# NATS vs NSQ

**Leader by Vioscale score:** NATS

| Attribute | NATS | NSQ |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 75.4 (48% (low)) | 34.3 (38% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 3 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 24,884 | 39 |
| adoption.github_stars | 20,599 | 25,775 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 1,291,214 | - |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | Distributed message queue system designed for high-throughput, real-time message delivery across fault-tolerant clusters without centralized brokers. Supports both load-balanced queuing and publish-subscribe messaging patterns with minimal operational overhead and configuration complexity. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","paradigm":"pubsub","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"horizontal_scaling":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","ordering":"none","paradigm":"queue","protocol":"TCP","persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":false,"kafka_compatible":false,"managed_offering":false,"delivery_guarantee":"at_least_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 1 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"statsd"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://nats.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T12:15:06.032Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://nsq.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:31:09.381Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| release.cadence_days | 1 | 84 |
| 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"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v1.3.0","date":"2023-12-27T05:04:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v1.2.1","date":"2021-08-16T01:28:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v1.2.0","date":"2019-08-28T15:42:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v1.1.0","date":"2018-08-19T23:53:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v1.1.0-rc1","date":"2018-07-31T15:11:14Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.1.0-rc1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v1.0.0-compat","date":"2017-03-22T19:58:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0-compat"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.3.8","date":"2016-05-26T16:57:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.3.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.3.7","date":"2016-02-24T06:22:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.3.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.3.6","date":"2015-09-25T14:28:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.3.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.3.5","date":"2015-04-26T22:40:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.3.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.3.4","date":"2015-04-26T21:58:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.3.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.3.3","date":"2015-04-26T21:20:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.3.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.3.2","date":"2015-02-08T18:08:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.3.1","date":"2015-01-22T06:12:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.3.0","date":"2014-11-18T15:14:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.2.31","date":"2014-08-26T14:51:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.2.31"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.2.30","date":"2014-07-29T04:05:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.2.30"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.2.29","date":"2014-07-25T12:39:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.2.29"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.2.28","date":"2014-04-29T03:25:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.2.28"},{"url":"https://github.com/nsqio/nsq/releases/tag/v0.2.27","date":"2014-02-17T14:24:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.2.27"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 7.2 | 3.5 |
| 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"}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fnsqio%2Fnsq&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Message Queues)

| Capability | NATS | NSQ |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Messaging paradigm | Pub/sub | Queue |
| **Correctness** |  |  |
| Delivery guarantee | - | At-least-once |
| Ordering guarantee | - | None |
| **Durability** |  |  |
| Durable replayable log | ✓ | ✓ |
| Message replay / rewind | ✓ | - |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | - | TCP |
| 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 | Self-hosted only | Self-hosted only |
| **Processing** |  |  |
| Built-in stream processing | - | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T15:09:59.575Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*