SHSelfHostIndex

Mosquitto vs Zigbee2MQTT

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted home automation options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
MO Mosquitto Lightweight MQTT message broker VS ZI Zigbee2MQTT Bridge Zigbee devices to MQTT without vendor hubs
FeatureMosquittoZigbee2MQTT
CategoryHome AutomationHome Automation
LicenseEPL-2.0GPL-3.0
LanguageCTypeScript
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM64 MB256 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 11,101★ 15,477
First released20092018
ReplacesSmartThingsSmartThings

Why pick each one

Choose Mosquitto if…

  • Extremely lightweight
  • Rock-solid reliability
  • Ubiquitous in smart homes
Mosquitto details

Choose Zigbee2MQTT if…

  • Frees devices from vendor hubs
  • Wide device support
  • Local control
Zigbee2MQTT details

Frequently asked questions

Is Mosquitto or Zigbee2MQTT better?

Neither is universally better. Zigbee2MQTT has the larger community, while Mosquitto is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.

Are Mosquitto and Zigbee2MQTT free and open-source?

Yes. Mosquitto is licensed under EPL-2.0 and Zigbee2MQTT under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Mosquitto and Zigbee2MQTT with Docker?

Mosquitto: yes. Zigbee2MQTT: yes.

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