NATS

What NATS is

NATS is an open-source messaging system for distributed systems that span clouds and user-defined edge environments. It supports publish/subscribe and request/reply messaging, as well as persistent streaming through JetStream. Queueing, streaming, key-value functions, and object storage are available within the same system. The project describes delivery of millions of messages per second with sub-millisecond latencies across globally distributed systems.

The server is distributed as a single binary with no external dependencies and typically uses less than 20 MB of RAM. Official client libraries are listed for Go, Rust, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Java, C#, C, Ruby, and Elixir, alongside a command-line interface and more than 30 community-contributed clients. Listed connectors and utilities include Apache Flink, Apache Spark, AWS, Elasticsearch, Fluent Bit, MongoDB, and Prometheus.

NATS documents authentication, subject-level authorization, TLS encryption, and isolated accounts for multitenancy. Distributed deployments can grow through leaf nodes and superclusters, including deployments on low-resource edge devices. The NATS server and clients are open source under the Apache 2.0 license, and the project is a Cloud Native Computing Foundation incubating project. Questions can be directed to its Slack channel, GitHub discussions, or [email protected].

Who it suits

NATS suits teams building distributed systems with dynamic, loosely coupled services across clouds or edge environments. Its single-binary server and low typical memory use also fit teams deploying on low-resource edge devices.

Getting started

1. Visit https://nats.io/.
2. Choose a client library for your language or use the CLI.
3. Choose a deployment approach for your distributed or edge environment.
4. Review the documented security options for authentication, authorization, encryption, and isolated accounts.
5. Use Slack, GitHub discussions, or [email protected] for project questions.

Verdict

Choose NATS if you need open-source messaging for distributed services and want pub/sub, request/reply, and persistent streaming in one system. Its documented clients and connectors offer options across many languages and tools; teams seeking an app outside the listed API, Linux, and self-hosted platforms should look elsewhere.