Apache ActiveMQ vs NATS
Apache ActiveMQ
activemq.apache.orgNATS
nats.ioSide by side
| Figure | Apache ActiveMQ | NATS |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Message Broker Software | 9.0 (#3) | 7.4 (#29) |
| Spec score · Message Queue (MQ) Software | 9.0 (#3) | 7.5 (#19) |
| Integrations | The site lists Spring support, JCA 1.5 resource adaptors, and testing in TomEE, Geronimo, JBoss, GlassFish, and WebLogic. | The download page lists connectors and utilities for Apache Flink, Apache Spark, AWS, Elasticsearch, Fluent Bit, MongoDB, Prometheus, and other tools. |
| License | The product is released under the Apache License 2.0. | The NATS server and clients are open source under the Apache 2.0 license. |
| Security | The security documentation describes pluggable providers, JAAS authentication, and XML-configured authorization. | NATS documents authentication, subject-level authorization, TLS encryption, and isolated accounts for multitenancy. |
Plans
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.