EMQX vs RabbitMQ
EMQX
emqx.com
RabbitMQ
rabbitmq.comSide by side
| Figure | EMQX | RabbitMQ |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $234/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 4 |
| Spec score · Message Broker Software | 9.1 (#2) | 8.4 (#8) |
| Spec score · Message Queue (MQ) Software | 9.1 (#2) | 8.5 (#6) |
| 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. | RabbitMQ can run on cloud infrastructure, on-premises, local machines, physical or virtual hardware, containers and IaaS providers. |
| Founded | 2017 | 2007 |
| Integrations | EMQX Enterprise provides more than 40 out-of-box integrations including Kafka, AWS RDS, MongoDB, Oracle, SAP and time-series databases. | RabbitMQ provides client libraries for Java, .NET/C#, Erlang, and other languages, and offers a community Docker image and Kubernetes operators. |
| Notable news | EMQ announced EMQX Enterprise 6.3.0, an LTS release focused on stronger security defaults, feature gates and operational controls, on September 3, 2026. | RabbitMQ 4.3, announced 23 April 2026, added 32 strict quorum-queue priority levels, delayed retries, consumer timeouts, Khepri metadata storage and AMQP 1.0 improvements. |
| Protocols | The platform supports MQTT 3.1.1 and 5.0, MQTT over WebSocket and QUIC, plus NATS, CoAP and LwM2M gateways. | RabbitMQ supports AMQP 0-9-1, AMQP 1.0, MQTT, STOMP, RabbitMQ Streams, and browser communication over WebSocket. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.6 out of 5 from 23 reviews | 4.1 out of 5 from 46 reviews |
| Rating on Gartner Peer Insights | 4.5 out of 5 from 6 reviews | 4.6 out of 5 from 12 ratings |
| Security controls | Security features include TLS/mTLS, X.509 certificates, JWT authentication, fine-grained ACL/RBAC authorization and audit logs. | RabbitMQ documents authentication, authorization, topic permissions, TLS certificate mechanisms, LDAP and OAuth 2.0 backends. |
| What it does | EMQX is a unified MQTT platform for connecting, processing and streaming real-time IoT data to cloud, AI and analytics systems. | RabbitMQ is an enterprise-grade messaging and streaming broker for communication among applications, microservices and IoT systems. |
Plans
EMQX
- ServerlessFree
- Dedicated Flex$234 a month
- BYOCPriced on request
- ServerlessFree
- EnterprisePrice not published
RabbitMQ
- Open-source RabbitMQFree
- Open Source RabbitMQ ServerFree
- Tanzu RabbitMQPriced on request
- VMware Tanzu RabbitMQPriced on request
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.
RabbitMQ
RabbitMQ is an open source messaging and streaming broker for application communication, including distributed microservices, real-time data, and IoT. Publishers can route messages to one or more consumers using routing, filtering, streaming, and federation. Message acknowledgements and replication across a cluster support delivery reliability, and delivery guarantees are configurable. Supported protocols include AMQP 0-9-1, AMQP 1.0, MQTT, STOMP, RabbitMQ Streams, HTTP, and WebSocket, including browser communication over WebSocket. Client libraries are available for Java, .NET/C#, Erlang, and other languages; the project also offers a community Docker image and Kubernetes operators. RabbitMQ can run in cloud or on-premises environments, on local machines and physical or virtual hardware, and in containers. Linux, Windows, and macOS are supported; z/OS, most mainframes, and systems with less than 100 MB of RAM are not. The free, self-managed Open Source RabbitMQ Server is offered under the Mozilla Public License 2.0 with best-effort community support. VMware Tanzu RabbitMQ is a commercial offering with 24/7 support and enterprise features; pricing is by contact.