Iaan Roux - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Top 10
Very resilient with numerous great features including a 256 kilobyte payload
Pros and Cons
  • "The libraries that connect and manage the queues are rich in features."
  • "Be cautious around pay-as-you-use licensing as costs can become expensive."

What is our primary use case?

This is an event-driven solution so messages go through the API gateway onto the queue and are then processed from there. We are customers of Amazon.

How has it helped my organization?

The biggest improvement we've seen from SQS is that our backing system is not under strain anymore and messages don't get lost because the queue is now very resilient. If our backing process goes down, the messages remain in the queue. 

What is most valuable?

There are several valuable features that SQS offers including the standard queue, the AWS interface and the quality documentation provided by AWS. The libraries that connect and manage the queues are rich in features. The visibility of the messages is great and the 256 kilobytes payload is also good. SQS improves the scalability and resilience of the solution. It's also very simple and very straightforward.

What needs improvement?

If you require event-driven development, there might be advanced queuing requirements that SQS can't offer. I don't think it supports transactions although I'm no expert around that. The biggest issue is likely to be cost estimations because you might get a huge bill if you're not careful.

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For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using this solution for a year. 

How are customer service and support?

The documentation is very good so we've never had to reach out to the SQS technical support team. There's a very rich source of information around SQS.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We initially used Rabbit MQ. SQS is our first attempt at event-driven, asynchronous development. We chose to migrate our infrastructure to AWS and took on the native queuing solution that AWS supplies. It was an opportunity for us and the learning curve to get going with SQS is very low. 

Another reason we went with SQS is the zero maintenance from our point of view. The service is hosted by AWS and doesn't require IT support. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was reasonably straightforward. We deployed in-house and used one engineer for the process. SQS is a managed service by AWS so they carry out the maintenance. Once the solution is running, it gets used by clients who interact with the APIs. In terms of developers we have five users but the system that uses it has billions of users with accounts that get managed through SQS. To date, we've implemented it in two of our in-house projects and there will likely be more. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

Part of the reason we went for SQS is that it's a pay-as-you-use licensing model. 
In addition, they offer a significant amount of free monthly transactions before you start paying. It's possible that down the line SQS will become too expensive and we may need to look for an alternative. 

What other advice do I have?

I would definitely suggest carrying out cost estimations prior to purchase because if you need it for a very high number of requests per month, the costs might be significantly higher and not worth it. In that event, it may be worth looking at ActiveMQ or RabbitMQ, where you can better control licensing costs. That said, this is a very good solution for us.

I rate this solution eight out of 10. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
ARIFULLA Ulla - PeerSpot reviewer
Solutions Architect at Sonata\TUI
Real User
Offers visibility timeout feature, easy to implement and offers the ability to trigger actions based on real-time changes
Pros and Cons
  • "We use SNS as the publisher, and our procurement service subscribes to those events using SQS. In the past, we relied on time-based or batch-based processes to send data between services on-premises. With SQS, we can trigger actions based on real-time changes in business processes, improving reliability."
  • "The current visibility timeout of five minutes is okay. However, I'd like to explore the possibility of extending it for specific use cases."

What is our primary use case?

We use it for event-driven messaging and workflows.

How has it helped my organization?

We use SNS as the publisher, and our procurement service subscribes to those events using SQS.

In the past, we relied on time-based or batch-based processes to send data between services on-premises. With SQS, we can trigger actions based on real-time changes in business processes, improving reliability.

Moreover, SQS can grow with our needs.

SQS message delay feature and redundant retention policies helped us to avoid replaying events due to errors and ensure our messages are processed reliably.

We use CloudWatch for monitoring.

What is most valuable?

It's easy to implement and cost-effective.

The visibility timeout feature is very nice. We use the visibility timeout in our internal processes to ensure that if a message fails to process, it becomes available for other consumers after a set period.

What needs improvement?

The current visibility timeout of five minutes is okay. However, I'd like to explore the possibility of extending it for specific use cases.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using it for five to six years now. We (my company) use SQS quite extensively, and it has been quite a good service till now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable product. We can handle 10,000 events easily. 

We have a lot of end users using it in my company. We have around 2,000 end users using it. We have multiple locations. 

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have used RabbitMQ. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is very straightforward. It's a simple checkbox-kinda process. 

It is not difficult to maintain it. It is very easy. Overall, it is a very straightforward solution. 

What was our ROI?

It does a very good job. The cost was the main issue for us.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

It's quite expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

It's a great solution. I would recommend using it. 

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. I've used it, and it seems to be a solid solution.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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April 2024
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Senior IT Architect (Architecture and Solutions Unit) at a tech services company with 1,001-5,000 employees
Real User
Top 20
User-friendly, integrates well, but overall functionality could improve
Pros and Cons
  • "I appreciate that Amazon SQS is fully integrated with Amazon and can be accessed through normal functions or serverless functions, making it very user-friendly. Additionally, the features are comparable to those of other solutions."
  • "As a company that uses IBM solutions, it's difficult to compare Amazon SQS to other solutions. We have been using IBM solutions for a long time and they are very mature in integration and queuing. In my role as an integration manager, I can say that Amazon SQS is designed primarily for use within the Amazon ecosystem and does not have the same level of functionality as IBM MQ or other similar products. It has limited connectivity options and does not easily integrate with legacy systems."

What is our primary use case?

As an IT company, we develop various solutions and products for our clients. This particular item is utilized as a component of a comprehensive solution for specific customer needs across various industries.

Amazon SQS is not a complex solution, we mainly use it for its primary purpose. It's an integral part of our application's workflow.

What is most valuable?

I appreciate that Amazon SQS is fully integrated with Amazon and can be accessed through normal functions or serverless functions, making it very user-friendly. Additionally, the features are comparable to those of other solutions.

What needs improvement?

As a company that uses IBM solutions, it's difficult to compare Amazon SQS to other solutions. We have been using IBM solutions for a long time and they are very mature in integration and queuing. In my role as an integration manager, I can say that Amazon SQS is designed primarily for use within the Amazon ecosystem and does not have the same level of functionality as IBM MQ or other similar products. It has limited connectivity options and does not easily integrate with legacy systems.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using Amazon SQS for approximately two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Amazon SQS is stable.

I rate the stability of Amazon SQS a nine out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Amazon SQS is scalable. It is not suitable for many use cases. It is suitable for cloud applications but it's not suitable for on-premises or hybrid.

I rate the scalability of Amazon SQS a seven out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The components are simple in Amazon SQS. The components are not complex to need support. I did not use the support.

What other advice do I have?

I rate Amazon SQS a six out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner / Integrator
PeerSpot user
Software Developer at a tech services company with 1-10 employees
Real User
Top 5
Stable and well-priced solution with lots of features
Pros and Cons
  • "SQS is very stable, and it has lots of features."
  • "There are some issues with SQS's transaction queue regarding knowing if something has been received."

What is most valuable?

SQS is very stable, and it has lots of features.

What needs improvement?

There are some issues with SQS's transaction queue regarding knowing if something has been received.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

SQS is very stable.

How are customer service and support?

Amazon's technical support could be more responsive.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Neutral

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

SQS's pricing is very good - I would rate it nine out of ten.

What other advice do I have?

I would give SQS a rating of nine out of ten.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
Professor at Remo Engenharia
Real User
An affordable, easy-to-scale solution that is simple to deploy and maintain
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is easy to scale and cost-effective."
  • "I do not think that this solution is easy to use and the documentation of this solution has a lot of problems and can be improved in the next release. Most of the time, the images in the document are from older versions."

What is our primary use case?

The primary use case of this solution is for collecting event data for analytic purposes.

In our case, when a user selects a function in our app, the information is collected. Analytics is performed on the data to determine the functionalities that clients use the most. 

Additionally, the data can tell us the most popular service demands such that resources can be assigned accordingly.

What needs improvement?

Documentation of this solution can be improved. Sometimes, the images in the document are from older versions.
 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution for three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We have never had a problem with the stability of the solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is easy to scale and cost-effective.

How was the initial setup?

The profile management of this solution is difficult to set up. 

However, after the initial setup, it is easy to deploy, maintain, and test.

What other advice do I have?

The security of a cloud solution is very important and attention must be given to profile management, key generation, and key protection.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: April 2024
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Message Queue (MQ) Software
Buyer's Guide
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