Free and open first
Best Message Broker Software in 2026
Message brokers help applications exchange messages, and their delivery behavior and deployment options can shape what fits your system. Compare supported protocols and deployment model with delivery and ordering guarantees, as well as dead-letter queue support. Maximum message size can be important for the messages you expect to handle. Free-plan availability and paid-from pricing provide further cost context. Apache Artemis, Eclipse Mosquitto, and HiveMQ MQTT Broker are among the entries, alongside RabbitMQ and Amazon SNS. Use the listed criteria to weigh how each broker handles communication requirements and where you can deploy it.
- 39 apps
- Research read 23 Sept 2026
- How the order is worked out
- 1
Apache ActiveMQ
Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+3ActiveMQ offers broad protocol, client, transport, and persistence choices for self-hosted messaging.
- 2
Apache RocketMQ
Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+2Apache RocketMQ offers a broad set of messaging patterns and deployment options as self-hosted open-source middleware.
- 3
EMQX
Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+2EMQX offers real-time messaging, data processing tools, broad protocol support, and deployment choices.
- 4
Faye
Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+3Faye provides protocol-based messaging, multiple transport options, and extension points, with documented engines for distributed deployments.
- 5
RabbitMQ
Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+3RabbitMQ combines multiple messaging patterns and protocols with configurable delivery guarantees and deployment options.
- 6
Apache Artemis
Free plan APILinuxMac+2Apache Artemis offers a broad protocol and client-language range alongside clustering, persistence, and security options.
- 7
Apache Qpid Broker-J
Free plan APILinuxMac+2Broker-J provides multiple AMQP versions, management interfaces, queue options, and configurable persistence for self-hosted use.
- 8
Aedes
Free plan APISelf-hostedAedes offers core MQTT broker features, multiple connection types and a range of persistence options for self-hosted deployments.
- 9
Amazon MQ
Free plan APIWebChoose Amazon MQ if you need managed ActiveMQ or RabbitMQ brokers and want to migrate applications using standard messaging protocols.
7.4 Visit site - 10
Amazon SNS
Free plan APIWebAmazon SNS covers application-to-application and application-to-person messaging, with standard and FIFO topic behavior and multiple delivery endpoints.
- 11
CloudAMQP
Free plan APILinuxMac+2Choose CloudAMQP if you want managed LavinMQ or RabbitMQ clusters with monitoring, alarms, and options across several cloud providers.
- 12
Eclipse Amlen
Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+3Eclipse Amlen combines MQTT and JMS support with bridging, protocol extensions, and policy-based access controls.
- 13
Eclipse Mosquitto
Free plan LinuxMacSelf-hosted+1Mosquitto provides MQTT broker software and client tools across several platforms at no plan cost. Its self-hosted, on-premises model and best-effort community help are important considerations.
- 14
Amazon SQS
Free plan APIWebAmazon SQS offers Standard and FIFO queues with distinct delivery and ordering behavior, plus batching, retention, and dead-letter handling.
- 15
Apache Kafka
Free plan APISelf-hostedChoose Apache Kafka if you need a free, open-source stream-processing system that supports stateful processing and event-time windows and can be self-hosted.
- 16
beanstalkd
Free plan LinuxMacSelf-hostedBeanstalkd provides a straightforward queue model with tubes, blocking reservations, and optional binlog recovery.
- 17
HiveMQ MQTT Broker
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1HiveMQ provides MQTT messaging, clustering, and security features for enterprise and IoT deployments. Review the evaluation connection cap and listed paid plan costs when assessing fit.
- 18
IronMQ
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1IronMQ provides multiple queue modes, per-queue ordering, and deployment options for distributed applications.
- 19
JORAM
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1JORAM offers multiple deployment and administration choices alongside clustered messaging and high-availability options. Its Java 11 minimum is a key compatibility constraint for older environments.
- 20
Lightstreamer
Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+5Lightstreamer offers real-time delivery controls, a range of integration options, and both on-premises and cloud deployment.
- 21
Google Cloud Pub/Sub
Free plan APIWebPub/Sub provides message delivery controls and integrations for service-to-service workloads. Its authentication options, typical latency, and intended audience are important constraints to weigh.
- 22
Mochi MQTT
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hostedMochi MQTT offers multiple deployment options, protocol versions, listeners, and extension hooks.
- 23
NanoMQ
Free plan LinuxSelf-hostedWindowsNanoMQ provides a broad, self-hosted protocol and integration set for edge messaging without a listed charge.
- 24
NATS
Free plan APILinuxSelf-hostedChoose NATS if you need open-source messaging for distributed services and want pub/sub, request/reply, and persistent streaming in one system.
- 25
SocketCluster
Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+3SocketCluster combines real-time messaging, authentication, access controls and scaling in a self-hosted server environment.
#1Places #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 on this list can be bought by the makers of the software on it. See the price
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