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Networking · head to head

Eclipse Mosquitto vs NetBird

Eclipse Mosquitto logo

Eclipse Mosquitto

Networking

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
NetBird logo

NetBird

Networking

Open source WireGuard mesh VPN with identity based access policies and a hosted control plane

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: 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.; NetBird self hosting requires an identity provider, and the bundled option adds a second unfamiliar service to operate, so the free path costs more administrative time than the docker compose file suggests.
  • They diverge on capability: Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, NetBird covers WireGuard data plane.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Eclipse Mosquitto and NetBird actually diverge.

Attributes where Eclipse Mosquitto and NetBird differ
AttributeEclipse MosquittoNetBird
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feePer user per month
PlatformsLinux, Windows, macOS, DockerLinux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Docker

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), 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 Eclipse Mosquitto

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

Only in NetBird

  • WireGuard data plane
  • NAT traversal with relay fallback
  • Identity based access control
  • Network routes
  • Posture checks
  • Full self hosting

What people use each for

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

Eclipse Mosquitto

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

NetBird

  • Replacing a VPN concentrator that backhauls all traffic through one officenot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Giving contractors access to two specific services rather than to a subnetnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Connecting workloads across several clouds without peering VPCs or managing route tablesnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Meeting a requirement that the network control plane must run inside your own infrastructurenot Eclipse Mosquitto

Where each one falls short

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

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.

NetBird

  • Self hosting requires an identity provider, and the bundled option adds a second unfamiliar service to operate, so the free path costs more administrative time than the docker compose file suggests.
  • Peers that cannot connect directly fall back to relays, and on a self hosted deployment that relay bandwidth is your cost and your bottleneck rather than an included service.
  • If the self hosted management server is down, existing tunnels keep working but no new peer can join and no policy change takes effect, which makes it a component that needs its own availability plan.
  • Some capabilities aimed at larger organisations sit in the paid cloud tiers, so a self hosted deployment does not have exactly the same feature set as the hosted one.
  • The project moves quickly and configuration and deployment layouts have changed between versions, so self hosted upgrades need reading release notes rather than pulling a new image.

Pricing, plan by plan

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

NetBird

Free
  • Self hostedFree
    • Full functionality under an open source licence
    • No peer or user limit
    • You operate management, signal and relay
  • Cloud FreeFree
    • Hosted management and relays
    • Small user and peer allowance
    • Identity provider integration
  • Cloud Team$undefined/month
    • Per user per month billing
    • Managed global relay footprint
    • Posture checks and activity events

Which should you pick?

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

Choose NetBird if

  • You need wireguard data plane.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Docker.
  • You also want nat traversal with relay fallback.
NetBird review

Questions people ask

Is Eclipse Mosquitto or NetBird better?
Neither clearly leads. Eclipse Mosquitto starts at Free and NetBird at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Eclipse Mosquitto or NetBird?
Eclipse Mosquitto starts at Free and NetBird at Free.
Does Eclipse Mosquitto or NetBird run on more platforms?
Eclipse Mosquitto runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker. NetBird runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, iOS, Android, Docker.
Can I use Eclipse Mosquitto for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Eclipse Mosquitto best used for?
Eclipse Mosquitto is most often used for a home or building automation stack where the broker must run on the same small computer as everything else, an industrial gateway that buffers local telemetry and bridges selected topics to a cloud broker, local development and testing of mqtt clients without provisioning a cloud iot service, an air-gapped deployment where a broker with no licence server and no phone-home behaviour is a requirement. Of those, a home or building automation stack where the broker must run on the same small computer as everything else and an industrial gateway that buffers local telemetry and bridges selected topics to a cloud broker are not what NetBird is typically brought in for.
What can Eclipse Mosquitto do that NetBird cannot?
Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener. NetBird covers WireGuard data plane, NAT traversal with relay fallback, Identity based access control, Network routes.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Eclipse Mosquitto: Can Mosquitto be clustered?

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

NetBird: Is the self hosted version crippled?

No. The management, signal and relay components are all open source and the network works without any NetBird operated service.

Eclipse Mosquitto: What licence is it?

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

NetBird: How does it differ from Tailscale?

Similar model and similar clients, but Tailscale keeps its coordination server proprietary. NetBird publishes its whole control plane, which is the reason most self hosters choose it.

Eclipse Mosquitto: How many clients can it handle?

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

NetBird: Do I need to open firewall ports?

No inbound ports are required. Peers make outbound connections to the signal service and to each other.

Eclipse Mosquitto: Does it support MQTT 5?

Yes, along with 3.1.1 and 3.1.

NetBird: What happens to traffic if NetBird the company disappears?

On a self hosted deployment, nothing, since you run every component. On the cloud service you would need to stand up your own control plane and re-enrol peers.

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