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Networking · head to head

Cisco Meraki vs Eclipse Mosquitto

Cisco Meraki logo

Cisco Meraki

Networking

Cloud-managed networking hardware where the licence is mandatory and the hardware stops passing traffic if it lapses

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Eclipse Mosquitto logo

Eclipse Mosquitto

Networking

Small, EPL-licensed MQTT broker that runs on hardware other brokers cannot

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Eclipse Mosquitto has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Cisco Meraki the licence is mandatory and recurring for the life of the hardware; after a 30-day grace period past expiry, devices stop forwarding traffic entirely, which is an operational outage risk unlike almost any other hardware purchase; Eclipse Mosquitto there is no clustering: Mosquitto is a single process, so high availability means building your own failover and accepting session loss on switchover.
  • They diverge on capability: Cisco Meraki covers Cloud dashboard management, Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cisco Meraki and Eclipse Mosquitto actually diverge.

Attributes where Cisco Meraki and Eclipse Mosquitto differ
AttributeCisco MerakiEclipse Mosquitto
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelquote, hardware plus mandatory recurring licenceOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, iOS, AndroidLinux, Windows, macOS, Docker

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 Cisco Meraki

  • Cloud dashboard management
  • Zero-touch provisioning
  • Co-termination licensing
  • Unified hardware line
  • API and integrations

Only in Eclipse Mosquitto

  • MQTT 5.0 support
  • Very small footprint
  • Bridging
  • WebSockets listener
  • Command line clients
  • Dynamic security plugin

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Cisco Meraki

  • A multi-site retail or education organisation that wants one dashboard to manage networking hardware across many locations without local IT staff at each sitenot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • An IT team that values zero-touch provisioning for rapid rollout of new sites over local configuration controlnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • An organisation that has already standardised on Cisco and wants Meraki's simplified cloud management alongside existing Cisco infrastructurenot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • A managed service provider running Meraki across client sites who bills the licence cost through to clients as part of a managed contractnot Eclipse Mosquitto

Eclipse Mosquitto

  • A home or building automation stack where the broker must run on the same small computer as everything elsenot Cisco Meraki
  • An industrial gateway that buffers local telemetry and bridges selected topics to a cloud brokernot Cisco Meraki
  • Local development and testing of MQTT clients without provisioning a cloud IoT servicenot Cisco Meraki
  • An air-gapped deployment where a broker with no licence server and no phone-home behaviour is a requirementnot Cisco Meraki

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Cisco Meraki

  • The licence is mandatory and recurring for the life of the hardware; after a 30-day grace period past expiry, devices stop forwarding traffic entirely, which is an operational outage risk unlike almost any other hardware purchase
  • There is no perpetual or offline fallback mode, so fully depreciated hardware still requires an active subscription to function, meaning the true cost of ownership never drops to zero the way owned hardware normally would
  • Co-termination licensing ties all devices on an organisation to a single renewal date, so adding a device mid-cycle requires paying a prorated amount to align to that date rather than a clean incremental cost
  • Configuration and monitoring depend entirely on Cisco's cloud dashboard being reachable; a local network outage that also cuts cloud connectivity limits visibility into what is happening on-site
  • Pricing is quote-only and bundled with hardware, so a buyer cannot compare a straightforward per-device licence cost against competitors without going through a sales process
  • Switching away from Meraki after adoption means replacing hardware, not just software, since the devices are functionally useless without a Meraki licence and cannot be repurposed to run other firmware

Eclipse Mosquitto

  • There is no clustering: Mosquitto is a single process, so high availability means building your own failover and accepting session loss on switchover.
  • Persistence is a local file rather than a replicated store, so a disk failure or an unclean shutdown can lose retained messages and queued QoS traffic.
  • Practical capacity is a few thousand concurrent clients on typical hardware, so a growing device fleet eventually forces a migration to a clustered broker.
  • The Eclipse Public Licence is weak copyleft rather than permissive, which some legal teams treat as a blocker when embedding the broker in a shipped commercial product.
  • There is no commercial support to buy from the project, so production incidents rely on community mailing lists or on paying a third party who happens to know the codebase.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cisco Meraki

On request
  • Meraki hardware plus licence$undefined/year
    • Device hardware purchase
    • Co-termed licence required for the device to function
    • Licence renewal required indefinitely for continued operation

Eclipse Mosquitto

Free
  • Eclipse MosquittoFree
    • Eclipse Public License 2.0 with Eclipse Distribution Licence
    • MQTT 5.0, 3.1.1 and 3.1
    • No client or message limits beyond your hardware

Which should you pick?

Choose Cisco Meraki if

  • You need cloud dashboard management.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want zero-touch provisioning.
Cisco Meraki review

Choose Eclipse Mosquitto if

  • You need mqtt 5.0 support.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker.
  • You also want very small footprint.
Eclipse Mosquitto review

Questions people ask

Is Cisco Meraki or Eclipse Mosquitto better?
Neither clearly leads. Cisco Meraki starts at On request and Eclipse Mosquitto at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cisco Meraki or Eclipse Mosquitto?
Eclipse Mosquitto has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for Cisco Meraki and Free for Eclipse Mosquitto.
Does Cisco Meraki or Eclipse Mosquitto run on more platforms?
Cisco Meraki runs on Web, iOS, Android. Eclipse Mosquitto runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker.
Can I use Eclipse Mosquitto for free?
Yes. Eclipse Mosquitto has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Cisco Meraki starts at On request.
What is Cisco Meraki best used for?
Cisco Meraki is most often used for a multi-site retail or education organisation that wants one dashboard to manage networking hardware across many locations without local it staff at each site, an it team that values zero-touch provisioning for rapid rollout of new sites over local configuration control, an organisation that has already standardised on cisco and wants meraki's simplified cloud management alongside existing cisco infrastructure, a managed service provider running meraki across client sites who bills the licence cost through to clients as part of a managed contract. Of those, a multi-site retail or education organisation that wants one dashboard to manage networking hardware across many locations without local it staff at each site and an it team that values zero-touch provisioning for rapid rollout of new sites over local configuration control are not what Eclipse Mosquitto is typically brought in for.
What can Cisco Meraki do that Eclipse Mosquitto cannot?
Cisco Meraki covers Cloud dashboard management, Zero-touch provisioning, Co-termination licensing, Unified hardware line. Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cisco Meraki: What happens if we stop paying for the licence?

After the licence reaches its co-termination date there is a 30-day grace period, after which the organisation is marked out of compliance, devices become unmanageable, and hardware stops passing traffic.

Eclipse Mosquitto: Can Mosquitto be clustered?

No. It is a single process. High availability requires an external failover arrangement you build yourself.

Cisco Meraki: Can Meraki hardware run without the cloud dashboard?

No, Meraki devices require ongoing cloud connectivity and a valid licence to operate; there is no supported offline or perpetual mode.

Eclipse Mosquitto: What licence is it?

Eclipse Public License 2.0 alongside the Eclipse Distribution License, a weak copyleft rather than a permissive licence.

Cisco Meraki: Is pricing published?

No, Meraki hardware and licensing are quoted per deal rather than listed at fixed public prices.

Eclipse Mosquitto: How many clients can it handle?

A few thousand concurrent connections on ordinary hardware; beyond that, use a clustered broker.

Eclipse Mosquitto: Does it support MQTT 5?

Yes, along with 3.1.1 and 3.1.

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