IBM MQ vs Red Hat AMQ comparison

IBM and Red Hat are both solutions in the Message Queue (MQ) Software category. IBM is ranked #1 with an average rating of 8.6, while Red Hat is ranked #7 with an average rating of 7.5. IBM holds a 27.1% mindshare in MQ, compared to Red Hat’s 9.7% mindshare. Additionally, 94% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 90% of Red Hat users who would recommend it.

IBM MQ

Read 170 IBM MQ reviews

5,468 Views
2,525 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Red Hat AMQ

Read 9 Red Hat AMQ reviews

1,905 Views
1,128 Comparison Views

90% willing to recommend

IBM MQ

Red Hat AMQ

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 27, 2025

IBM MQ and Red Hat AMQ compete in the enterprise messaging solutions category, providing reliable messaging services. IBM MQ appears to hold the upper hand due to its strong emphasis on stability and security, key factors for enterprise-level deployments.

Features: IBM MQ is renowned for its reliability and robust data transfer capacities. It offers high throughput with assured delivery and stands out for its scalability and data security. Red Hat AMQ emphasizes flexibility and scalability, supporting multiple protocols and integrating seamlessly with the Red Hat ecosystem, making it ideal for open-source environments.

Room for Improvement: IBM MQ users seek improved monitoring tools, enhanced clustering, and modernized interfaces, along with better integration with new technologies like Kafka. Red Hat AMQ could enhance message ordering and clustering across nodes and improve technical support and documentation to boost developer productivity.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM MQ is extensively used across on-premises and private clouds, appreciated for its stability but noted for complex setups. Its customer support is knowledgeable but varies in response time. Red Hat AMQ is praised for its lightweight nature and easy integration within the Red Hat ecosystem, though it requires improvement in technical support responsiveness.

Pricing and ROI: IBM MQ is often seen as costly due to its enterprise-level features, appealing to those valuing data security and performance, while Red Hat AMQ is more budget-friendly, offering competitive pricing, especially when bundled with OpenShift. Both products deliver good ROI, with IBM MQ ensuring data protection and stability and Red Hat AMQ providing flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

To learn more, read our detailed IBM MQ vs. Red Hat AMQ Report (Updated: June 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM MQ vs. Red Hat AMQ

June 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

IBM MQ

Ranking in Message Queue (MQ) Software

1st

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

6.9

Number of Reviews

170

Ranking in other categories

Business Activity Monitoring (1st), Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) (1st)

Red Hat AMQ

Ranking in Message Queue (MQ) Software

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Message Queue (MQ) Software category, the mindshare of IBM MQ is 27.1%, up from 20.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat AMQ is 9.7%, up from 8.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Message Queue (MQ) Software

Featured Reviews

Md Al-Amin

Senior System Analyst at Thakral

Reliable and secure performance consistently enhances message transfer

IBM MQ is more reliable and secure than other software. There is a saying that for the last 30 years IBM MQ has never been hacked. It is more secure and reliable. Whenever the configuration is done, I do not have to touch it again. It works fine, it is stable, and its communication is to the point and accurate. All performance-related aspects are better. Performance-wise, it is scalable, and other features such as DR, DC, replication, and active passive mode are complex to configure, but it remains scalable. The pricing model for IBM MQ could be more flexible for clients.

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Sther Martins

Java Developer at SCCON

An easy-to-learn solution that can be used with microservices

We have done around 20 projects in Red Hat AMQ. I have two projects using Red Hat AMQ, and I can share how its scalability has impacted them. In one project, we have a solution for authentication and authorization using SSO. We need to integrate with other systems in two ways. We use Red Hat AMQ for social data, sending messages to other queues, and integrating with business. We have two databases with the same information. The solution is good because it helps us solve problems with messaging. For instance, when messaging doesn't change, we still check the cloud and verify the information. In another project, we have a large banking solution for the Amazon region using Red Hat AMQ for financial transactions. In this solution, business messages are sent, and another system processes them.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"IBM MQ processes many thousands of messages in a second, which is efficient for handling high transaction volumes."

"Whenever payments are happening, such as incoming payments to the bank, we need to notify the customer. With MQ we can actually do that asynchronously. We don't want to notify the customer for each and every payment but, rather, more like once a day. That kind of thing can be enabled with the help of MQ."

"The clusterization which results in persistence is the most valuable feature."

"There is no dependency on the end party service's run status."

"Reliable integration between MQ servers is the most valuable feature."

"The scalability of IBM MQ is good."

"The most valuable feature is the Queue Manager, which lies in the middle between our application and our core banking server."

"What is quite useful is the asynchronous function which means we don't lose everything in the bank. Although we use a lot of things synchronously, asynch is the best thing so that no banking information is ever lost, even when the network goes down and comes up."

More IBM MQ pros

"My impression is that it is average in terms of scalability."

"The most valuable feature for us is the operator-based automation that is provided by Streams for infrastructure as well as user and topic management. This saves a lot of time and effort on our part to provide infrastructure. For example, the deployment of infrastructure is reduced from approximately a week to a day."

"The solution is very lightweight, easy to configure, simple to manage, and robust since it launched."

"I can organize the tool with microservices, which allows me to use it across different services. It is easy to learn."

"The most valuable feature is stability."

"Reliability is the main criterion for selecting this tool for one of the busiest airports in Mumbai."

"Red Hat AMQ's best feature is its reliability."

"AMQ is highly scalable and performs well. It can process a large volume of messages in one second. AMQ and OpenShift are a good combination."

More Red Hat AMQ pros

Cons

"In terms of volume, it is not able to handle a huge volume. We also have limitations of queues related to IBM MQ. We often need to handle a very big volume, but currently we do have limitations. If those kinds of limitations could be relaxed, it would help us to work better."

"IBM MQ is still in a premature state. It is in a research phase, so it is very early to make specific suggestions about improvements."

"I would like the ability to connect with some of the more recent offerings, such as API Connect; being able to publish our MQ endpoints, the queues, the messaging infrastructure as IT assets."

"The licensing fees should be more cost-effective so that we can better pitch the product to our clients. With the pricing as it is, they tend to move away from IBM products."

"I believe the stability of the product has decreased since we began using it initially."

"They need to add the ability to send full messages (header + payload) from the MQ Explorer program, not just the payload."

"In IBM MQ, the channel connection is an area where my company faces some limitations. At times, we hit limitations on the connection, meaning the connection is fully occupied."

"The product does not allow users to access data from API or external networks since it can only be used in a closed network, making it an area where improvements are required."

More IBM MQ cons

"The turnaround of adopting new versions of underlying technologies sometimes is too slow."

"The challenge is the multiple components it has. This brings a higher complexity compared to IBM MQ, which is a single complete unit."

"There are several areas in this solution that need improvement, including clustering multi-nodes and message ordering."

"There are some aspects of the monitoring that could be improved on. There is a tool that is somewhat connected to Kafka called Service Registry. This is a product by Red Hat that I would like to see integrated more tightly."

"The product needs to improve its documentation and training."

"Red Hat AMQ's cost could be improved, and it could have better integration."

"AMQ could be better integrated with Jira and patch management tools."

"There is improvement needed to keep the support libraries updated."

More Red Hat AMQ cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"99.999 percent availability for less than a penny per message over the past 25 years. IBM MQ is the cheapest software in the IBM software portfolio, and it is one of the best."

"Use the new and lightweight version (Liberty) to lower licensing costs. It is also easier to upgrade/maintain."

"The license for IBM MQ is commercial and not cheap. You get a multi-platform solution, which is important because it lets you connect systems on mainframes, personal solutions, Unix, Linux, etc."

"It would be a 10 out of 10 if it wasn't so expensive."

"IBM MQ is an expensive solution compared to other solutions. However, if you pay less you will not receive the same experience or features."

"It is a very expensive product compared to the open source products in the market."

"In terms of cost, IBM MQ is slightly on the higher side."

"The solution costs are high, it is going to cost a fair bit for annual operating costs and support."

More IBM MQ pricing and cost advice

"This is a very cost-effective solution and the pricing is much better than competitors."

"I would rate the pricing a six out of ten, with ten being expensive."

"There is a subscription needed for this solution and there are support plans available."

"The solution is open-source."

"Red Hat AMQ's pricing could be improved."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

36%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

27%

Computer Software Company

12%

Government

10%

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

Questions from the Community

What is MQ software?

Hi As someone with 45+ years of experience in the Transaction and Message Processing world, I have seen many "MQ" solutions that have come into the market place. From my perspective, while each pro...

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What are the differences between Apache Kafka and IBM MQ?

Apache Kafka is open source and can be used for free. It has very good log management and has a way to store the data used for analytics. Apache Kafka is very good if you have a high number of user...

See all answers

How does IBM MQ compare with VMware RabbitMQ?

IBM MQ has a great reputation behind it, and this solution is very robust with great stability. It is easy to use, simple to configure and integrates well with our enterprise ecosystem and protocol...

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What needs improvement with Red Hat AMQ?

The product needs to improve its documentation and training.

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Red Hat AMQ?

We just started working with Red Hat AMQ. We selected it as the ESB (Enterprise Service Bus) platform for a new airport project. I manage the entire Master System Integration (MSI) project for one ...

See all answers

What advice do you have for others considering Red Hat AMQ?

I didn't have any problems using Red Hat AMQ and would recommend it. The documentation is good, and I encountered no issues during installation. I rate the overall solution an eight out of ten.

See all answers

Comparisons

ActiveMQ vs IBM MQ

Compared 42% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs IBM MQ

Compared 9% of the time

Apache Kafka vs IBM MQ

Compared 8% of the time

PubSub+ Platform vs IBM MQ

Compared 6% of the time

VMware Tanzu Data Solutions vs IBM MQ

Compared 5% of the time

More IBM MQ Competitors

ActiveMQ vs Red Hat AMQ

Compared 37% of the time

Apache Kafka vs Red Hat AMQ

Compared 28% of the time

VMware Tanzu Data Solutions vs Red Hat AMQ

Compared 5% of the time

Amazon MQ vs Red Hat AMQ

Compared 5% of the time

IBM Event Streams vs Red Hat AMQ

Compared 4% of the time

More Red Hat AMQ Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM MQ

June 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Red Hat AMQ

June 2025

Download Red Hat AMQ product report

Also Known As

WebSphere MQ

Red Hat JBoss A-MQ, Red Hat JBoss AMQ

Overview

IBM MQ is a middleware product used to send or exchange messages across multiple platforms, including applications, systems, files, and services via MQs (messaging queues). This solution helps simplify the creation of business applications, and also makes them easier to maintain. IBM MQ is security-rich, has high performance, and provides a universal messaging backbone with robust connectivity. In addition, it also integrates easily with existing IT assets by using an SOA (service oriented architecture).

IBM MQ can be deployed:

On-premises
In the cloud
Hybrid cloud

IBM MQ supports the following APIs:

MQI (Message Queue Interface)
REST
.NET
MQTT
JMS
IBM MQ Light

IBM MQ Features

Some of the most powerful IBM MQ features include:

High availability
Stability and scalability
Flexible deployment options
Uniform clusters
Automated and intelligent workload balancing
Broad language, API, and messaging protocol support
Administrative features that simplify messaging management
Open standards development tools
Simple management tools

IBM MQ Benefits

Some of the benefits of using IBM MQ include:

Multi-style messaging: IBM MQ supports simple multi-style messaging, making it easy to connect diverse systems with support for message queuing, transactions, and more.
Reduced risk: With IBM MQ you will never lose a message, and messages are never delivered more than once.
Cloud-native: Because IBM MQ has a minimal infrastructure, it is suitable to be cloud-native, and therefore has the capability to always remain on.
Available anywhere: Using IBM MQ, you have access to secure messaging anywhere, at any time.
Secure: IBM MQ makes sure to keep your data safe by using TLS secured communications, providing access identity management, message-level security, and more measures to protect your information.
Easy for application programmers: To use IBM MQ, application programmers do not need to have any knowledge of communications programming.
Technical support: IBM MQ has a large user community and also provides support 24/7 as needed.

Reviews from Real Users

Below are some reviews and helpful feedback written by IBM MQ users who are currently using the solution.

PeerSpot user Sunil S., a manager at a financial services firm, explains that they never lose messages are never lost in transit, mentioning that he can store messages and forward them as required: "Whenever payments are happening, such as incoming payments to the bank, we need to notify the customer. With MQ we can actually do that asynchronously. We don't want to notify the customer for each and every payment but, rather, more like once a day. That kind of thing can be enabled with the help of MQ."

Another PeerSpot reviewer, Luis L. who is a solutions director at Thesys Technologies, says that IBM MQ is a valuable solution and is "A stable and reliable software that offers good integration between different systems."

The head of operations at a financial services firm notes that "I have found the solution to be very robust. It has a strong reputation, is easy to use, simple to configure in our enterprise software, and supports all the protocols that we use."

In addition, a Software Engineer at a financial services firm praises the security benefits of it and states that “it has the most security features I've seen in a communication solution. Security is the most important thing for our purposes."

IBM

To respond to business demands quickly and efficiently, you need a way to integrate the applications and data spread across your enterprise. Red Hat JBoss A-MQ—based on the Apache ActiveMQ open source project—is a flexible, high-performance messaging platform that delivers information reliably, enabling real-time integration and connecting the Internet of Things (IoT).

Red Hat

Sample Customers

Deutsche Bahn, Bon-Ton, WestJet, ARBURG, Northern Territory Government, Tata Steel Europe, Sharp Corporation

E*TRADE, CERN, CenturyLink, AECOM, Sabre Holdings

Buyer's Guide

IBM MQ vs. Red Hat AMQ

June 2025

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