HiveMQ Community EditionvsNATS
Two self-hosted Message Broker projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| HiveMQ Community Edition | NATS | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 55/100 | 80/100 |
| Rank in category | #10 of 12 in Message Broker | #2 of 12 in Message Broker |
| GitHub stars | 1 213 | 20 954 |
| Stars, last 30 days | — | +192 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 2 | 18 |
| Latest release | 2026.5 · 27 May 2026 | v2.14.9 · 26 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Easy | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Main language | Java | Go |
Which one should you pick?
NATS scores 80/100 against 55/100 for HiveMQ Community Edition, so it is the safer default.
NATS ships more often: 18 stable releases in the past year, against 2 for HiveMQ Community Edition.
If you want the quickest setup, HiveMQ Community Edition is easier to run; NATS needs more configuration.
NATS is growing faster right now (+192 stars in 30 days).
HiveMQ Community Edition details →NATS details →All Message Broker projects →
Swap a project
Keep HiveMQ Community Edition, compare it with
Keep NATS, compare it with