# Apache Pulsar vs BullMQ

| Attribute | Apache Pulsar | BullMQ |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 58.9 (29% (low)) | 60.9 (55% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 69 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 316 | 1,185 |
| adoption.github_stars | 15,315 | 9,333 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 8,237,365 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A distributed messaging system built for cloud deployments that enables applications to reliably publish and consume messages—either individually or as continuous streams—with sub-10-millisecond latency, supporting millions of independent topics and large-scale streaming workloads. | An open source system for queueing and processing background tasks using Redis as the data store, with support for Node.js, Python, Rust, Elixir, and PHP applications. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","ordering":"per_partition","paradigm":"pubsub","protocol":"pulsar://","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":true,"kafka_compatible":true,"stream_processing":true,"delivery_guarantee":"exactly_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","paradigm":"job_queue","persistent_log":true,"managed_offering":false}` |
| integrations.count | 35 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"Cassandra"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"HBase"},{"name":"HDFS"},{"name":"InfluxDB"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"Solr"},{"name":"DynamoDB"},{"name":"Kinesis"},{"name":"Azure Data Explorer"},{"name":"ClickHouse"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"MariaDB"},{"name":"SQLite"},{"name":"Debezium MySQL"},{"name":"Debezium PostgreSQL"},{"name":"Debezium MongoDB"},{"name":"Debezium Oracle"},{"name":"Debezium Microsoft SQL Server"},{"name":"Canal"},{"name":"Aerospike"},{"name":"Alluxio"},{"name":"NSQ"},{"name":"Netty"},{"name":"HTTP"},{"name":"File"}]` | - |
| language.primary | Java | TypeScript |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | - |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://pulsar.apache.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T11:10:46.807Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://bullmq.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:33:58.453Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | - |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.4","date":"2026-08-03T09:19:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.13","date":"2026-08-03T09:19:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.3","date":"2026-07-06T08:46:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.12","date":"2026-07-06T08:46:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v5.0.0-M1","date":"2026-06-23T14:11:26Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v5.0.0-M1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.2","date":"2026-06-08T18:16:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.11","date":"2026-06-08T18:16:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.1","date":"2026-04-27T13:04:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.10","date":"2026-04-27T13:04:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v3.0.17","date":"2026-04-27T13:03:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.0","date":"2026-03-31T21:12:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.1.3","date":"2026-02-19T19:48:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.9","date":"2026-02-19T19:48:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v3.0.16","date":"2026-02-16T09:24:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.1.2","date":"2025-11-17T07:58:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.8","date":"2025-11-17T07:58:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v3.0.15","date":"2025-11-17T07:57:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.1.1","date":"2025-09-27T04:40:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.7","date":"2025-09-27T04:40:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v3.3.9","date":"2025-09-27T04:39:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.3.9"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/v6.3.0","date":"2026-08-26T16:40:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vex2.2.0","date":"2026-08-26T16:42:21Z","type":"stable","version":"vex2.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/v6.2.2","date":"2026-08-25T20:30:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/v6.2.1","date":"2026-08-25T07:11:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vrs1.2.7","date":"2026-08-25T20:34:22Z","type":"stable","version":"vrs1.2.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vpy3.0.6","date":"2026-08-25T20:31:43Z","type":"stable","version":"vpy3.0.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vpy3.0.5","date":"2026-08-25T02:38:59Z","type":"stable","version":"vpy3.0.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vnet1.1.1","date":"2026-08-25T20:35:42Z","type":"stable","version":"vnet1.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vex2.1.3","date":"2026-08-25T20:33:24Z","type":"stable","version":"vex2.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vrs1.2.6","date":"2026-08-23T04:34:15Z","type":"stable","version":"vrs1.2.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/v6.2.0","date":"2026-08-21T05:16:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/v6.1.2","date":"2026-08-16T08:08:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vrs1.2.5","date":"2026-08-15T04:26:34Z","type":"stable","version":"vrs1.2.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vex2.1.2","date":"2026-08-15T19:44:26Z","type":"stable","version":"vex2.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vex2.1.1","date":"2026-08-15T04:25:36Z","type":"stable","version":"vex2.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/v6.1.1","date":"2026-08-14T03:26:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vrs1.2.4","date":"2026-08-13T04:42:57Z","type":"stable","version":"vrs1.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/v6.1.0","date":"2026-08-12T04:03:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v6.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vnet1.1.0","date":"2026-08-12T19:30:15Z","type":"stable","version":"vnet1.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/taskforcesh/bullmq/releases/tag/vex2.1.0","date":"2026-08-12T19:29:27Z","type":"stable","version":"vex2.1.0"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7 | 7.5 |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=org.apache.pulsar%3Apulsar-client-admin&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=npm&package_name=bullmq&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Message Queues)

| Capability | Apache Pulsar | BullMQ |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Messaging paradigm | Pub/sub | Job / task queue |
| **Correctness** |  |  |
| Delivery guarantee | Exactly-once | - |
| Ordering guarantee | Per-partition | - |
| **Durability** |  |  |
| Durable replayable log | ✓ | ✓ |
| Message replay / rewind | ✓ | - |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | pulsar:// | - |
| 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 2026-09-01T17:10:23.951Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*