# Google Cloud Pub/Sub vs NATS

**Leader by Vioscale score:** NATS

| Attribute | Google Cloud Pub/Sub | NATS |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 53.4 (49% (low)) | 75.4 (48% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 24,884 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 20,599 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 1,291,214 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"cloud","ordering":"per_key","paradigm":"pubsub","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":true,"managed_offering":true,"stream_processing":true,"delivery_guarantee":"at_least_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","paradigm":"pubsub","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"horizontal_scaling":true}` |
| integrations.count | 3 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"BigQuery"},{"name":"Cloud Storage"},{"name":"Dataflow"}]` | - |
| language.primary | - | Go |
| license.spdx | - | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Standard Pub/Sub","summary":"$40/TiB throughput + $0.27/GiB-month storage (first 10 GiB throughput free)","features":["At-least-once message delivery","Per-key message ordering","Pull and push delivery modes","Cross-zone replication","Automatic scaling and provisioning","Message retention and snapshots"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":40,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GiB-month"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.27,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Pay-as-you-go pricing based on message throughput and retention","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"free_throughput":"10 GiB/month"}}],"addOns":[{"name":"BigQuery Subscription","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":50,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Cloud Storage Subscription","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":50,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Kinesis Data Streams Import","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":50,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Other Source Imports (Azure Event Hubs, AWS MSK, Confluent Cloud)","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":80,"currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"Usage-based: $40/TiB throughput, $0.27/GiB-month storage. Free tier: 10 GiB/month throughput.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://cloud.google.com/pubsub","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T13:22:58.268Z","startingPrice":{"amount":0.27,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://nats.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T12:15:06.032Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | - |
| release.cadence_days | - | 1 |
| release.history | - | `[{"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"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.3","date":"2026-06-29T15:36:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.12","date":"2026-06-29T15:36:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.11","date":"2026-06-09T14:57:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.2","date":"2026-06-02T16:02:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.10","date":"2026-06-02T16:02:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.2-RC.1","date":"2026-05-29T15:17:59Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.2-RC.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.10-RC.1","date":"2026-05-29T15:16:47Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.12.10-RC.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.1","date":"2026-05-20T15:42:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.14.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.9","date":"2026-05-20T15:41:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.12.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.1-RC.2","date":"2026-05-19T16:39:13Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.1-RC.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.9-RC.2","date":"2026-05-19T16:38:34Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.12.9-RC.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.14.1-RC.1","date":"2026-05-14T15:12:59Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.14.1-RC.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nats-io/nats-server/releases/tag/v2.12.9-RC.1","date":"2026-05-14T15:12:19Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.12.9-RC.1"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | - | 7.2 |
| security.vulnerabilities | - | `{"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 | Google Cloud Pub/Sub | NATS |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **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 | - | - |
| 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 | ✓ | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T17:15:20.665Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*