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IBM MQ vs Software AG Apama comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
170
Ranking in other categories
Business Activity Monitoring (1st), Message Queue (MQ) Software (1st), Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) (1st)
Software AG Apama
Average Rating
7.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
CEP (1st), Streaming Analytics (21st)
 

Mindshare comparison

IBM MQ and Software AG Apama aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. IBM MQ is designed for Message Queue (MQ) Software and holds a mindshare of 27.1%, up 20.7% compared to last year.
Software AG Apama, on the other hand, focuses on CEP, holds 23.8% mindshare, down 24.0% since last year.
Message Queue (MQ) Software
CEP
 

Featured Reviews

Md Al-Amin - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
SP
A tool to send out promotional notifications that need to improve areas, like deployment and maintenance
Software AG Apama should support offline scenarios as it may not always be possible to stay connected with the cloud. The solution should be deployed on an on-premises model, and it should be able to handle offline scenarios. If certain rules are set in Software AG Apama, then it should be able to execute them without being connected to an open internet source. With Software AG Apama, one may face challenges since it is difficult to find people with the right skill set to operate it. The solution also makes use of a proprietary programming language that is hard to trace in the market. It is better to go with the new options available in the market since Software AG Apama has become an old product. The ease of development and maintenance should be enhanced, but it is difficult due to the use of the proprietary programming language in the product.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Using a message queuing solution, we had a banking solution that integrated multiple branches and interbank systems. Different systems for credits, debits, CRM, and others communicated through this message queue solution. It wasn't just about communication; for instance, a CRM application needed to collect information from various banking systems, such as account balances, properties, contracts, and credit cards."
"It's highly scalable. It provides various ways to establish high availability and workloads. E.g., you can spread workloads inside of your clusters."
"The product helps us monitor messages with other queues, view duplicated messages and control undelivered messages."
"Stability-wise, I rate the solution a ten out of ten."
"We like IBM MQ for our synchronous communications and transactional applications that require a lot of CPS."
"Support for JMS 2.0, because we develop solutions compatible with Java EE7."
"It is stable, reliable, and scalable."
"The thing that I like about MQ most is its reliability. It's one of those types of products that just works. You don't have to tinker around with it too much."
"The most valuable feature of the solution is the ability that it provides its users to handle different kinds of rules."
 

Cons

"Scalability is lacking compared to the cloud native products coming into the market."
"We are looking at the latest version, and we hope that resilience, high availability, and monitoring will be improved. It can have some more improvements in the heterogeneous messaging feature. The current solution is on-premises, so good integration with public cloud messaging solutions would be useful."
"I have used the support from IBM MQ. There is some room for improvement."
"The solution should offer a freeware version, free vouchers, or certifications for learning purposes and building knowledge base."
"Sometimes, not all messages are consumed in the queues. File transfers need improvement."
"It needs a User Interface which is better than the aging MQ Explorer. The existing solution MQ Explorer is outdated."
"IBM MQ could improve capacity, monitoring, and automatization."
"The user interface should be enhanced to include more monitoring features and other metrics. The metrics should include not only those from the IBM MQ point of view but also CPU and memory utilization."
"The ease of development and maintenance should be enhanced, but it is difficult due to the use of the proprietary programming language in the product."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Our costs haven't increased but they also have not improved."
"Small-scale companies may not want to buy IBM MQ because of its high cost."
"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."
"IBM products, in general, have high licensing costs and support costs are too high."
"IBM's licensing model seems more reasonable than some competitors. They charge based on usage, which is good."
"The problem with this product is that it's a little bit expensive."
"This solution requires a license and we have purchased an enterprise license."
"It would be a 10 out of 10 if it wasn't so expensive."
"A commercial license is required to operate Software AG Apama."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
36%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
5%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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...
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...
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...
What do you like most about Software AG Apama?
The most valuable feature of the solution is the ability that it provides its users to handle different kinds of rules.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Software AG Apama?
A commercial license is required to operate Software AG Apama.
What needs improvement with Software AG Apama?
Software AG Apama should support offline scenarios as it may not always be possible to stay connected with the cloud. The solution should be deployed on an on-premises model, and it should be able ...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

WebSphere MQ
Progress Apama
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Deutsche Bahn, Bon-Ton, WestJet, ARBURG, Northern Territory Government, Tata Steel Europe, Sharp Corporation
Okasan Online Securities
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, Apache, Salesforce and others in Message Queue (MQ) Software. Updated: June 2025.
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