# ActiveMQ vs ZeroMQ

| Attribute | ActiveMQ | ZeroMQ |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 66.8 (22% (low)) | 59.6 (48% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 39 | 19 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 7,528 | 2,003 |
| adoption.github_stars | 2,451 | 10,972 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 25,005,888 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | ZeroMQ is a messaging library that enables asynchronous communication through socket abstractions, supporting multiple communication patterns, message subscriptions, and access to various transport protocols. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","paradigm":"pubsub","protocol":"AMQP, STOMP, MQTT, JMS","persistent_log":true,"managed_offering":true,"horizontal_scaling":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","paradigm":"pubsub","protocol":"ZMTP/3.1","managed_offering":false}` |
| integrations.count | - | 11 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"Microsoft"},{"name":"Samsung"},{"name":"AT&T"},{"name":"Spotify"},{"name":"Facebook"},{"name":"Digital Ocean"},{"name":"Auth0"},{"name":"Bitcoin"},{"name":"Jupyter"},{"name":"Mongrel2"},{"name":"Jina"}]` |
| language.primary | Java | C++ |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | MPL-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"mac":true,"linux":true,"android":true,"windows":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://zeromq.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T11:07:53.298Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 114 |
| release.history | `[{"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/apache/activemq/releases/tag/activemq-5.19.3","date":"2026-03-20T12:58:54Z","type":"stable","version":"activemq-5.19.3"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.3.5","date":"2023-10-09T11:17:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.3.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.3.4","date":"2021-01-17T13:23:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.3.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.3.3","date":"2020-09-07T16:26:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.3.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.3.2","date":"2019-07-08T16:22:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.3.1","date":"2019-01-12T16:21:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.3.0","date":"2018-11-28T20:16:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.2.5","date":"2018-03-23T19:37:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.2.4","date":"2018-03-21T16:03:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.2.3","date":"2017-12-13T13:41:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.2.2","date":"2017-02-18T18:09:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.2.1","date":"2016-12-31T15:30:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.2.0","date":"2016-11-04T10:33:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/zeromq/libzmq/releases/tag/v4.2.0-rc1","date":"2016-11-01T15:31:54Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v4.2.0-rc1"}]` |
| security.scorecard | 6.9 | 5.7 |
| 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":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=conda&package_name=zeromq&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Message Queues)

| Capability | ActiveMQ | ZeroMQ |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **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 | 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 + self-hosted | Self-hosted only |
| **Processing** |  |  |
| Built-in stream processing | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:24:14.835Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*