NATS alternative — NATS vs Skippr
NATS is Apache-2.0 messaging. nats-server is one binary: core pub/sub and request/reply, plus JetStream for persistence. Latest server is 2.15.2 (26 Oct 2026). JetStream gives streams, durable consumers, a key-value bucket, and an object store (OBJ_<bucket> chunks files as messages; latest object only, not a table). Iceberg is not in NATS. A RisingWave JetStream source exists on their side; that is their connector, not a NATS lake writer. CDC is whatever publishes to a subject. Self-host is Apache-2.0; you pay machines and people. Synadia Cloud is the managed plane: Personal free; Starter 49 USD/month; Pro 199 USD/month; Enterprise a quote with SLA. Starter includes 10 GiB standard storage and 1 GiB HA (R3) storage; Pro 50 GiB standard and 10 GiB HA. Extra standard storage 0.20 USD/GiB-month; HA storage 0.90 USD/GiB-month. Paid-plan network overage: client/leaf egress 0.09 USD/GiB. Synadia warns not to run R1 streams in production. This is not Iceberg ∪ WAL you query in one binary.
Skippr is an open Streamhouse you run as one Rust binary. Write skippr.yml (or the same thing in Python), discover, sync. You query live state over Iceberg ∪ WAL, and the history is ordinary Iceberg in your bucket. No nats-server cluster. ELT into a warehouse is one path, not the product.
| Feature | Skippr | NATS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy | Single Rust binary, your VPC or on-prem | nats-server (-js for JetStream), or Synadia Cloud |
| Schema | In-stream evolution, sibling columns | Subject bytes. No Iceberg DDL |
| Storage | Open Iceberg on Parquet you own | JetStream file/memory. Object store is chunked messages |
| CDC | Log-based; fails closed if the dest cannot honour | A publisher on a subject. NATS is the bus |
| Query | skipprd query on Iceberg ∪ WAL; history in any Iceberg engine | Consumers on the stream. SQL is a later engine |
| Pricing | Free self-hosted engine | Apache-2.0. Synadia Cloud from 49 USD/month (Starter). |
What NATS is good at
A small binary for pub/sub, RPC, and (with JetStream) replay, across cloud and leaf nodes, without a ZooKeeper-shaped sidecar. That is the product. KV and object store on the same persistence layer is why some edge estates never added S3 for blobs that still want NATS auth. If the job is "this message onto this subject," that is a real product.
Where the job is wider
NATS is a message bus. It is not a Streamhouse. There is no Iceberg ∪ WAL. There is no skipprd query on in-flight lake rows. The object store keeps files, not Parquet table snapshots. Skippr has no NATS source today. Postgres CDC still starts before the subject.
The server, JetStream disk, and (if you buy it) Synadia accounts are the ops. Skippr will not replace a NATS mesh that already fans out to many services. Skippr also will not run nats-server. Kafka and Pulsar are separate pages.
If the job is "NATS we already staff," NATS is the narrower tool. If the job is live SQL on Iceberg you run, the subject was never that.
Getting started
Install skipprd from the install guide, or pip install skippr. The three tabs write the same skippr.yml. Then discover, sync, and query.
skippr:
workspace: analytics
skipprd_el_storage_mode: local
pipelines:
orders:
data_source: data_sources.app_db
data_sink: data_sinks.lake
data_sources:
app_db:
Postgres:
host: db.internal
user: skippr_reader
password: ${APP_DB_PASSWORD}
database: app
tables: [orders, customers]
cdc_mode: snapshot_then_cdc
data_sinks:
lake:
AthenaIceberg:
warehouse: s3://my-iceberg-warehouse/
glue_database_name: analytics
athena_workgroup_name: primary
athena_results_s3_bucket: my-athena-results
region: us-east-1
schema_sink: schema_sinks.lake_schema
schema_sinks:
lake_schema:
AthenaIceberg:
warehouse: s3://my-iceberg-warehouse/
glue_database_name: analytics
athena_workgroup_name: primary
athena_results_s3_bucket: my-athena-results
region: us-east-1skipprd --workspace analytics --storage-mode local connect data-source postgres \
--pipeline orders \
--name app_db \
--host db.internal \
--user skippr_reader \
--password '${APP_DB_PASSWORD}' \
--database app \
--tables orders \
--tables customers \
--cdc-mode snapshot_then_cdc
skipprd connect data-sink athenaiceberg \
--pipeline orders \
--name lake \
--warehouse s3://my-iceberg-warehouse/ \
--glue-database-name analytics \
--athena-workgroup-name primary \
--athena-results-s3-bucket my-athena-results \
--region us-east-1
skipprd connect schema-sink athenaiceberg \
--pipeline orders \
--name lake_schemafrom skippr import (
Config,
DataSinkAthenaIceberg,
DataSourcePostgres,
DataSourcePostgresSourceCdcMode,
EnvRef,
LocalStorage,
Pipeline,
)
cfg = Config().workspace("analytics").storage(LocalStorage())
app_db = cfg.data_source(
"app_db",
DataSourcePostgres(
host="db.internal",
user="skippr_reader",
password=EnvRef("APP_DB_PASSWORD"),
database="app",
tables=["orders", "customers"],
cdc_mode=DataSourcePostgresSourceCdcMode.SNAPSHOTTHENCDC,
),
)
lake = cfg.data_sink(
"lake",
DataSinkAthenaIceberg(
warehouse="s3://my-iceberg-warehouse/",
glue_database_name="analytics",
athena_workgroup_name="primary",
athena_results_s3_bucket="my-athena-results",
region="us-east-1",
),
schema_sink="lake_schema",
)
cfg.pipeline("orders", Pipeline(data_source=app_db, data_sink=lake))
cfg.save("skippr.yml")export APP_DB_PASSWORD='your-postgres-password'
skipprd discover --pipeline orders
skipprd sync --pipeline orders --once
skipprd query "SELECT count(*) FROM analytics.orders"Which to choose
Choose NATS if you want a small messaging binary (or Synadia Cloud), and a stream on a subject is enough.
Choose Skippr if you want one binary, live SQL on Iceberg ∪ WAL, and files that stay yours. Skippr will not run nats-server.
Install from Install. Connector and query reference live in Developer Docs. For optional onboarding in your VPC, Enterprise Jumpstart or Contact.