Lightstreamer vs Solace PubSub+ Event Broker
Lightstreamer
lightstreamer.com
Solace PubSub+ Event Broker
solace.comSide by side
| Figure | Lightstreamer | Solace PubSub+ Event Broker |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 5 |
| Spec score · Event Streaming Platforms | 7.9 (#11) | 8.2 (#6) |
| Spec score · Message Broker Software | 7.9 (#20) | 8.2 (#13) |
| Deployment | Lightstreamer can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud and supports Helm, Docker, and Kubernetes. | The broker is available as a cloud service, software, or appliance and can run in clouds, data centers, and remote locations. |
| Founded | 2003 | 2001 |
| Headquarters | Milan, Italy | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Integrations | Ready-made connectors integrate with Kafka, MQTT, and JMS; named examples include Confluent Cloud, Amazon MSK, Redpanda, AWS IoT Core, IBM MQ, and ActiveMQ. | Solace offers supported micro-integrations for applications, cloud services, and integration tools. |
| Intended users | The maker describes Lightstreamer for business-critical real-time applications across finance, gaming, aerospace, logistics, and media. | The product page describes the broker for enterprises with demanding messaging and streaming needs and for connecting applications, customers, partners, and devices. |
| Security | The broker supports TLS with configurable cipher suites, client and server certificates, mutual authentication, and custom authentication and authorization through a Metadata Adapter. | Solace Cloud states that its infrastructure for customer event broker services, Solace Home Cloud, and the Cloud Console complies with GDPR, SOC 2 Type 2, and ISO 27001. |
| Support | Every license includes unlimited technical support tickets and unlimited upgrades; 24×7 support is available as an additional option. | The pricing page lists standard support with 24x7x365 product defect and outage resolution, while Advanced and Advanced+ list response times of 30 and 15 minutes respectively. |
Plans
Lightstreamer
- Demo LicenseFree
- Annual subscription — Per Client LicensePrice not published
- Annual subscription — Per Server LicensePrice not published
- PAYG — Per Client-Hour LicensePrice not published
- PAYG — Per Core-Hour LicensePrice not published
Solace PubSub+ Event Broker
- Event Broker Software StandardFree
- Solace Cloud Event Broker TrialFree
- Solace Cloud trialFree
- Solace Event Broker Software Free VersionFree
- Event Broker Software EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
Lightstreamer
Lightstreamer is an event broker for delivering real-time data to web and mobile applications, including across proxies, firewalls, disconnections, and network congestion. Intelligent Streaming adjusts data flow to network conditions and can resample or combine updates to keep users synchronized. Messaging options include publish/subscribe, request/response, client-to-server messaging, and fine-grained item and field subscriptions. StreamSense chooses WebSockets or HTTP connections for each client, including through restrictive firewalls and legacy proxies.
Ready-made connectors cover Kafka, MQTT, and JMS, with named examples including Confluent Cloud, Amazon MSK, Redpanda, AWS IoT Core, IBM MQ, and ActiveMQ. Custom adapters can be built with Java, Python, Node.js, .NET, and TCP sockets. Lightstreamer supports TLS, certificates, mutual authentication, and custom authentication and authorization. It can be deployed on-premises or in the cloud, with Helm, Docker, and Kubernetes support. Monitoring options include a web dashboard, configurable logs, JMX, Prometheus, and Grafana integrations. The free Non-Production Limited License requires a Production License and a server restart after at most 210 minutes of uptime.
Solace PubSub+ Event Broker
Solace PubSub+ Event Broker streams information among applications, AI agents, and devices across cloud, on-premises, and edge environments. Multiple brokers can form an event mesh to route data across clouds, data centers, and geographies. It is offered as a cloud service, software, or appliance, for deployment in clouds, data centers, and remote locations. Messaging features include exchange patterns, qualities of service, caching, partitioned queues, and replay. Supported protocols include AMQP, Kafka, MQTT, REST, and WebSocket, alongside APIs for programming languages. Solace offers supported micro-integrations for applications, cloud services, and integration tools. Monitoring includes custom dashboards and alerts, and distributed tracing is broker-native and based on OpenTelemetry. Cloud services enable secure protocol ports by default and disable plain-text ports by default. Free options include a 30-day cloud trial and a free enterprise-grade software version. Solace was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.