# HiveMQ Community Edition vs NATS

> Two self-hosted [Message Broker projects](https://selfhost.directory/message-broker), 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).

## Details

- [HiveMQ Community Edition](https://selfhost.directory/project/hivemq-community-edition) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/hivemq-community-edition.md)
- [NATS](https://selfhost.directory/project/nats) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/nats.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/hivemq-community-edition-vs-nats