Best Message Broker Software in 2026
Updated
In short: RabbitMQ is ranked #1 of 34 as of 3 October 2026, ahead of Google Cloud Pub/Sub and Apache Artemis. The best-ranked option with a free plan is Google Cloud Pub/Sub. The lowest first paid tier on this page is Amazon SNS at $0.06/mo.
If your applications exchange messages asynchronously, broker capabilities can shape how delivery behaves across your system. Compare supported protocols and deployment models, then consider delivery and ordering guarantees, dead-letter queues, and maximum message size. Free-plan availability and paid-from details provide additional context when weighing access and cost. The ranked entries start with RabbitMQ, Google Cloud Pub/Sub, and Apache Artemis, followed by Amazon SQS and Apache ActiveMQ. Use these points to judge how each option aligns with the infrastructure and message-handling requirements you already have.
34 message broker software ranked on what their makers publish — plans and prices, free tiers, platforms and the facts on their own pages.
| # | Platform | Score | Why | From | Free plan | Paid from | Deployment model | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RabbitMQ | 8.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | hybrid | View |
| 2 | Google Cloud Pub/Sub | 8.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $40/mo | Yes | — | cloud | View |
| 3 | Apache Artemis | 8.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | self_hosted | View |
| 4 | Amazon SQS | 8.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | cloud | View |
| 5 | Apache ActiveMQ | 8.4 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | Free | Yes | — | self_hosted | View |
| 6 | Amazon SNS | 8.1 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $0.06/mo | Yes | — | cloud | View |
| 7 | CloudAMQP | 8.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | $19/mo | Yes | 19 /mo | cloud | View |
| 8 | Solace PubSub+ Event Broker | 7.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | hybrid | View |
| 9 | EMQX | 6.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | 234 /mo | hybrid | View |
| 10 |  HiveMQ MQTT Broker | 6.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | hybrid | View |
| 11 | Upstash QStash | 6.4 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | cloud | View |
| 12 | KubeMQ | 6.2 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | — | — | hybrid | View |
| 13 |  NATS | 6.1 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | — | — | hybrid | View |
| 14 |  Eclipse Amlen | 6.1 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | self_hosted | View |
| 15 |  Apache Kafka | 6.0 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | — | — | — | View |
| 16 |  Apache RocketMQ | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | — | — | — | View |
| 17 |  Apache Qpid Broker-J | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | — | — | self_hosted | View |
| 18 |  JORAM | 5.9 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | self_hosted | View |
| 19 | Amazon MQ | 5.8 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | No | — | cloud | View |
| 20 | Eclipse Mosquitto | 5.7 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | self_hosted | View |
| 21 | IronMQ | 5.6 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | 399 /mo | hybrid | View |
| 22 |  VerneMQ | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | No | — | self_hosted | View |
| 23 | NSQ | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | — | — | self_hosted | View |
| 24 |  Lightstreamer | 5.5 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | Yes | — | hybrid | View |
| 25 |  ZeroMQ | 5.3 | RecognisedAPIDocumented | — | — | — | self_hosted | View |
Is your platform on this list?
Numbered spots on this list can be sponsored. They are labelled, and the editorial order and scores never change for payment.
Questions about this list
Which message broker software is ranked first on Inferse?
RabbitMQ is ranked #1 of 34 with a score of 8.9. Google Cloud Pub/Sub is second and Apache Artemis third.
How many of these have a free plan?
7 of the 25 on this page publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.
Which is the cheapest paid option?
On this page, Amazon SNS has the lowest first paid tier we found: $0.06/mo.
How is this list ranked?
Ranked on what each maker publishes, open and connectable first: a public API, open-source code, the depth of its documentation and a free tier to try it on. Model lists are sorted by the figure in their title, exactly as each provider publishes it. Paid placements never change a rank.