Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

NATS VS HiveMQ

Compare NATS VS HiveMQ and see what are their differences

NATS logo NATS

NATS.io is an open source messaging system for cloud native applications, IoT messaging, Edge, and microservices architectures.

HiveMQ logo HiveMQ

HiveMQ is the MQTT based messaging platform for fast, efficient and reliable data movement to and from connected IoT devices and enterprise systems
  • NATS Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-05

NATS.io is a connective technology for distributed systems and is a perfect fit to connect devices, edge, cloud or hybrid deployments. True multi-tenancy makes NATS ideal for SaaS and self-healing and scaling technology allows for topology changes anytime with zero downtime.

  • HiveMQ Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-02

HiveMQ

Website
hivemq.com
$ Details
Release Date
2012 January
Startup details
Country
Germany
State
Bayern
City
Landshut
Founder(s)
Christian Götz
Employees
10 - 19

NATS features and specs

  • Performance
    NATS is designed for high performance, offering low latency and high throughput, which makes it suitable for real-time applications.
  • Scalability
    It supports horizontal scaling with ease, allowing the system to handle a growing number of connections and messages effectively.
  • Simplicity
    NATS has a straightforward API and simple configuration, making it easier to use and manage compared to more complex messaging systems.
  • Fault Tolerance
    NATS includes features like clustering, message persistence, and support for distributed systems, contributing to high availability and reliability.
  • Polyglot Support
    NATS supports multiple programming languages, including Go, Java, Python, Ruby, and more, making it versatile in various tech stacks.
  • Event-Driven Architecture
    NATS is well-suited for event-driven architecture, facilitating real-time communication and distributed system design.

Possible disadvantages of NATS

  • Limited Message Persistence
    While NATS provides JetStream for message persistence, it was traditionally designed for transient messaging, which might not satisfy all persistence needs.
  • Complex Clustering
    Setting up and maintaining NATS clusters can be complex and may require careful planning and expertise.
  • Learning Curve
    Though simple to start, mastering NATS for large-scale and production-grade deployments can involve a steep learning curve.
  • Feature Set
    NATS focuses on core messaging features, which means it might lack some of the advanced features provided by other messaging systems like Kafka.
  • Ecosystem
    The NATS ecosystem is growing but may not be as extensive as other established messaging systems, potentially limiting available third-party tools and integrations.

HiveMQ features and specs

  • Scalability
    HiveMQ is designed to handle a large number of clients and high throughput, making it suitable for IoT applications that require scalability.
  • MQTT Support
    It fully supports the MQTT protocol, ensuring reliable message delivery with features like quality of service (QoS) levels, persistent sessions, and retained messages.
  • Enterprise Features
    HiveMQ provides an array of enterprise-level features, including advanced security, monitoring, and integration capabilities, which are beneficial for complex IoT environments.
  • Clustering
    Allows for easy clustering to improve redundancy and load balancing, enhancing system resilience and uptime.
  • User-Friendly Interface
    Offers a user-friendly interface and comprehensive documentation which eases setup and management for users.
  • Integration
    Supports integration with other enterprise systems and cloud providers, enhancing interoperability with existing infrastructures.

Possible disadvantages of HiveMQ

  • Cost
    HiveMQ is a commercial product, which may impose a significant cost, especially for small businesses or individual developers.
  • Complexity
    With its rich set of features, the initial setup and configuration can be complex and might require a steep learning curve.
  • Resource Intensive
    Might require substantial server resources to operate efficiently, especially under heavy loads, which can increase operational costs.
  • Limited Community Support
    Being a specialized commercial product, it might have less community support compared to open-source solutions, potentially delaying troubleshooting and development.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Using a proprietary system can result in vendor lock-in, making it more challenging to switch to other platforms if needed.

NATS videos

The coolest OSS project you've never heard of: NATS Getting started!

HiveMQ videos

HiveMQ - Enabling the Connected Car

More videos:

  • Review - Webinar: What's New in HiveMQ 4.4?
  • Review - Webinar: Build Your Own HiveMQ Extension

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to NATS and HiveMQ)
Developer Tools
100 100%
0% 0
IoT Connectivity
0 0%
100% 100
Data Integration
55 55%
45% 45
App Development
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare NATS and HiveMQ

NATS Reviews

Best message queue for cloud-native apps
NATS is designed to be simple and easy to use, with a small footprint and low latency. It is often used in cloud-native environments to connect different components of a distributed system or to enable communication between microservices. NATS also supports message persistence, security, and clustering, making it a robust messaging system for building scalable and resilient...
Source: docs.vanus.ai
Are Free, Open-Source Message Queues Right For You?
One challenge of NATS is that it does not support reliable message queuing out of the box - messages can be lost if a client disconnects before it receives them. This can be mitigated by using NATS Streaming, a data streaming system powered by NATS, but it adds complexity.
Source: blog.iron.io
NATS vs RabbitMQ vs NSQ vs Kafka | Gcore
NATS is known for its high performance, low latency, and emphasis on simplicity after it was rewritten in Go. Its rewrite in Go makes NATS an ideal choice for demanding and real-time applications and has increased its throughput compared to its original Ruby implementation.
Source: gcore.com

HiveMQ Reviews

We have no reviews of HiveMQ yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, NATS seems to be a lot more popular than HiveMQ. While we know about 73 links to NATS, we've tracked only 3 mentions of HiveMQ. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

NATS mentions (73)

  • What If We Could Rebuild Kafka from Scratch?
    Https://nats.io is easier to use than Kafka and already solves several of the points in this post I believe, like removing partitions, supporting key-based streams, and having flexible topic hierarchies. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • Testing Microservices: Message Isolation for Kafka, SQS, More
    NATS, with its lightweight and high-performance design, offers features well-suited for sandbox testing. We can leverage NATS queue groups, which function similarly to Kafka consumer groups. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Kubernetes on Autopilot: Event-Driven Automation Across Clusters
    In today’s dynamic cloud environments, managing Kubernetes resources across multiple clusters can be a complex task. Traditional methods often lack the agility and event-driven architecture needed to respond quickly to changes and automate resource provisioning. This article explores how Sveltos, in conjunction with NATS and JetStream, simplifies multi-cluster Kubernetes management through event-driven automation,... - Source: dev.to / 4 months ago
  • I'll think twice before using GitHub Actions again
    Hey thanks! Definitely interesting! I do wonder if this really solves the author problem because by the looks of it , you just have to run meta command and it would run over each of the sub directory. While at the same time , I think I like it because this is what I think people refer to as "modular monolith" Combining this with nats https://nats.io/ (hey if you don't want it to be over the network , you... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • A Distributed Systems Reading List
    I think it's important to clarify who these lists are really for. They're not meant for people simply looking to "learn distributed systems," in my opinion. These might help those pushing the envelope or looking for new approaches. For the rest of us, imagine asking how to solve quadratic equations and getting 100 papers on category theory. > See also https://ferd.ca/a-distributed-systems-reading-list.html, which... - Source: Hacker News / 7 months ago
View more

HiveMQ mentions (3)

What are some alternatives?

When comparing NATS and HiveMQ, you can also consider the following products

Socket.io - Realtime application framework (Node.JS server)

mosquitto - Eclipse Mosquitto is an open source (EPL/EDL licensed) message broker that implements the MQTT protocol versions 5.0, 3.1.1 and 3.1. Mosquitto is lightweight and is suitable for use on all devices

Apache Kafka - Apache Kafka is an open-source message broker project developed by the Apache Software Foundation written in Scala.

EMQX - EMQX is an open source MQTT 5.0 broker for mission-critical IoT scenarios, massively scalable and highly available clustering, running anywhere from edge to cloud.

SignalR - SignalR is a server-side software system designed for writing scalable Internet applications, notably web servers.

MQTTBox - MQTTBox enables to create MQTT clients to publish or subscript topics, create MQTT virtual device...