Apache ActiveMQ vs Apache RocketMQ
Apache ActiveMQ
activemq.apache.orgApache RocketMQ
rocketmq.apache.orgSide by side
| Figure | Apache ActiveMQ | Apache RocketMQ |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 2 |
| Spec score · Message Broker Software | 9.0 (#3) | 8.9 (#4) |
| Spec score · Message Queue (MQ) Software | 9.0 (#3) | 8.8 (#4) |
| Documentation | The project publishes getting-started, protocol, feature, security, administration, FAQ and API documentation. | The documentation includes concepts, quick start, deployment, best practices, SDK references, security guidance, FAQs and release notes. |
| Licence | ActiveMQ is open source under the Apache License 2.0. | The source distribution is licensed under the Apache License 2.0, a permissive licence allowing modification and redistribution subject to its notices and conditions. |
| Maker founded | LinkedIn lists the Apache Software Foundation as founded in 1999. | The Apache Software Foundation was incorporated in 1999. |
| Maker headquarters | LinkedIn lists Wilmington, Delaware as the foundation's headquarters. | The Apache Software Foundation lists 1000 N West Street, Suite 1200, Wilmington, Delaware 19801, USA as its mailing address. |
| Messaging features | It supports Message Groups, Virtual Destinations, Wildcards, Composite Destinations, and Enterprise Integration Patterns. | It supports publish/subscribe, request/reply, streaming, transactional messages, FIFO ordering, message filtering, and push or pull consumption. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.3 out of 5 from 16 reviews | 4.5 out of 5 from 19 reviews |
| Security | The security documentation describes pluggable providers, JAAS authentication, and XML-configured authorization. | RocketMQ provides ACL and TLS, but operators must configure ACL or restrict access to trusted networks; the security guide warns that ACL is not enabled by default. |
| Security controls | Security supports JAAS authentication, XML authorization rules, LDAP-related modules, Shiro, SSL transports and message-level authorization plugins. | Official security documentation describes ACL authentication and authorization plus TLS-encrypted client-server communication. |
| Self-hosting | Users can download binary or source archives, run the broker as a standalone process, or embed it in an application. | Users can download source or binary packages and run NameServer, Broker and Proxy themselves. |
| What it does | Apache ActiveMQ is a Java-based, open-source message broker for asynchronous application communication. | Apache RocketMQ is a distributed messaging and streaming platform designed for low latency, high throughput, reliability and very large scale. |
Plans
Apache RocketMQ
- Apache RocketMQFree
- Apache RocketMQ open-source distributionFree
In their own words
Apache ActiveMQ
Apache ActiveMQ is an open-source messaging and Integration Patterns server for applications that exchange messages. It is self-hosted and supports OpenWire, STOMP, AMQP 1.0, MQTT 3.1, and REST. Listed client languages include Java, C, C++, C#, Ruby, Perl, Python, and PHP. Messaging features include message groups, virtual and composite destinations, wildcards, and enterprise integration patterns. ActiveMQ fully supports JMS 1.1 and J2EE 1.4+ messaging, including transient, persistent, transactional, and XA modes; support for Jakarta Messaging 3.1 and JMS 2.0 is partial. Transport options include in-VM, TCP, SSL, NIO, UDP, multicast, JGroups, and JXTA, with JDBC persistence and a high-performance journal. Browser access is available through a REST API and Ajax web streaming. Security options include pluggable providers, JAAS authentication, XML-configured authorization, and user, group, and destination permissions. ActiveMQ Classic costs nothing under the Apache License 2.0.
Apache RocketMQ
Apache RocketMQ is distributed middleware for asynchronous communication and publish/subscribe messaging. Its asynchronous model can separate systems and shift loads between upstream and downstream services. Messaging options include publish/subscribe, request/reply, streaming, transactional messages, FIFO ordering, filtering, and push or pull consumption. The project lists durable persistence, replication, failover, fault tolerance, high-availability options, and cross-region disaster recovery. Its site describes million-level LiteTopics per cluster and says RocketMQ has demonstrated 10M+ TPS throughput. It can run locally, in Docker, or Kubernetes, with source and binary packages available. The ecosystem includes EventBridge, MQTT, RocketMQ Connect, RocketMQ Streams, Spring, Flink, Prometheus Exporter, and a Kubernetes Operator; AI options include native MCP support, A2A compatibility, and integrations with LangChain, CrewAI, AutoGen, AgentScope, Dify, and Coze. The project lists gRPC SDKs for Java, Go, Python, C++, and Rust, plus gRPC, MQTT, JMS, and OpenMessaging protocols. It is free under Apache License 2.0. ACL is not enabled by default.