Best Message Queue (MQ) Software in 2021
Overview
Finding the best message queue for your organization gains importance as your networks and application integrations become more complex. You need a fail-safe message queue that sends requests quickly and reliably. Just one break in the chain can slow your entire system, making it difficult for you to complete business processes and fulfill client needs. It doesn’t take much for a poor MQ to hurt your company.
The following list will help you focus on the best message queue software options of 2021. If you don’t want to spend time reading software comparisons, jump directly to IronMQ to learn about its features and sign up for a free demo.
Table of Contents
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Features to Look for in the Best Message Queue Software
The best message queue software options in 2021 tend to have several features in common. Obviously, you will find differences between MQ software. If message queue software doesn’t come with the following features, though, you should avoid it.
The features you must get from MQ software include:
- Options for on-premises, dedicated, or shared deployment.
- Authentication that protects your network security.
- High availability that shows exceptional functionality across networks and operating systems.
- One-time delivery that helps prevent message duplications and losses.
- HTTPS/Rest-based APIs for efficient cloud use.
- Asynchronous messaging lets the queue manager hold requests until an application is ready to receive them, thereby improving the system’s overall efficiency.
- First-in, first-out (FIFO) queues that keep messages in order when applications need to complete some tasks before moving on to others.
Developers add plenty of features to the MQ software to enhance performance and improve user interfaces. Without these basic features, though, extra bells and whistles will not matter much.
IronMQ
IronMQ stands out as the best messaging queue service for companies that want a cloud-agnostic solution and a helpful dashboard that makes configurations easy. IronMQ meets all of the essential standards that you need for a messaging queue solution. Other features that come with IronMQ include:
- Reporting analytics that helps improve your operations.
- Webhook support.
- Push and pull queues.
- HTTPS message transports.
- Supports all major programming languages, including Python, Java, Ruby, C++, and JavaScript.
- Token authentication for top-of-the-line security.
- Unlimited, scalable queues that conform to your evolving needs.
When you want fast, fail-safe message queue software that simplifies communications between your apps, you can’t do better than IronMQ.
Apache Kafka
Some companies like Apache Kafka because it gives them an open-source message broker that they can use for free. The MQ software works surprisingly well for big data and quick scalability. It works quickly and reliably enough that Netflix’s streaming platform relies on it.
Using Apache Kafka well requires extensive experience with message queuing software. If you don’t know what “stomp wire format” is, you should look for a simpler option. Kafka will likely create confusion and slow down your operation. It’s a great choice, but it does have drawbacks to consider.
Kafka functions best as a part of Apache’s suite of services. Try pairing it with ZooKeeper, Flink, or Samza for real-time stream processing with no latency.
IBM MQ
You can’t discuss the best message queue software of 2021 without mentioning IBM MQ. IBM’s branding makes it a popular choice for many organizations. When you see IBM, you trust that you can rely on the tool to work as expected.
For the most part, IBM MQ will meet your expectations. Users say that it’s easy to use and has security protocols that protect data extremely well. Plus, it offers core support for object-oriented languages, so it can support applications written in JMS, Java, C++, .NET, and ActiveX.
The downsides of choosing IBM MQ include:
- A higher price than IronMQ – even though you don’t really get more for your money.
- Difficulties integrating some applications, which will frustrate internally and end-users.
- Prioritization problems likely caused by avoiding the FIFO method, which makes it fail as a reliable message broker.
You shouldn’t ignore a product from IBM. You also shouldn’t accept it based on name recognition alone. Make sure IBM MQ can match your needs before you commit to it.
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RabbitMQ Message Broker
As the name suggests, RabbitMQ wants potential users to believe that it works extremely fast. In reality, use cases show that IronMQ works 10 times faster. Of course, speed isn’t everything. Rabbit MQ has some useful features. Some users appreciate that it:
- Works as a message broker that uses Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP).
- Comes with a dashboard that makes configurations and integrations relatively straightforward.
- Offers Simple Authentication and Security Layer (SASL) that does a good job protecting data.
You discover some problems when you compare RabbitMQ with IronMQ. The absence of FIFO can really stand out. If you have years of MQ and coding experience, you can get a lot out of RabbitMQ as a message broker. Of course, not everyone has that level of experience. Without proficiency in Erlang, you will probably struggle.
Learning to use RabbitMQ wouldn’t present such a big problem if the company provided in-person training like IronMQ. Unfortunately, users have to rely on RabbitMQ’s online documentation, which basically means you have to train yourself.
Amazon SQS (Amazon Simple Queue Service)
AWS practically rules the cloud-computing world, so it’s not surprising to see one of its asynchronous pub/sub MQ options listed here. Some of the advantages that you get from Amazon SQS include:
- FIFO.
- One-time delivery.
- MQ as a service, which can keep prices low when you use it infrequently.
- Unlimited queues.
- AWS IAM security authentication.
- High availability.
Customer service stands out as the biggest problem people encounter with Amazon SQS. You would think that such a large company could offer stellar services. A lot of users complain that it lacks in this area, though.
Choose the Best Message Queue Software for Your Applications
Get more from your network and applications by starting your free trial with IronMQ. When you have a cloud-agnostic messaging queue service with a user-friendly dashboard and excellent security, you can make your business more efficient than ever.
Other Messaging Queue Software Options to Consider
If you want to dig deeper into your MQ software options, explore:
- Apache ActiveMQ
- MQTT (especially for IoT)
- ZeroMQ
- Apache RocketMQ
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