Softwr

Networking · head to head

HiveMQ vs RabbitMQ

HiveMQ logo

HiveMQ

Networking

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
RabbitMQ logo

RabbitMQ

Databases

Open-source message broker supporting AMQP and other protocols

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.; RabbitMQ not built for replay: once consumed, a message is gone, which is exactly what Kafka exists to change
  • They diverge on capability: HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, RabbitMQ covers Flexible routing.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which HiveMQ and RabbitMQ actually diverge.

Attributes where HiveMQ and RabbitMQ differ
AttributeHiveMQRabbitMQ
Pricing modelPer month by connections and throughputOpen source, no licence fee; managed services billed separately
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, WebLinux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes
CategoryNetworkingDatabases

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 RabbitMQ

  • Flexible routing
  • Multiple protocols
  • Management UI
  • Clustering and mirroring

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

RabbitMQ

  • Distributing background jobs to a pool of workers with retriesnot HiveMQ
  • Decoupling services that need delivery rather than a replayable historynot HiveMQ
  • Routing messages by pattern to different consumers from one publishernot 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.

RabbitMQ

  • Not built for replay: once consumed, a message is gone, which is exactly what Kafka exists to change
  • Throughput ceilings are lower than a log-based platform under very heavy streaming loads
  • Queues that build up degrade broker performance, so consumer lag is an operational problem rather than just a backlog
  • Clustering and partition behaviour has historically been a source of hard-to-diagnose problems

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

RabbitMQ

Free
  • RabbitMQFree
    • Full functionality
    • Self-hosted
    • No usage limits

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 RabbitMQ if

  • You need flexible routing.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want multiple protocols.
RabbitMQ review

Questions people ask

Is HiveMQ or RabbitMQ better?
Neither clearly leads. HiveMQ starts at Free and RabbitMQ at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, HiveMQ or RabbitMQ?
HiveMQ starts at Free and RabbitMQ at Free.
Does HiveMQ or RabbitMQ run on more platforms?
HiveMQ runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web. RabbitMQ runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
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 RabbitMQ is typically brought in for.
What can HiveMQ do that RabbitMQ cannot?
HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Native clustering, Data Hub, Extension framework. RabbitMQ covers Flexible routing, Multiple protocols, Management UI, Clustering and mirroring.

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.

RabbitMQ: Is RabbitMQ free?

Yes, open source with no licence fee. Broadcom sells commercial support.

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.

RabbitMQ: RabbitMQ or Kafka?

RabbitMQ is a message broker: simpler to run and better at flexible routing and work queues. Kafka is a replayable event log built for very high throughput streaming, and much heavier to operate.

HiveMQ: Does it support MQTT 5?

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

RabbitMQ: Can RabbitMQ replay messages?

Not in the way Kafka can. Messages are removed once acknowledged, so rebuilding state from history is not the model.

HiveMQ: Can it bridge into Kafka?

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

Share

Related pages

More on HiveMQ

More on RabbitMQ

Keep looking

Other head to heads