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Networking · head to head

HiveMQ vs ThousandEyes

HiveMQ logo

HiveMQ

Networking

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ThousandEyes logo

ThousandEyes

Networking

Internet and network path monitoring, owned by Cisco but still sold as a standalone product on its own annual contracts

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

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.; ThousandEyes cisco does not publish a current definitive rate card, so any price a buyer finds online is likely outdated and should be confirmed directly with sales before budgeting
  • They diverge on capability: HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, ThousandEyes covers Path visualisation.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which HiveMQ and ThousandEyes actually diverge.

Attributes where HiveMQ and ThousandEyes differ
AttributeHiveMQThousandEyes
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelPer month by connections and throughputquote, unit-based consumption on annual or prepaid contracts
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, WebWeb, API

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 ThousandEyes

  • Path visualisation
  • Cloud, enterprise and endpoint agents
  • Internet Insights
  • Cisco ecosystem integration
  • Unit-based consumption billing

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

ThousandEyes

  • A network operations team at a large enterprise needing to diagnose whether a performance problem sits inside their network, with an ISP, or at the destinationnot HiveMQ
  • An organisation already standardised on Cisco networking wanting internet path monitoring that integrates with existing Cisco toolingnot HiveMQ
  • A company needing endpoint agent testing from real employee devices to reproduce user-reported performance issuesnot HiveMQ
  • An SRE team wanting aggregated internet outage and BGP visibility across a wide customer base rather than building that dataset themselvesnot 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.

ThousandEyes

  • Cisco does not publish a current definitive rate card, so any price a buyer finds online is likely outdated and should be confirmed directly with sales before budgeting
  • A 12-month minimum contract removes the option to trial the platform under real production load on a shorter commitment
  • Unit-based consumption billing across different test types is not always intuitive to forecast, and usage can grow unpredictably as more tests and agents are added
  • Since the Cisco acquisition, purchasing now runs through Cisco's broader enterprise sales and licensing process, which can be slower and less transparent than dealing with a smaller standalone vendor
  • Deep Cisco ecosystem integration is a real advantage only for organisations already standardised on Cisco; it offers less differentiated value for a non-Cisco shop
  • Endpoint agent pricing tiers (Essentials versus Advantage) gate meaningfully different capability, and choosing the wrong tier at signup can mean a contract renegotiation to get needed features

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

ThousandEyes

On request
  • ThousandEyes$undefined/year
    • Cloud and enterprise agent testing
    • Endpoint agents
    • Internet Insights

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 ThousandEyes if

  • You need path visualisation.
  • You work on Web, API.
  • You also want cloud, enterprise and endpoint agents.
ThousandEyes review

Questions people ask

Is HiveMQ or ThousandEyes better?
Neither clearly leads. HiveMQ starts at Free and ThousandEyes at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, HiveMQ or ThousandEyes?
HiveMQ has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for HiveMQ and On request for ThousandEyes.
Does HiveMQ or ThousandEyes run on more platforms?
HiveMQ runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web. ThousandEyes runs on Web, API.
Can I use HiveMQ for free?
Yes. HiveMQ has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. ThousandEyes 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 ThousandEyes is typically brought in for.
What can HiveMQ do that ThousandEyes cannot?
HiveMQ covers MQTT 5 and 3.1.1, Native clustering, Data Hub, Extension framework. ThousandEyes covers Path visualisation, Cloud, enterprise and endpoint agents, Internet Insights, Cisco ecosystem integration.

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.

ThousandEyes: Is ThousandEyes still sold as a standalone product after the Cisco acquisition?

Yes, it remains a distinct, purchasable product line rather than being merged into another Cisco offering.

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.

ThousandEyes: Is there a published, current price list?

No, Cisco does not publish a definitive current rate card; historical unit prices exist online but should not be treated as confirmed 2026 pricing.

HiveMQ: Does it support MQTT 5?

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

ThousandEyes: What is the minimum contract length?

12 months.

HiveMQ: Can it bridge into Kafka?

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

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