ActiveMQ vs Apache Kafka

Comprehensive side-by-side comparison of features, pricing, and metrics

Feature

ActiveMQ

Messaging

Apache Kafka

Messaging

Side-by-side comparison of developer tools
Message broker
Distributed streaming platform
GitHub Stars
⭐ 2,422
⭐ 32,283
Contributors
👥 204
👥 1,664
Pricing
✓ Free
Enterprise: Contact sales
✓ Free
Enterprise: Contact sales
Languages
Java
Java
Features
  • • Activemq
  • • Amqp
  • • Amqps
  • • Apache
  • • Broker
  • • Java
  • • Kafka
  • • Scala
  • • Streaming
Integrations
No integrations listed
  • • kafka
Momentum Score
49/100 (stable)
88/100 (stable)
Community Health
7/100 (needs-attention)
84/100 (good)
Maturity Index
10/100 (experimental)
80/100 (established)
Innovation Score
15/100 (traditional)
67/100 (progressive)
Risk Score (higher is safer)
17/100 (high)
80/100 (minimal)
Developer Experience
13/100 (poor)
49/100 (needs-improvement)
Links
🌐 Visit Website View on GitHub
🌐 Visit Website View on GitHub

ActiveMQ Strengths

  • ✓ More features (5 listed)

Apache Kafka Strengths

  • ✓ More popular (32,283 stars)
  • ✓ Larger community (1,664 contributors)

More Comparisons

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Data source: GitHub API

Last updated: 4/5/2026