# HiveMQ vs PubNub

**Leader by Vioscale score:** PubNub

| Attribute | HiveMQ | PubNub |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 67.7 (62% (medium)) | 74.5 (51% (medium)) |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | HiveMQ is a real-time data streaming platform built on MQTT that provides reliable, high-performance connectivity for industrial systems and AI applications. It supports both fully-managed cloud deployments and self-hosted installations, enabling enterprises to move operational data reliably at enterprise scale. | PubNub provides APIs and SDKs for building real-time interactive application features. It manages cloud infrastructure for messaging, presence tracking, and push notifications while handling compliance, security, and global scaling requirements. |
| integrations.count | 5 | - |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"Amazon Kinesis"},{"name":"AWS CloudWatch"},{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Graphite"}]` | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":["US","EU"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"ios":true,"web":true,"android":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Serverless Free","summary":"Free; shared infrastructure","features":["100 connections","10 GB/month throughput","Shared MQTT broker","TLS encryption","RBAC","Community support","No uptime SLA"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Shared broker for evaluation and testing","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"connections":"100","throughput_monthly":"10 GB"}},{"free":false,"name":"Starter","summary":"$0.34/hour + $0.80/million messages; 15-day free trial","features":["Production-ready MQTT with clustering and high availability","1 MB/sec max throughput","10,000 connections","TLS encryption, authentication, advanced authorization","Data Streaming Extensions","99.95% uptime SLA","Silver support tier"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0.34,"period":"hour","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1000000,"unit":"messages"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.8,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Production-ready platform with clustering and high availability","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"throughput":"1 MB/sec","connections":"10,000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing based on capacity (connections + throughput)","features":["Complete HiveMQ Platform","Custom connection and throughput limits","Distributed Data Intelligence","Agentic AI for Operations (coming soon)","Up to 99.99% uptime SLA","Gold or Platinum support tier","Custom cloud infrastructure and deployment options"],"description":"Custom platform for large-scale deployments with distributed data intelligence","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free tier available. Starter from $0.34/hour + $0.80/million messages. Enterprise custom.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.hivemq.com/pricing/fully-managed/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-19T18:27:03.839Z","freeTrialDays":15,"startingPrice":{"amount":0.34,"period":"hour","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["hour","month"]}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"Free forever for development","features":["Up to 200 Monthly Active Users","1 million function calls per month","1GB data storage (7 days retention)","1 million push notifications per month","No credit card required"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"For development and testing purposes","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"mau":"200","data_storage_gb_days":"1GB (7 days)","function_calls_per_month":"1M","push_notifications_per_month":"1M"}},{"free":false,"name":"Starter","summary":"$98/month including 1,000 MAU","features":["1,000 Monthly Active Users included","99.999% uptime SLA","SAML SSO","HIPAA compliance with BAA","Bizops Workspace for user and channel management","Advanced analytics and monitoring","Custom integrations","Standard support"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":98,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Production-ready with user and channel management","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"mau":"1000"}},{"free":false,"name":"Pro","summary":"Tier 1 (up to 10K MAU): $370–$550/month. Tier 2 (10K–50K): from $750/month. Tier 3 (50K+): custom pricing with volume discounts. Annual billing available.","features":["Usage-based pricing: Tier 1 (up to 10K MAU), Tier 2 (10K-50K MAU), Tier 3 (50K+ MAU)","Enterprise features included","99.999% uptime SLA","SAML SSO","HIPAA compliance","Mobile Push Notifications","Access Manager with fine-grained access control","Functions for programmable infrastructure","Event Management for third-party integrations","Real-time analytics and automated decisioning","Content moderation and fraud detection capabilities","Unlimited chat storage","Premium support options"],"description":"Enterprise-scale with tiered usage-based pricing on Monthly Active Users","contactSales":true}],"addOns":[{"name":"Illuminate"}],"summary":"Free tier for development (200 MAU). Starter at $98/month (1,000 MAU). Pro uses tiered monthly active user pricing from $370/month with annual discounts available.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.pubnub.com/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-19T18:27:51.026Z","startingPrice":{"amount":98,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | high |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":0.34,"currency":"USD"}` | `{"amount":98,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | 99.999 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |

## Capabilities (Realtime Messaging Infra)

| Capability | HiveMQ | PubNub |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Capabilities** |  |  |
| Presence | - | - |
| Message history replay | - | - |
| Delivery guarantee | - | - |
| Global edge network | - | - |
| Scaling model | - | - |
| Offline reconnect catchup | - | - |
| Push notification bridge | - | - |
| Auth model | - | - |
| Self hostable | - | - |
| Mqtt support | - | - |
| Deployment | - | - |
| Pricing model | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T14:31:51.327Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*