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Eclipse Mosquitto vs Apache ActiveMQ: catalog facts
Eclipse Mosquitto	Apache ActiveMQ
Best for: Home automation and IoT setups that need a self-hosted MQTT broker	Best for: Teams that need a self-hosted message broker for their applications
Free Free and open source under the EPL/EDL licences.	Free Free and open source under the Apache 2.0 licence.
Windows, Linux, Self-hosted, Command line	Windows, Self-hosted
Supports MQTT 5.0, 3.1.1 and 3.1 Light enough for single-board computers All 4 strengths for Eclipse Mosquitto Supports MQTT 5.0, 3.1.1 and 3.1 Light enough for single-board computers Includes mosquitto_pub and mosquitto_sub command-line clients Ships a C client library	Supports JMS, AMQP, STOMP and MQTT Clients available for many languages All 4 strengths for Apache ActiveMQ Supports JMS, AMQP, STOMP and MQTT Clients available for many languages High availability and networks of brokers Regular maintenance releases on several series
A broker only, with no graphical interface for managing messages Requires familiarity with MQTT and broker configuration	Requires Java and server administration Aimed at developers and operators, not end users
Downloadable app, Self-hosted	Downloadable app, Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License: EPL/EDL	License: Apache-2.0
No account needed	No account needed
Offline features available	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Eclipse Mosquitto mosquitto.org Catalog checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Sources for Apache ActiveMQ activemq.apache.org Catalog checked October 2, 2026

“Not stated” means we have not confirmed it. Features can vary by device and plan.