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Networking · head to head

Eclipse Mosquitto vs Redpanda

Eclipse Mosquitto logo

Eclipse Mosquitto

Networking

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Redpanda logo

Redpanda

Databases

Kafka-compatible streaming platform with no ZooKeeper or JVM

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.; Redpanda the community edition is source-available rather than OSI open source, which matters for some procurement
  • They diverge on capability: Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Redpanda covers Kafka API compatible.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Eclipse Mosquitto and Redpanda differ
AttributeEclipse MosquittoRedpanda
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeSource-available community edition with paid enterprise and cloud tiers
PlatformsLinux, Windows, macOS, DockerLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted
CategoryNetworkingDatabases

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Redpanda

  • Kafka API compatible
  • No JVM or ZooKeeper
  • Thread-per-core
  • Built-in HTTP proxy and schema registry

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 Redpanda
  • An industrial gateway that buffers local telemetry and bridges selected topics to a cloud brokernot Redpanda
  • Local development and testing of MQTT clients without provisioning a cloud IoT servicenot Redpanda
  • An air-gapped deployment where a broker with no licence server and no phone-home behaviour is a requirementnot Redpanda

Redpanda

  • Kafka workloads where the operational cost of running Kafka is the blockernot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Latency-sensitive streaming where tail latency mattersnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Smaller teams wanting streaming without a dedicated platform groupnot 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.

Redpanda

  • The community edition is source-available rather than OSI open source, which matters for some procurement
  • Kafka API compatibility is high but not total, and deep ecosystem tools can hit gaps
  • Smaller community than Kafka, so fewer people have solved your problem before
  • Some operational and tiered-storage features are enterprise-only

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

Redpanda

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • Kafka-compatible broker
    • Single binary
    • Community support

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 Redpanda if

  • You need kafka api compatible.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
  • You also want no jvm or zookeeper.
Redpanda review

Questions people ask

Is Eclipse Mosquitto or Redpanda better?
Neither clearly leads. Eclipse Mosquitto starts at Free and Redpanda at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Eclipse Mosquitto or Redpanda?
Eclipse Mosquitto starts at Free and Redpanda at Free.
Does Eclipse Mosquitto or Redpanda run on more platforms?
Eclipse Mosquitto runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker. Redpanda runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Self-hosted.
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 Redpanda is typically brought in for.
What can Eclipse Mosquitto do that Redpanda cannot?
Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener. Redpanda covers Kafka API compatible, No JVM or ZooKeeper, Thread-per-core, Built-in HTTP proxy and schema registry.

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.

Redpanda: Is Redpanda free?

A community edition is free and source-available. Enterprise features and Redpanda Cloud are paid, and the licence is not OSI open source.

Eclipse Mosquitto: What licence is it?

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

Redpanda: Can I use my Kafka clients?

Yes. Redpanda implements the Kafka API, so existing clients and most tooling connect without changes.

Eclipse Mosquitto: How many clients can it handle?

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

Redpanda: Why remove ZooKeeper and the JVM?

Both are significant sources of Kafka’s operational burden — tuning, coordination and failure modes. Removing them is the core of Redpanda’s pitch.

Eclipse Mosquitto: Does it support MQTT 5?

Yes, along with 3.1.1 and 3.1.

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