Best Free Event Brokers of 2026

The HiveMQ Platform provides a scalable, reliable data backbone with an event-driven MQTT architecture. Here are a few highlights: 1. MQTT Broker: At the heart of the HiveMQ platform is a fully MQTT-compliant broker purpose-built for fast, reliable, bi-directional data movement between IoT devices and enterprise systems. 2. Edge Data Integration: HiveMQ Edge seamlessly integrates edge data by converting industrial protocols into standardized MQTT, enabling an interoperable IIoT infrastructure. 3. IoT Streaming Governance: Data Hub transforms data in flight, passing only the most relevant, contextualized data to cloud and enterprise systems. 4. UNS & IT/OT convergence Enabler: Commonly used as the backbone for Unified Namespace architectures and seamlessly connects OT devices with IT systems for full visibility and interoperability. 5. Distributed Data Intelligence: HiveMQ Pulse unifies and contextualizes data across the enterprise for smarter decisions exactly where they matter most. 6. Maximum Interoperability: Runs anywhere on-premises or in public or private clouds. Efficiently connects to streaming applications, databases and data lakes with a Java SDK to build your own 7. Scalability to Support Growth: Elastic scaling with automatic data balancing and smart message distribution. Proven benchmark of up to 200M active clients with 1.8B messages/hour 8. Business Critical Reliability: Zero message loss with persistence to disk and offline queuing. No single point of failure due to masterless cluster architecture and zero downtime upgrades

A managed service facilitates two-way communication between IoT devices and Azure, ensuring secure and dependable interaction between your IoT application and its managed devices. With Azure IoT Hub, you have access to a cloud-based backend that can connect almost any device seamlessly. Moreover, you can enhance your solution from the cloud to edge devices through features like per-device authentication, integrated device management, and scalable provisioning options. By utilizing telemetry data from devices to the cloud, you can gain insights into device status and establish message pathways to other Azure services effortlessly, without the need for coding. For cloud-to-device messages, you can reliably send commands and alerts to your connected devices while monitoring message delivery via acknowledgment receipts. The system also allows for automatic resending of messages to address any connectivity issues that may arise. Azure IoT Central goes beyond just proof of concept; it empowers you to create top-tier solutions using a comprehensive hosted IoT application platform, thus fostering innovation in your projects. This combination of features positions Azure as a leading choice for IoT communication solutions.

RabbitMQ is a lightweight solution that can be effortlessly deployed both on-premises and in cloud environments. It is compatible with various messaging protocols, making it versatile for different use cases. Furthermore, RabbitMQ can be configured in distributed and federated setups, which cater to demanding scalability and high availability needs. With a vast user base, it stands out as one of the leading open-source message brokers available today. Organizations ranging from T-Mobile to Runtastic leverage RabbitMQ, showcasing its adaptability for both startups and large enterprises. Additionally, RabbitMQ is compatible with numerous operating systems and cloud platforms, offering a comprehensive suite of development tools for popular programming languages. Users can deploy RabbitMQ using tools like Kubernetes, BOSH, Chef, Docker, and Puppet, facilitating seamless integration into their existing workflows. Developers can also create cross-language messaging solutions using their preferred programming languages, such as Java, .NET, PHP, Python, JavaScript, Ruby, and Go, enhancing its utility across various projects.

One Platform for Realtime Communication: A platform to build and operate real-time interactivity for web, mobile, AI/ML, IoT, and Edge computing applications Faster & Easier Deployments: SDK support for 50+ mobile, web, server, and IoT environments (PubNub & community supported) and more than 65 pre-built integrations with external and third-party APIs to give you the features you need regardless of programming language or tech stack. Scalability: The industry’s most scalable platform capable of supporting millions of concurrent users for rapid growth with low latency, high uptime, and without financial penalties.

Ably is the definitive realtime experience platform. We power more WebSocket connections than any other pub/sub platform, serving over a billion devices monthly. Businesses trust us with their critical applications like chat, notifications and broadcast - reliably, securely and at serious scale.

Solace is a specialist in Event-Driven-Architecture (EDA), with two decades of experience providing enterprises with highly reliable, robust and scalable data movement technology based on the publish & subscribe (pub/sub) pattern. Solace technology enables the real-time data flow behind many of the conveniences you take for granted every day such as immediate loyalty rewards from your credit card, the weather data delivered to your mobile phone, real-time airplane movements on the ground and in the air, and timely inventory updates to some of your favourite department stores and grocery chains, not to mention that Solace technology also powers many of the world's leading stock exchanges and betting houses. Aside from rock solid technology, stellar customer support is one of the biggest reasons customers select Solace, and stick with them.

StreamNative transforms the landscape of streaming infrastructure by combining Kafka, MQ, and various other protocols into one cohesive platform, which offers unmatched flexibility and efficiency tailored for contemporary data processing requirements. This integrated solution caters to the varied demands of streaming and messaging within microservices architectures. By delivering a holistic and intelligent approach to both messaging and streaming, StreamNative equips organizations with the tools to effectively manage the challenges and scalability of today’s complex data environment. Furthermore, Apache Pulsar’s distinctive architecture separates the message serving component from the message storage segment, creating a robust cloud-native data-streaming platform. This architecture is designed to be both scalable and elastic, allowing for quick adjustments to fluctuating event traffic and evolving business needs, and it can scale up to accommodate millions of topics, ensuring that computation and storage remain decoupled for optimal performance. Ultimately, this innovative design positions StreamNative as a leader in addressing the multifaceted requirements of modern data streaming.

Lightstreamer acts as an event broker that is finely tuned for the internet, providing a smooth and instantaneous flow of data across online platforms. In contrast to conventional brokers, it adeptly manages the challenges posed by proxies, firewalls, disconnections, network congestion, and the inherent unpredictability of web connectivity. Its advanced streaming capabilities ensure that real-time data delivery is maintained, always finding efficient and reliable pathways for your information. Lightstreamer's technology is not only well-established but also at the cutting edge, continually adapting to remain a leader in the field of innovation. With a solid history and extensive practical experience, it guarantees dependable and effective data transmission. Users can count on Lightstreamer to provide unmatched reliability in any situation, making it an invaluable tool for real-time communication needs. In an ever-evolving digital landscape, Lightstreamer stands out as a trusted partner for delivering data seamlessly.

Engaging applications captivate users while motivating developers to innovate. To meet the growing demands of the digital landscape, consider utilizing the DataStax Astra Streaming service platform. This cloud-native platform for messaging and event streaming is built on the robust foundation of Apache Pulsar. With Astra Streaming, developers can create streaming applications that leverage a multi-cloud, elastically scalable architecture. Powered by the advanced capabilities of Apache Pulsar, this platform offers a comprehensive solution that encompasses streaming, queuing, pub/sub, and stream processing. Astra Streaming serves as an ideal partner for Astra DB, enabling current users to construct real-time data pipelines seamlessly connected to their Astra DB instances. Additionally, the platform's flexibility allows for deployment across major public cloud providers, including AWS, GCP, and Azure, thereby preventing vendor lock-in. Ultimately, Astra Streaming empowers developers to harness the full potential of their data in real-time environments.