Comparison

Google Cloud Pub/Sub vs ZeroMQ

On the evidence we track, ZeroMQ leads this comparison with a composite score of 60/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Google Cloud Pub/Sub full profile →ZeroMQ full profile →

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Google Cloud Pub/Sub53

★ZeroMQ60

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Google Cloud Pub/Sub	ZeroMQLeader
Vioscale score	53 / 100low · 49%	60 / 100low · 48%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	open_source
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	free
Transparentpricing.transparent	✗	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	3	11
Security
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	5.7
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=conda&package_name=zeromq&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	-
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	2,003
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	10,972
Package downloads weeklyadoption.package_downloads_weekly	-	25,005,888
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	19
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	-	114
Historyrelease.history	-	13 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	-	MPL-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	C++
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide · Popular in US · HQ US	-

Score

Vioscale score

Google Cloud Pub/Sub53 / 100low · 49%

ZeroMQ60 / 100low · 48%

Pricing

Free tier

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ✓

Model

Google Cloud Pub/Subfreemium

ZeroMQopen_source

Price level

Google Cloud Pub/Sublow

ZeroMQfree

Transparent

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✗

ZeroMQ✓

Integrations

Count

Google Cloud Pub/Sub3

ZeroMQ11

Security

Scorecard

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

ZeroMQ5.7

Vulnerabilities

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

ZeroMQCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=conda&package_name=zeromq&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Status page

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ–

Adoption

Dependent repos

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

ZeroMQ2,003

Github stars

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

ZeroMQ10,972

Package downloads weekly

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

ZeroMQ25,005,888

Activity

Commits last 30d

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

ZeroMQ19

Release

Cadence days

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

ZeroMQ114

History

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

ZeroMQ13 items

License

Spdx

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

ZeroMQMPL-2.0

Language

Primary

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

ZeroMQC++

Market

Availability

Google Cloud Pub/SubAvailable worldwide · Popular in US · HQ US

ZeroMQ–

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for message queues. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Message Queues
Capability	Google Cloud Pub/Sub	ZeroMQ
Core
Messaging paradigm	Pub/sub	Pub/sub
Correctness
Delivery guarantee	At-least-once	-
Ordering guarantee	Per-key	-
Durability
Durable replayable log	✓	-
Message replay / rewind	✓	-
Interop
Wire protocol	-	ZMTP/3.1
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 only	Self-hosted only
Processing
Built-in stream processing	✓	-

Core

Messaging paradigm

Google Cloud Pub/SubPub/sub

ZeroMQPub/sub

Correctness

Delivery guarantee

Google Cloud Pub/SubAt-least-once

ZeroMQ-

Ordering guarantee

Google Cloud Pub/SubPer-key

ZeroMQ-

Durability

Durable replayable log

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ-

Message replay / rewind

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ-

Interop

Wire protocol

Google Cloud Pub/Sub-

ZeroMQZMTP/3.1

Kafka-protocol compatible

Google Cloud Pub/Sub-

ZeroMQ-

Scale

Partitioned horizontal scaling

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ-

Geo / cross-region replication

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ-

Consumption

Consumer groups / competing consumers

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ-

Dead-letter queue

Google Cloud Pub/Sub-

ZeroMQ-

Deployment

Managed cloud offering exists

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ✗

Hosting

Google Cloud Pub/SubCloud only

ZeroMQSelf-hosted only

Processing

Built-in stream processing

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ-

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Google Cloud Pub/Sub

A cloud-based publish/subscribe messaging system that enables applications to ingest and stream event data at scale with guaranteed delivery, automatic scaling, and built-in replay capabilities. Integrates with data warehouses and stream processing pipelines for real-time analytics.

Independently observed

ZeroMQ

Leader

ZeroMQ is a messaging library that enables asynchronous communication through socket abstractions, supporting multiple communication patterns, message subscriptions, and access to various transport protocols.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Google Cloud Pub/Sub

from $0.27/moUsage-basedFree tier

Usage-based: $40/TiB throughput, $0.27/GiB-month storage. Free tier: 10 GiB/month throughput.

Standard Pub/Sub$40/TiB throughput + $0.27/GiB-month storage (first 10 GiB throughput free)
- At-least-once message delivery
- Per-key message ordering
- Pull and push delivery modes
- Cross-zone replication
- Automatic scaling and provisioning
- +1 more

as of 2026-08-05verify ↗

ZeroMQ

Leader

Open sourceFree tier

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	Google Cloud Pub/Sub	ZeroMQ
WebPlatforms	✓	✗
AndroidPlatforms	✗	✓
macOSPlatforms	✗	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✗	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✗	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✗
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✗
Self-hostedDeployment	✗	✓

Platforms

Web

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ✗

Android

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✗

ZeroMQ✓

macOS

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✗

ZeroMQ✓

Windows

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✗

ZeroMQ✓

Linux

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✗

ZeroMQ✓

CLI

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ✗

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

ZeroMQ✗

Self-hosted

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✗

ZeroMQ✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Google Cloud Pub/Sub

3 total

BigQuery
Cloud Storage
Dataflow

Independently observed

ZeroMQ

Leader

11 total

Microsoft
Samsung
AT&T
Spotify
Facebook
Digital Ocean
Auth0
Bitcoin
Jupyter
Mongrel2
Jina

Independently observed

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.