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 #6 with an average rating of 8.0. IBM holds a 25.9% mindshare in MQ, compared to Red Hat’s 9.6% 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

6,965 Views
5,015 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Red Hat AMQ

Read 10 Red Hat AMQ reviews

2,449 Views
1,763 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: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM MQ vs. Red Hat AMQ

September 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

6th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

6.7

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Message Queue (MQ) Software category, the mindshare of IBM MQ is 25.9%, up from 21.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Red Hat AMQ is 9.6%, up from 8.4% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Message Queue (MQ) Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
IBM MQ	25.9%
Red Hat AMQ	9.6%
Other	64.5%

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's flexibility has sped up our active communication."

"Has helped integrate between applications, reduce rework, and costs by reusing working components of existing applications."

"The initial setup is easy."

"This initial setup is not complex at all. Deploying it was very easy."

"I think the whole product is useful. Their database and all is very good, and the product is fine. The fact that it ensures message delivery is probably the most important thing. I also like that you're able to trace and track everything. If it doesn't arrive at the destination, it will go back to the queue, and no message will be lost."

"The reliability of the queuing is the most valuable feature."

"Currently, we are not using many advanced features. We are only using point-to-point MQ. I have previously used features like context-based authentication, SSL authentication, and high availability. These are good and pretty cool features. They make your business reliable. For critical business needs, everyone uses only IBM MQ. It is the first choice because of its reliability. There is a one-send-and-one-delivery feature. It also has a no-message-loss feature, and because of that, only IBM MQ is used in banking or financial sectors."

"Secure, safe, and very fast."

More IBM MQ pros

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

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

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

"This product is well adopted on the OpenShift platform. For organizations like ours that use OpenShift for many of our products, this is a good feature."

"The benefits of using Red Hat AMQ include easy configuration and monitoring; on the portal, I can monitor how many packets or alerts have been generated or sent to the end user via Red Hat AMQ along with messages or emails, and it also shows utilization in the tool."

"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."

"The most valuable feature is stability."

"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."

More Red Hat AMQ pros

Cons

"The issue is that they're using a very old clustering model."

"It could always be more stable and secure."

"the level of training as well as product marketing for this product are not that great. You rarely find a good training institute that provides training. Many of the architects in several organization are neither aware of the product nor interested in using it. IBM should provide good training on products like this."

"IBM MQ is not very user-friendly."

"The clustering capabilities have provided some difficulties when it comes to resiliency. This has been a challenge for managing the environment."

"The pricing needs improvement."

"I would like to see it integrate with the newer ways of messaging, such as Kafka. They might say that you have IBM Integration Bus to do that stuff, but it would be great if MQ could, out-of-the-box, listen to public Kafka."

"I don’t like legacy view of MQ."

More IBM MQ cons

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

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

"This product needs better visualization capabilities in general."

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

"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."

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

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

More Red Hat AMQ cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's super expensive, so ask them if they can consolidate some other licensing costs. But, IBM is IBM, so I guess we'll pay for it."

"You have to license per application installation and if you expand vertically or horizontally, you will be paying for more licenses. The licenses are approximately $10,000 to $15,000 a license, it can get expensive quite quickly."

"The licensing fees are paid quarterly and they are expensive."

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

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

"If one is cheap and ten is expensive, I rate the tool's price a seven. The product is expensive."

"I think it's pretty reasonable, but I'm not so too sure of the current pricing strategy from IBM. We use many bundled services, and most often, we go through a service provided by some other third-party implementation. So, I can't really give an honest opinion about that."

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

More IBM MQ pricing and cost advice

"The solution is open-source."

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

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

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

"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

11%

Manufacturing Company

Healthcare Company

Financial Services Firm

25%

Computer Software Company

13%

Government

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	19
Midsize Enterprise	18
Large Enterprise	144

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	4
Large Enterprise	2

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 areas for improvement include cost, which is a primary concern. The deployment process is simple, but the cost is very important. Additionally, the management portal should be more user-friendl...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Red Hat AMQ?

For use cases for Red Hat AMQ, let's take banking purposes. This depends upon the firm or the service or product company. For example, let's take HDFC Bank or any other bank. Whenever a customer de...

See all answers

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

I work primarily with Red Hat. For IBM, I have worked with their channel partner, not directly with IBM. For Amazon, I work with partners only. I am working with one company as a consultant. I also...

See all answers

Comparisons

ActiveMQ vs IBM MQ

Compared 40% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs IBM MQ

Compared 8% of the time

Apache Kafka vs IBM MQ

Compared 8% of the time

VMware Tanzu Data Solutions vs IBM MQ

Compared 6% of the time

PubSub+ Platform 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 27% of the time

VMware Tanzu Data Solutions vs Red Hat AMQ

Compared 8% 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

September 2025

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Buyer's Guide

Red Hat AMQ

August 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

September 2025

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