consulvsNATS
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| consul | NATS | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 73/100 | 80/100 |
| Rank in category | #3 of 31 in Networking | #2 of 12 in Message Broker |
| GitHub stars | 30 089 | 20 954 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +8 | +192 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 7 | 18 |
| Latest release | v2.1.0 · 22 Oct 2026 | v2.14.9 · 26 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Advanced | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Other | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Go | Go |
Which one should you pick?
NATS scores 80/100 against 73/100 for consul, so it is the safer default.
NATS ships more often: 18 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for consul.
If you want the quickest setup, NATS is easier to run; consul needs more configuration.
NATS is growing faster right now (+192 stars in 30 days).
consul details →NATS details →