Best Message Broker Software in 2026
Updated
Message broker software moves messages between applications and services, with delivery behavior and deployment choices that can affect how it fits your system. Compared on supported protocols and deployment model, the entries also specify delivery and ordering guarantees, dead-letter queues, and maximum message size. Check those details against the messages your applications exchange and the delivery behavior you need. CloudAMQP, HiveMQ MQTT Broker, and Amazon SNS are among the options, alongside Amazon SQS and Google Cloud Pub/Sub. Free-plan availability and paid-from pricing offer cost context as you compare the listed specifications.
Message Broker Software, one module each.A lit port is something its maker publishes; 25 of 25 with a known API signal have a public API.
- 01 CloudAMQP API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.4$19/mo
- 02 EMQX API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.4$234/mo
- 03 HiveMQ MQTT Broker API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.4$299/mo
- 04 Upstash QStash API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.4$1/mo
- 05 Amazon MQ API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.3Free
- 06 Amazon SNS API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.3$0.06/mo
- 07 Amazon SQS API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.3Free
- 08 Google Cloud Pub/Sub API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.3$40/mo
- 09 IronMQ API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.3$399/mo
- 10 Lightstreamer API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.3Free
- 11 RabbitMQ API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.3Free
- 12 Aedes API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 13 Apache ActiveMQ API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 14 Apache Artemis API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 15 Apache Qpid Broker-J API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 16 Eclipse Amlen API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 17 JORAM API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 18 Mochi MQTT API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 19 NATS API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 20 SocketCluster API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 21 Solace PubSub+ Event Broker API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 22 TIBCO FTL API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.2Free
- 23 Apache Kafka API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.1Free
- 24 Apache RocketMQ API yesFREE yesDOCS 7.1Free
- 25 KubeMQ API yesDOCS 6.9
Compare all 25 in a table
| # | Platform | Score | Free plan | From | Free plan | Paid from | Deployment model | Delivery guarantees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | CloudAMQP | 7.4 | Free plan | $19/mo | Yes | 19 /mo | cloud | configurable |
| 2 | EMQX | 7.4 | Free plan | $234/mo | Yes | 234 /mo | hybrid | configurable |
| 3 | HiveMQ MQTT Broker | 7.4 | Free plan | $299/mo | Yes | hybrid | configurable | |
| 4 | Upstash QStash | 7.4 | Free plan | $1/mo | Yes | cloud | at_least_once | |
| 5 | Amazon MQ | 7.3 | Free plan | Free | No | cloud | configurable | |
| 6 | Amazon SNS | 7.3 | Free plan | $0.06/mo | Yes | cloud | configurable | |
| 7 | Amazon SQS | 7.3 | Free plan | Free | Yes | cloud | configurable | |
| 8 | Google Cloud Pub/Sub | 7.3 | Free plan | $40/mo | Yes | cloud | configurable | |
| 9 | IronMQ | 7.3 | Free plan | $399/mo | Yes | 399 /mo | hybrid | |
| 10 | Lightstreamer | 7.3 | Free plan | Free | Yes | hybrid | ||
| 11 | RabbitMQ | 7.3 | Free plan | Free | Yes | hybrid | configurable | |
| 12 | Aedes | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | self_hosted | configurable | ||
| 13 | Apache ActiveMQ | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | Yes | self_hosted | configurable | |
| 14 | Apache Artemis | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | Yes | self_hosted | configurable | |
| 15 | Apache Qpid Broker-J | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | self_hosted | |||
| 16 | Eclipse Amlen | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | Yes | self_hosted | configurable | |
| 17 | JORAM | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | Yes | self_hosted | configurable | |
| 18 | Mochi MQTT | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | self_hosted | configurable | ||
| 19 | NATS | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | hybrid | configurable | ||
| 20 | SocketCluster | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | Yes | self_hosted | ||
| 21 | Solace PubSub+ Event Broker | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | Yes | hybrid | ||
| 22 | TIBCO FTL | 7.2 | Free plan | Free | hybrid | configurable | ||
| 23 | Apache Kafka | 7.1 | Free plan | Free | ||||
| 24 | Apache RocketMQ | 7.1 | Free plan | Free | ||||
| 25 | KubeMQ | 6.9 | hybrid | configurable |
Is your platform on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored, and a sponsored row is labelled as paid.