# Redpanda vs ZeroMQ

**Leader by Vioscale score:** Redpanda

| Attribute | Redpanda | ZeroMQ |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 69 (59% (medium)) | 59.6 (48% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 19 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 25 | 2,003 |
| adoption.github_stars | 12,485 | 10,972 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | - | 25,005,888 |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A data streaming platform designed to reduce operational costs while maintaining high throughput. Kafka-compatible with support for both managed cloud deployments (Dedicated, BYOC, Serverless) and self-hosted options, featuring tiered storage, built-in data transforms, and governance capabilities for AI agents. | 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","ordering":"per_partition","paradigm":"log_stream","protocol":"Kafka protocol","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":true,"kafka_compatible":true,"managed_offering":true,"stream_processing":true,"delivery_guarantee":"at_least_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` | `{"hosting":"self","paradigm":"pubsub","protocol":"ZMTP/3.1","managed_offering":false}` |
| integrations.count | 300 | 11 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"Apache Iceberg"},{"name":"Snowflake"},{"name":"BigQuery"},{"name":"Google Cloud Storage"},{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Google Cloud Platform"},{"name":"Azure"}]` | `[{"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 | C++ | C++ |
| license.spdx | - | MPL-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | - |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"mac":true,"linux":true,"android":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Community Edition","summary":"Free, BSL license","description":"Free, source-available under BSL","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise Edition","summary":"Contact for pricing","description":"Commercially supported self-managed deployment","contactSales":true},{"free":false,"name":"Redpanda Cloud","summary":"Contact for pricing","description":"Fully-managed cloud service with Dedicated, BYOC, and Serverless options","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free tier (Community Edition). Cloud and Enterprise plans available via quote.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.redpanda.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T12:13:12.076Z"}` | `{"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 | low | free |
| pricing.transparent | no | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 6 | 114 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.2.2","date":"2026-08-22T00:45:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.17","date":"2026-08-20T00:03:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v25.3.17","date":"2026-08-20T00:04:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v25.3.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.16","date":"2026-08-13T19:25:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v25.3.16","date":"2026-08-13T19:13:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v25.3.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.15","date":"2026-08-07T03:37:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.2.1","date":"2026-07-28T17:59:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.14","date":"2026-07-24T11:39:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.13","date":"2026-07-17T02:23:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.12","date":"2026-06-28T05:05:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.11","date":"2026-06-25T23:58:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.10","date":"2026-06-12T15:46:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v25.3.15","date":"2026-06-04T21:12:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v25.3.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.9","date":"2026-05-22T12:40:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.8","date":"2026-05-14T12:16:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.7","date":"2026-05-08T12:48:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.6","date":"2026-04-22T01:35:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v25.3.14","date":"2026-04-16T14:42:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v25.3.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.5","date":"2026-04-15T14:20:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.4","date":"2026-04-11T15:29:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.4"}]` | `[{"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"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | - |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 6.5 | 5.7 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fredpanda-data%2Fredpanda%2Fsrc%2Fgo%2Frpk&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"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 | Redpanda | ZeroMQ |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Messaging paradigm | Log / streaming | Pub/sub |
| **Correctness** |  |  |
| Delivery guarantee | At-least-once | - |
| Ordering guarantee | Per-partition | - |
| **Durability** |  |  |
| Durable replayable log | ✓ | - |
| Message replay / rewind | ✓ | - |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | Kafka protocol | 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 2026-09-01T16:32:58.025Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*