Networking · head to head
HiveMQ vs Splunk
HiveMQ
Networking
Enterprise MQTT broker for industrial IoT with a published self-managed price list
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Only HiveMQ has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
- 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.; Splunk no prices are published on any plan; every model requires contacting sales for an estimate
- They diverge on capability: HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Splunk covers Log aggregation.
- Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which HiveMQ and Splunk actually diverge.
Identical on both: 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 Splunk
- Log aggregation
- Real-time monitoring
- Data visualization
- Full-text search
- Custom dashboards
- Alert management
- Anomaly detection
- Log parsing
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 Splunk
- An industrial plant bridging MQTT telemetry into Kafka without writing and operating the bridgenot Splunk
- A utility that needs message-level schema validation so one faulty firmware release cannot corrupt the data lakenot Splunk
- An IoT project that needs a self-managed broker price for a budget submission without entering a sales processnot Splunk
Splunk
- Log search and analysis across infrastructurenot HiveMQ
- SIEM, SOAR and UEBA for a security operations teamnot HiveMQ
- Application performance and infrastructure monitoringnot HiveMQ
- Cloud, private cloud or on-premises deploymentnot 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.
Splunk
- No prices are published on any plan; every model requires contacting sales for an estimate
- Three separate pricing models, workload, ingest and entity, so the same deployment costs different amounts depending on which was signed
- Ingest pricing bills on data volume, so cost tracks how much you log rather than how much value you get from it
- Security, observability and platform are priced separately
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
Splunk
On request- Observability Cloud - Infrastructure$15/month
- Infrastructure monitoring for per host/month pricing
- Unlimited users and ability to scale to petabytes of data
- Observability Cloud - App & Infra$60/month
- App and infrastructure monitoring for per host/month pricing billed annually
- Observability Cloud - End-to-End$75/month
- End-to-end observability for per host/month pricing billed annually
- On-Call$5/month
- On-call management for per user per month pricing billed annually
- Covers up to 10 seats
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.
Choose Splunk if
- You need log aggregation.
- You work on Web, Api.
- You also want real-time monitoring.
Questions people ask
- Is HiveMQ or Splunk better?
- Neither clearly leads. HiveMQ starts at Free and Splunk at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, HiveMQ or Splunk?
- HiveMQ has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for HiveMQ and On request for Splunk.
- Does HiveMQ or Splunk run on more platforms?
- HiveMQ runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web. Splunk runs on Web, Api.
- Can I use HiveMQ for free?
- Yes. HiveMQ has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Splunk starts at On request.
- 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 Splunk is typically brought in for.
- What can HiveMQ do that Splunk cannot?
- HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Native clustering, Data Hub, Extension framework. Splunk covers Log aggregation, Real-time monitoring, Data visualization, Full-text search.
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.
Splunk: What is Splunk's pricing model?
Splunk offers activity-based, ingest, or workload pricing options depending on the product. Splunk Observability Cloud and AppDynamics use per-host or per-vCPU monthly pricing billed annually. Splunk Cloud Platform and Splunk Enterprise require custom quotes from sales.
SourceHiveMQ: 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.
Splunk: How much does Splunk Enterprise cost?
Splunk Enterprise pricing requires contact with sales. The vendor offers data-ingest or workload pricing options, supports unlimited users, and can scale to petabytes of data, but specific rates are not published online.
SourceHiveMQ: Does it support MQTT 5?
Yes, both MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, including shared subscriptions and session expiry intervals.
Splunk: What are the differences between Splunk's pricing options?
Splunk offers multiple pricing models: ingest-based pricing charges according to data volume brought into the system; workload-based pricing charges based on computing resources consumed by workloads. Both models apply to Splunk Enterprise and Splunk Cloud Platform. Standard support is included with product purchases; premium support is available as an add-on.
SourceHiveMQ: Can it bridge into Kafka?
Yes, via a commercial enterprise extension, not in the Community Edition.
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