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Networking · head to head

MikroTik RouterOS vs Eclipse Mosquitto

MikroTik RouterOS logo

MikroTik RouterOS

Networking

Router and network operating system with a one-time perpetual licence rather than a recurring subscription

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: MikroTik RouterOS the management interface and overall polish are less refined than enterprise competitors like Cisco or Juniper, and the learning curve for advanced configuration is real; 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: MikroTik RouterOS covers Full routing and firewall stack, 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 MikroTik RouterOS and Eclipse Mosquitto actually diverge.

Attributes where MikroTik RouterOS and Eclipse Mosquitto differ
AttributeMikroTik RouterOSEclipse Mosquitto
Starting priceOn requestFree
Pricing modelOne-time purchase, per licence levelOpen source, no licence fee
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWebLinux, 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 MikroTik RouterOS

  • Full routing and firewall stack
  • Perpetual licensing
  • Cloud Hosted Router (CHR)
  • Winbox and CLI management
  • Wireless and VLAN support

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.

MikroTik RouterOS

  • A network engineer or small ISP wanting capable BGP and firewall routing hardware at a lower total cost than Cisco or Juniper equivalentsnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • An organisation that specifically wants to avoid ongoing recurring licence dependency for core routing hardwarenot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • A team wanting to run RouterOS as a virtual router in the cloud (CHR) with its own separate perpetual licensing tiersnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • A hobbyist or small business self-managing network infrastructure without a vendor support contractnot Eclipse Mosquitto

Eclipse Mosquitto

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

Where each one falls short

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

MikroTik RouterOS

  • The management interface and overall polish are less refined than enterprise competitors like Cisco or Juniper, and the learning curve for advanced configuration is real
  • Formal vendor support is thinner than what an enterprise buyer gets from Cisco or Juniper; community forums and documentation are the primary self-support resource
  • Feature and licence-level naming (Level 3 through Level 6, and separately Free/P1/P10/P-Unlimited on CHR) is confusing enough that buyers commonly need to research which level a given deployment actually requires
  • Perpetual licensing on hardware, while avoiding a recurring fee, also means MikroTik has less ongoing incentive to keep pushing free feature updates to a specific licence level indefinitely, and major version jumps sometimes bring new requirements
  • Hardware build quality and long-term reliability at the low end of MikroTik's range is more variable than higher-priced enterprise-grade routing hardware
  • Security patch cadence and past history of vulnerabilities in RouterOS mean patching discipline matters more without vendor-managed cloud updates the way Meraki or Mist provide automatically

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

MikroTik RouterOS

On request
  • RouterOS (bundled with hardware)$undefined/one-time
    • Licence level included with the router purchase price
    • Perpetual, does not expire
  • Cloud Hosted Router (CHR)$undefined/one-time
    • Free tier available with throughput limits
    • P1, P10 and P-Unlimited perpetual licence levels
    • 60-day trial on paid levels

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 MikroTik RouterOS if

  • You need full routing and firewall stack.
  • You also want perpetual licensing.
MikroTik RouterOS 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 MikroTik RouterOS or Eclipse Mosquitto better?
Neither clearly leads. MikroTik RouterOS 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, MikroTik RouterOS or Eclipse Mosquitto?
Eclipse Mosquitto has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at On request for MikroTik RouterOS and Free for Eclipse Mosquitto.
Does MikroTik RouterOS or Eclipse Mosquitto run on more platforms?
MikroTik RouterOS runs on Web. 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. MikroTik RouterOS starts at On request.
What is MikroTik RouterOS best used for?
MikroTik RouterOS is most often used for a network engineer or small isp wanting capable bgp and firewall routing hardware at a lower total cost than cisco or juniper equivalents, an organisation that specifically wants to avoid ongoing recurring licence dependency for core routing hardware, a team wanting to run routeros as a virtual router in the cloud (chr) with its own separate perpetual licensing tiers, a hobbyist or small business self-managing network infrastructure without a vendor support contract. Of those, a network engineer or small isp wanting capable bgp and firewall routing hardware at a lower total cost than cisco or juniper equivalents and an organisation that specifically wants to avoid ongoing recurring licence dependency for core routing hardware are not what Eclipse Mosquitto is typically brought in for.
What can MikroTik RouterOS do that Eclipse Mosquitto cannot?
MikroTik RouterOS covers Full routing and firewall stack, Perpetual licensing, Cloud Hosted Router (CHR), Winbox and CLI management. Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

MikroTik RouterOS: Does a MikroTik router stop working if I stop paying anything?

No, the RouterOS licence bundled with hardware is a one-time purchase and does not expire or require ongoing payment.

Eclipse Mosquitto: Can Mosquitto be clustered?

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

MikroTik RouterOS: Is CHR licensed the same way as physical hardware?

It uses its own separate perpetual licence tiers (Free, P1, P10, P-Unlimited) rather than the Level 3-6 scheme used on physical hardware.

Eclipse Mosquitto: What licence is it?

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

MikroTik RouterOS: Can I upgrade a licence level later?

Yes, upgrading to a higher licence level is possible at the price difference between levels rather than buying a new licence outright.

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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