NATS
VerifiedHigh-performance, lightweight open-source messaging system for cloud-native and edge computing
See all screenshots - Deployment Cloud Based, On Premises, Hybrid
- Starting price Free
- Free trial Available
- Best for Freelancers, Startups, SMEs
What is NATS?
NATS is a high-performance, lightweight, open-source messaging system for building distributed and cloud-native applications. Released under the Apache 2.0 license and stewarded by Synadia as a Cloud Native Computing Foundation incubating project, NATS runs as a single small binary and supports publish/subscribe, request-reply, and persistent streaming through its JetStream engine. It also includes built-in key-value and object storage.
NATS is designed for low, sub-millisecond latency and can scale from a single process to global deployments using leaf nodes and superclusters for edge and multi-region topologies. Official client libraries exist for Go, Rust, Python, Java, JavaScript, C#, C, and Ruby, among others. Because NATS is free to self-host, Synadia separately sells Synadia Cloud, a managed NATS hosting service with paid tiers and a 14-day trial.
Key Features of NATS
NATS lists 10 documented features, including Publish/subscribe, request/reply, and queue messaging patterns, JetStream for persistent, replayable message streaming and Built-in key-value store. The list below covers what the product does rather than how it is marketed.
- Publish/subscribe, request/reply, and queue messaging patterns
- JetStream for persistent, replayable message streaming
- Built-in key-value store
- Built-in object store for arbitrary file sizes
- Leaf nodes for edge and disconnected operation
- Superclusters for federated, multi-region deployments
- Sub-millisecond latency from a single lightweight binary
- Native MQTT and WebSocket support
- 45+ official and community client libraries
- Runs identically from a single process to global scale
NATS Pricing
NATS lists 5 plans. Four carry a published figure, from Free to $199; the rest are quoted on request.
Open Source (Self-Hosted)
Free
Unlimited, self-managed
The NATS server is free, open-source software under the Apache 2.0 license that anyone can self-host at no licensing cost.
Synadia Cloud Personal
Free
2 accounts, 10 connections, 5 GiB storage
Free managed NATS hosting tier from Synadia for individuals getting started.
Synadia Cloud Starter
$49/month
3 accounts, 100 connections, 100 GiB network data
Managed NATS hosting for small teams and early projects; includes 1 service, 3 functions, 1 connector.
Synadia Cloud Pro
$199/month
10 accounts, 1,000 connections, 1 TiB network data
For production applications; includes 3 services, 5 functions, 3 connectors, and up to 2 MiB message size.
Synadia Cloud Enterprise
Custom
Custom limits
Annual contract with SLA support and design reviews, message sizes up to 8 MiB, recommended for critical production deployments.
NATS Specifications
NATS is available on web app. It offers an API, has a free trial and has a free plan.
- Deployment
- Cloud Based
- On Premises
- Hybrid
- Billing cycle
- Monthly
- Desktop
- Web App
- Languages
- English
- Built for
- Freelancers
- Startups
- SMEs
- Enterprises
- Support
- Tickets
- Training
- Integrations
- Kubernetes (official Helm charts), Prometheus (via ServiceMonitor), MQTT clients, Go, Rust, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Java, C#, C, Ruby, Elixir, and 30+ community client libraries
- Public API
- Yes
- Free trial
- Yes
- Free plan
- Yes
- Runs in browser
- No
- Customisable
- Yes
- Website
- nats.io
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