Softwr

Networking · head to head

Eclipse Mosquitto vs Twingate

Eclipse Mosquitto logo

Eclipse Mosquitto

Networking

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Twingate logo

Twingate

Networking

Zero trust remote access that publishes individual resources instead of a network

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.; Twingate the control plane is proprietary and hosted, so it cannot be run inside your own boundary and a vendor outage prevents new connections from being established even though the connectors are yours.
  • They diverge on capability: Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Twingate covers Outbound only connectors.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

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

Attributes where Eclipse Mosquitto and Twingate differ
AttributeEclipse MosquittoTwingate
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feePer user per month
PlatformsLinux, Windows, macOS, DockerWindows, macOS, Linux, 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 Twingate

  • Outbound only connectors
  • Per resource access
  • Identity provider integration
  • Device posture checks
  • Split routing
  • Access logging

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

Twingate

  • Retiring a VPN concentrator that grants whole network access to anyone who authenticatesnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Giving contractors access to two internal applications without putting them on the corporate networknot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Reaching private cloud resources across several accounts without building peering and bastion hostsnot Eclipse Mosquitto
  • Producing per user access logs for an audit that a network level VPN cannot supplynot 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.

Twingate

  • The control plane is proprietary and hosted, so it cannot be run inside your own boundary and a vendor outage prevents new connections from being established even though the connectors are yours.
  • Every device needs the client installed and running, so unmanaged machines, appliances and third parties who will not install software are awkward to accommodate.
  • Pricing is per user per month, so an organisation with many occasional contractors pays full seats for accounts that connect twice a month.
  • Connections are client initiated, so server initiated flows back to a user device, and protocols that need arbitrary inbound reachability, do not fit the model.
  • It replaces remote access but not site to site networking, so an organisation that also needs offices and datacentres meshed together still runs a second network product alongside it.

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

Twingate

Free
  • StarterFree
    • Small number of users
    • Limited remote networks
    • Community support
  • Business$undefined/month
    • Per user per month billing
    • Device posture checks
    • Identity provider group sync
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Custom terms and volume pricing
    • Advanced controls and support commitments
    • Dedicated onboarding

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 Twingate if

  • You need outbound only connectors.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Docker.
  • You also want per resource access.
Twingate review

Questions people ask

Is Eclipse Mosquitto or Twingate better?
Neither clearly leads. Eclipse Mosquitto starts at Free and Twingate at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Eclipse Mosquitto or Twingate?
Eclipse Mosquitto starts at Free and Twingate at Free.
Does Eclipse Mosquitto or Twingate run on more platforms?
Eclipse Mosquitto runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker. Twingate runs on Windows, macOS, Linux, 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 Twingate is typically brought in for.
What can Eclipse Mosquitto do that Twingate cannot?
Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener. Twingate covers Outbound only connectors, Per resource access, Identity provider integration, Device posture checks.

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.

Twingate: Can I self host it?

No. Connectors run in your network but the control plane is a hosted service, which is the main structural difference from the open source mesh tools.

Eclipse Mosquitto: What licence is it?

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

Twingate: Does it replace a site to site VPN?

No. It is remote access from users to resources. Connecting networks to each other is a different product category.

Eclipse Mosquitto: How many clients can it handle?

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

Twingate: What happens if Twingate is unavailable?

Established sessions may continue, but new connections depend on the hosted service to broker them, so plan a break glass path for administrators.

Eclipse Mosquitto: Does it support MQTT 5?

Yes, along with 3.1.1 and 3.1.

Twingate: Is the free tier usable for a small team?

For a handful of users and a small number of remote networks, yes. Group based policies and posture checks are the practical reason to move up.

Share

Related pages

More on Eclipse Mosquitto

More on Twingate

Keep looking

Other head to heads