Side-by-side feature comparison of the four most commonly used MQTT brokers for industrial environments: Mosquitto, EMQX, HiveMQ, and AWS IoT Core. Last updated: 2026.
Lightweight, single-binary broker. The reference implementation of MQTT. Ideal for edge deployments and development.
High-throughput clustered broker with strong IIoT extensions. Supports MQTT, MQTT-SN, CoAP, and WebSocket natively.
Enterprise-grade broker with strong Java ecosystem. Purpose-built for IoT at scale with clustering and persistence.
Fully managed MQTT service in AWS. No infrastructure management; integrates directly with S3, Lambda, Kinesis, and more.
| Feature | Mosquitto | EMQX | HiveMQ | AWS IoT Core |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MQTT 3.1.1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| MQTT 5.0 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| MQTT over WebSocket | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| TLS/SSL (transport security) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (required) |
| Retained messages | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| QoS 0, 1, 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | QoS 0 & 1 only |
| Shared subscriptions | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Sparkplug B support | No (native) | Yes | Yes | No (native) |
| Feature | Mosquitto | EMQX | HiveMQ | AWS IoT Core |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Max concurrent connections (typical) | ~100K (single node) | 1M+ per node | 1M+ per cluster | Unlimited (managed) |
| Native clustering | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (cloud) |
| Horizontal scaling | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (auto) |
| Message persistence | Basic (file) | Yes (DB) | Yes (enterprise) | Yes |
| Edge deployment | Excellent | Good | Possible (resource-heavy) | No (cloud only) |
| Feature | Mosquitto | EMQX | HiveMQ | AWS IoT Core |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Username/password auth | Yes | Yes | Yes | No (X.509 / Cognito) |
| X.509 certificate auth | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (required) |
| OAuth 2.0 / JWT | Plugin required | Yes | Yes (enterprise) | Yes (Cognito) |
| Topic-level ACLs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (IAM policies) |
| Audit logging | No | Yes (enterprise) | Yes | Yes (CloudTrail) |
| Feature | Mosquitto | EMQX | HiveMQ | AWS IoT Core |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| OPC-UA bridging | Via plugin | Yes (native) | Yes (plugin) | Via Greengrass |
| Rule engine / data routing | No | Yes | Yes (enterprise) | Yes |
| REST management API | No | Yes | Yes | Yes (AWS) |
| Monitoring & observability | Basic (logs) | Yes (dashboard) | Yes | Yes (CloudWatch) |
| Works without internet | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Factor | Mosquitto | EMQX | HiveMQ | AWS IoT Core |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base cost | Free (open source) | Free (open source) / Enterprise pricing | Paid (Enterprise licence) | Pay-per-message / connection |
| Support options | Community only | Community + commercial | Commercial (SLA) | AWS Support tiers |
| Cloud-hosted option | No | Yes (EMQX Cloud) | Yes (HiveMQ Cloud) | Yes (fully managed) |
Eclipse Mosquitto — minimal resources, simple to configure, perfect for Raspberry Pi or industrial gateway.
EMQX — excellent throughput, Sparkplug B support, strong rule engine for data routing to multiple consumers.
HiveMQ — built for enterprise Java environments, strong governance features, long track record in automotive/manufacturing.
AWS IoT Core — no broker management, native integration with AWS analytics and storage, scales automatically.