Softwr

Networking · head to head

Eclipse Mosquitto vs Traceloop

Eclipse Mosquitto logo

Eclipse Mosquitto

Networking

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Traceloop logo

Traceloop

Logging

LLM reliability platform with open-source observability and evaluation

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.; Traceloop free tier limited to 50k spans per month and 24-hour retention, restricting production use
  • They diverge on capability: Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Traceloop covers Open-source SDK (OpenLLMetry).
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Eclipse Mosquitto and Traceloop differ
AttributeEclipse MosquittoTraceloop
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeFreemium with pay-as-you-go enterprise option
PlatformsLinux, Windows, macOS, DockerCloud, On-premises, Air-gapped, Python, TypeScript, Go, Ruby
CategoryNetworkingLogging

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 Traceloop

  • Open-source SDK (OpenLLMetry)
  • Multi-provider support
  • Observability platform integration
  • Framework support
  • Monitoring dashboard
  • Evaluation system
  • Deployment flexibility

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

Traceloop

  • Monitoring LLM application performance in productionnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Instrumenting LLM apps with minimal code overheadnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Continuous evaluation and quality scoring of LLM outputsnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Debugging LLM application issues with full trace visibilitynot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Integrating observability data into existing monitoring stacksnot 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.

Traceloop

  • Free tier limited to 50k spans per month and 24-hour retention, restricting production use
  • Company acquisition by ServiceNow creates uncertainty about future roadmap
  • Requires integration with separate observability platforms for visualization
  • Less feature-rich than dedicated LLM evaluation platforms

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

Traceloop

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 50,000 spans per month
    • Up to 5 seats
    • 24-hour data retention
  • Enterprise$undefined/custom
    • Unlimited spans per month
    • Unlimited seats
    • Custom data retention

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 Traceloop if

  • You need open-source sdk (openllmetry).
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Cloud, On-premises, Air-gapped, Python, TypeScript, Go, Ruby.
  • You also want multi-provider support.
Traceloop review

Questions people ask

Is Eclipse Mosquitto or Traceloop better?
Neither clearly leads. Eclipse Mosquitto starts at Free and Traceloop at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Eclipse Mosquitto or Traceloop?
Eclipse Mosquitto starts at Free and Traceloop at Free.
Does Eclipse Mosquitto or Traceloop run on more platforms?
Eclipse Mosquitto runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker. Traceloop runs on Cloud, On-premises, Air-gapped, Python, TypeScript, Go, Ruby.
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 Traceloop is typically brought in for.
What can Eclipse Mosquitto do that Traceloop cannot?
Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener. Traceloop covers Open-source SDK (OpenLLMetry), Multi-provider support, Observability platform integration, Framework support.

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.

Traceloop: Is OpenLLMetry open-source?

Yes, OpenLLMetry is Traceloop's open-source SDK built on OpenTelemetry standards. It allows teams to instrument LLM applications with just 2 lines of code and send data to 25+ observability platforms.

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.

Traceloop: What is the impact of ServiceNow acquisition?

Traceloop is joining ServiceNow, representing a strategic acquisition that will broaden enterprise adoption and integration capabilities. Current operations continue with free and enterprise options available.

Source
Eclipse Mosquitto: How many clients can it handle?

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

Traceloop: How many LLM providers and frameworks does Traceloop support?

Traceloop supports 20+ LLM providers including OpenAI and Anthropic, and integrates with frameworks like LangChain and LlamaIndex. It can send data to 25+ observability platforms.

Source
Eclipse Mosquitto: Does it support MQTT 5?

Yes, along with 3.1.1 and 3.1.

Share

Related pages

More on Eclipse Mosquitto

More on Traceloop

Keep looking

Other head to heads