Softwr

Networking · head to head

Eclipse Mosquitto vs Ubiquiti UniFi

Eclipse Mosquitto logo

Eclipse Mosquitto

Networking

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Ubiquiti UniFi logo

Ubiquiti UniFi

Networking

Effortlessly manage 100+ APs in the same way you manage an individual AP

From
On request
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: 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.; Ubiquiti UniFi product page states no licensing fees but publishes no hardware price; buyers must go to the Ubiquiti Store or an authorized distributor for a figure
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Eclipse Mosquitto and Ubiquiti UniFi actually diverge.

Attributes where Eclipse Mosquitto and Ubiquiti UniFi differ
AttributeEclipse MosquittoUbiquiti UniFi
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feeone-time
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsLinux, Windows, macOS, DockerWeb

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 Eclipse Mosquitto

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

Only in Ubiquiti UniFi

Nothing recorded that Eclipse Mosquitto does not also cover.

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

Ubiquiti UniFi

No use cases recorded yet. See the Ubiquiti UniFi review.

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.

Ubiquiti UniFi

  • Product page states no licensing fees but publishes no hardware price; buyers must go to the Ubiquiti Store or an authorized distributor for a figure
  • Newest WiFi 7 access points such as the U7 Pro require compatible UniFi controller hardware or cloud console to manage centrally

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

Ubiquiti UniFi

On request

No published plan breakdown. See the Ubiquiti UniFi review.

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 Ubiquiti UniFi if

Nothing in the data separates Ubiquiti UniFi from Eclipse Mosquitto on the points above - pick on price and on how each one feels to use.

Ubiquiti UniFi review

Questions people ask

Is Eclipse Mosquitto or Ubiquiti UniFi better?
Neither clearly leads. Eclipse Mosquitto starts at Free and Ubiquiti UniFi at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Eclipse Mosquitto or Ubiquiti UniFi?
Eclipse Mosquitto has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Eclipse Mosquitto and On request for Ubiquiti UniFi.
Does Eclipse Mosquitto or Ubiquiti UniFi run on more platforms?
Eclipse Mosquitto runs on Linux, Windows, macOS, Docker. Ubiquiti UniFi runs on Web.
Can I use Eclipse Mosquitto for free?
Yes. Eclipse Mosquitto has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Ubiquiti UniFi starts at On request.
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 Ubiquiti UniFi is typically brought in for.
What can Eclipse Mosquitto do that Ubiquiti UniFi cannot?
Eclipse Mosquitto covers MQTT 5.0 support, Very small footprint, Bridging, WebSockets listener.

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.

Eclipse Mosquitto: What licence is it?

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

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.

Share

Related pages

More on Eclipse Mosquitto

More on Ubiquiti UniFi

Keep looking

Other head to heads