# ActiveMQ vs NATS

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** NATS

| Attribute | ActiveMQ | NATS |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 59 (29% (low)) | 67.8 (58% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 33 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 7,528 | 24,884 |
| adoption.github_stars | 2,465 | 20,867 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 1,353,667 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A message broker that facilitates asynchronous communication between services regardless of programming language, using standardized protocols. Supports high-availability configurations and can be deployed on-premises or through managed cloud services. It is indexed under Message Queues.","source":"https://activemq.apache.org/","question":"What is ActiveMQ?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"ActiveMQ is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://activemq.apache.org/","question":"Is ActiveMQ free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"ActiveMQ supports Windows, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://activemq.apache.org/","question":"What platforms does ActiveMQ support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. ActiveMQ can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://activemq.apache.org/","question":"Can ActiveMQ be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. ActiveMQ is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/apache/activemq","question":"Is ActiveMQ open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"NATS enables components of a distributed software system to send messages to each other. It is an open-source project maintained by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation and can be deployed across cloud environments, on-site servers, edge computing devices, and embedded systems. It is indexed under Message Queues.","source":"https://nats.io","question":"What is NATS?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"NATS is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://nats.io","question":"Is NATS free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"NATS supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://nats.io","question":"What platforms does NATS support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. NATS can be deployed cloud / SaaS, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://nats.io","question":"Can NATS be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed GDPR for NATS. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as NATS not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://nats.io/privacy","question":"What security certifications does NATS have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. NATS is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server","question":"Is NATS open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | An open source Java-based system for asynchronous messaging between applications across different platforms. It supports multiple standard communication protocols and offers high availability features through message load-balancing and master-broker configurations. | An open-source, lightweight messaging platform that combines pub/sub, request/reply, and persistent streaming capabilities into a single system for building high-performance distributed applications. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","paradigm":"pubsub","protocol":"AMQP, STOMP, MQTT, JMS","persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"managed_offering":true,"stream_processing":true,"horizontal_scaling":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","paradigm":"pubsub","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":true,"managed_offering":true,"horizontal_scaling":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 12 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Stripe","category":"payments"},{"name":"Apache Kafka","category":"messaging"},{"name":"Apache Spark","category":"data_processing"},{"name":"Apache Flink","category":"stream_processing"},{"name":"RabbitMQ","category":"messaging"},{"name":"Prometheus","category":"monitoring"},{"name":"RisingWave","category":"stream_database"},{"name":"Caddy","category":"web_server"},{"name":"Deepstream","category":"messaging"},{"name":"Synadia","category":"platform_service"},{"name":"Gatling","category":"load_testing"},{"name":"Yii","category":"web_framework"}]` |
| language.primary | Java | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | - | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"web":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","summary":"Open source and free to download and use. Professional support available from commercial vendors.","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://activemq.apache.org/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:34:39.952Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://nats.io","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T15:14:05.510Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | - |
| release.cadence_days | 4 | 1 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.2.10","date":"2026-09-22T04:34:56Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.2.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-5.19.11","date":"2026-09-02T18:17:39Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-5.19.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.3.2","date":"2026-08-29T15:39:07Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.3.1","date":"2026-08-06T14:44:33Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.2.9","date":"2026-08-06T15:19:04Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.2.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-5.19.10","date":"2026-08-06T20:10:51Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-5.19.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.3.0","date":"2026-07-24T11:39:40Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.2.8","date":"2026-07-24T07:53:25Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.2.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-5.19.9","date":"2026-07-24T13:59:42Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-5.19.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.2.7","date":"2026-06-25T05:29:05Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.2.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-5.19.8","date":"2026-06-25T05:59:26Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-5.19.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.2.6","date":"2026-05-27T11:37:10Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.2.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-5.19.7","date":"2026-05-27T12:14:13Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-5.19.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.2.5","date":"2026-04-21T16:26:33Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.2.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-5.19.6","date":"2026-04-21T16:52:16Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-5.19.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.2.4","date":"2026-04-08T16:23:38Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-5.19.5","date":"2026-04-08T17:00:50Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-5.19.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-5.19.4","date":"2026-03-28T05:44:50Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-5.19.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.2.3","date":"2026-03-27T18:33:08Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-6.2.2","date":"2026-03-20T12:34:58Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-6.2.2"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.15.1","date":"2026-10-09T08:40:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.15.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.8","date":"2026-10-09T08:40:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.15.1-RC.2","date":"2026-10-06T10:57:55Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.1-RC.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.8-RC.2","date":"2026-10-06T10:56:59Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.8-RC.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.15.1-RC.1","date":"2026-09-28T17:12:45Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.1-RC.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.8-RC.1","date":"2026-09-28T17:12:29Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.8-RC.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.15.0","date":"2026-09-17T13:30:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.15.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.15.0-RC.2","date":"2026-09-15T16:27:50Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.0-RC.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.7","date":"2026-09-15T15:10:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.7-RC.2","date":"2026-09-14T15:48:51Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.7-RC.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.7-RC.1","date":"2026-09-10T16:05:31Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.7-RC.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.15.0-RC.1","date":"2026-09-07T16:35:00Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.0-RC.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.6","date":"2026-08-27T15:21:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.6-RC.2","date":"2026-08-26T17:01:24Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.6-RC.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.6-RC.1","date":"2026-08-25T16:47:43Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.6-RC.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.15.0-preview.1","date":"2026-08-24T13:33:40Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.15.0-preview.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.5","date":"2026-08-12T15:31:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.15","date":"2026-08-12T15:30:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.4","date":"2026-07-30T13:57:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.14","date":"2026-07-30T13:56:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.14"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7 | 7.4 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":12,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=org.apache.activemq%3Aactivemq-broker&per_page=100","last_12m":9,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` | `{"count":29,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fnats-io%2Fnats-server%2Fv2&per_page=100","last_12m":14,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` |

## Capabilities (Message Queues)

| Capability | ActiveMQ | NATS |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Messaging paradigm | Pub/sub | Pub/sub |
| **Correctness** |  |  |
| Delivery guarantee | - | - |
| Ordering guarantee | - | - |
| **Durability** |  |  |
| Durable replayable log | ✓ | ✓ |
| Message replay / rewind | - | ✓ |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | AMQP, STOMP, MQTT, JMS | - |
| Kafka-protocol compatible | - | - |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Partitioned horizontal scaling | ✓ | ✓ |
| Geo / cross-region replication | - | ✓ |
| **Consumption** |  |  |
| Consumer groups / competing consumers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dead-letter queue | - | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Managed cloud offering exists | ✓ | ✓ |
| Hosting | Cloud + self-hosted | Self-hosted only |
| **Processing** |  |  |
| Built-in stream processing | ✓ | - |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-17T23:35:12.842Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*