EMQX vs NATS
EMQX
emqx.comNATS
nats.ioSide by side
| Figure | EMQX | NATS |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $234/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 1 |
| Spec score · Message Broker Software | 9.1 (#2) | 7.4 (#29) |
| Spec score · Message Queue (MQ) Software | 9.1 (#2) | 7.5 (#19) |
| Deployment | EMQX can run in Docker, through a Kubernetes Operator, or from packages on Red Hat, CentOS, Rocky Linux, Amazon Linux, Ubuntu, Debian, macOS and Linux. | NATS is designed for distributed systems and edge deployments, and supports topology growth using leaf nodes and superclusters. |
| Integrations | EMQX Enterprise provides more than 40 out-of-box integrations including Kafka, AWS RDS, MongoDB, Oracle, SAP and time-series databases. | The download page lists connectors and utilities for Apache Flink, Apache Spark, AWS, Elasticsearch, Fluent Bit, MongoDB, Prometheus, and other tools. |
| License | From version 5.9.0, EMQX uses Business Source License 1.1; Apache 2.0 becomes available four years after each version's first publication, and clusters over one node require a license file. | The NATS server and clients are open source under the Apache 2.0 license. |
| Purpose | EMQX Enterprise is an MQTT messaging platform for connecting, moving, and processing IoT business data in real time. | NATS is an open-source messaging system for building distributed systems across clouds and user-defined edge environments. |
| Security | Security features include TLS/mTLS, X.509 certificate authentication, access controls, and audit logs. | NATS documents authentication, subject-level authorization, TLS encryption, and isolated accounts for multitenancy. |
Plans
EMQX
- ServerlessFree
- Dedicated Flex$234 a month
- BYOCPriced on request
- ServerlessFree
- EnterprisePrice not published
In their own words
EMQX
EMQX is an MQTT messaging platform for connecting, moving, and processing IoT business data in real time. EMQX Enterprise combines publish/subscribe messaging with durable message queuing, while a SQL-based Rule Engine and visual Flow Designer support filtering, transforming, enriching, and routing data. The platform supports MQTT and protocols or gateways including QUIC, CoAP, STOMP, and LwM2M; its listed protocols also include MQTT-SN, OCPP, GB/T 32960, JT/T 808, and NATS. EMQX says a cluster can handle up to 100 million concurrent MQTT connections and lists more than 50 native integrations. Security features include TLS/mTLS, X.509 authentication, access controls, and audit logs. Deployment options include Docker, a Kubernetes Operator, and installation packages, with macOS and Linux packages listed. Plans include free Serverless and Dedicated Flex starting at $234 per month, with a 14-day trial listed for Dedicated Flex. Serverless has limits including 1,000 sessions, 1,000 TPS, and a 1 MB message size.