign-on?

Premium support and SSO are available as optional add-ons to all Particle plans. The pricing page does not specify the cost of these add-ons.

Source

Particle: Is there a minimum contract length or can I cancel anytime?

The Particle pricing page does not specify a minimum contract length, suggesting monthly billing without long-term lock-in.

Source

HiveMQ vs Particle

HiveMQ

Particle

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in HiveMQ

Only in Particle

What people use each for

HiveMQ

Particle

Where each one falls short

HiveMQ

Particle

Pricing, plan by plan

HiveMQ

Particle

Which should you pick?

Choose HiveMQ if

Choose Particle if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on HiveMQ

More on Particle

Keep looking

Other head to heads