EMQX
EMQX: A broad MQTT platform for real-time messaging, integrations, routing, and durable storage. Ranked #12 of 39 in Message Broker Software by our editors (8.1/10); pricing: Free plan · 14-day trial; best for MQTT with cloud integrations.
At a glance
- Editor score8.1 / 10
- PricingFree plan · 14-day trial
- Best forMQTT with cloud integrations
- Free planYes
- Paid from$234/mo
- Deployment modelHybrid
- Founded2017 · Menlo Park, California, United States
- Facts checked20 Sep 2026
Where it wins
- 50+ integrations across databases and cloud services
- SQL routing, transformation, and visual flow design
- TLS/mTLS, RBAC, ACLs, audit logs, and tracing
Where it doesn't
- Usage beyond Serverless's free quota is billed
- Dedicated Flex starts at $234 per month
- Advanced deployments require BYOC or Enterprise plans
Our verdict on EMQX
EMQX is an MQTT messaging platform for IoT, AI applications, connected vehicles, manufacturing, energy, financial services, logistics, and other real-time data workloads. It combines publish/subscribe messaging with durable server-side queues, protocol gateways, data transformation, integrations, observability, and security controls. Deployment options include a managed cloud service, bring-your-own-cloud deployment, self-hosted Enterprise software, web access, and an API. It is best suited to teams that need MQTT alongside broader data movement and device-management workflows.
Pricing covers a permanent Serverless tier with usage-based billing, a free monthly quota, up to 1,000 connections, TLS/SSL encryption, basic monitoring and alerts, and 8/5 support. Dedicated Flex is the displayed paid starting point at $234 per month and adds a single-tenant cluster, dedicated VPC, VPC peering and Private Link, 40+ integrations, a 99.99% uptime SLA, and 24/7 premium support. BYOC runs in the customer's cloud VPC with managed upgrades and observability, while Enterprise supports on-premises, edge, or cloud deployment with custom plugins, extensions, professional services, and priority feature requests. Pricing depends on plan, capacity, cloud provider, and region.
The platform's breadth is a central strength. Its SQL-based rule engine can filter, transform, and route data, while the Visual Flow Designer supports orchestration across MQTT-SN, STOMP, CoAP, LwM2M, OCPP, GB/T 32960, JT/T 808, and NATS. Integrations include Kafka, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Oracle, MySQL, AWS S3, Azure, Google Cloud, SAP, InfluxDB, and TimescaleDB. RocksDB and Raft provide distributed durable storage, and per-topic metrics, client metrics, and distributed tracing support operational visibility. Choose EMQX when protocol breadth, cloud connectivity, and deployment flexibility matter; choose a narrower broker when those capabilities would add unnecessary complexity.
Your product? Our editors can test EMQX in depth and publish a review, labelled as paid · from $149/mo →
EMQX pricing
EMQX fact sheet
| Free plan | Yes |
|---|---|
| Paid from | $234/mo |
| Deployment model | Hybrid |
| Delivery guarantees | Configurable |
| Dead-letter queues | Not verified |
| Ordering guarantees | Not verified |
| Maximum message size | 1 MB |
| Supported protocols | MQTT, MQTT-SN, STOMP, CoAP, LwM2M, OCPP, GB/T 32960, JT/T 808, NATS |
| Free trial | 14 days |
| Deployment | Cloud, Self-hosted |
| Platforms | Web |
| Compliance & security | SOC 2, ISO 27001, GDPR |
| Support | Email, Tickets, Docs |
| Built for | Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise (editorial estimate) |
| Integrations | 50+ integrations: Kafka, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Oracle, MySQL, AWS S3 … See all → |
| Pricing | Free plan · 14-day trial (source) |
| Website | emqx.com |
| Facts checked | 20 Sep 2026 |
EMQX integrations
EMQX lists 50+ integrations on its own site — the 11 named here are the ones its pages call out.
- Kafka
- PostgreSQL
- MongoDB
- Oracle
- MySQL
- AWS S3
- Azure
- Google Cloud
- SAP
- InfluxDB
- TimescaleDB
Alternatives to EMQX
- RabbitMQA broad, open-source broker for queues, routing, streaming, and hybrid deployments.9.4
- Solace PubSub+ Event BrokerA broad hybrid event broker for teams connecting applications, services and devices.9.2
- Google Cloud Pub/SubA managed cloud pub/sub service with strong delivery controls and usage-based pricing.9.1
Also Ranked In
EMQX is ranked in 2 of our directories.
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Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
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