IBM MQ vs PubSub+ Event Broker comparison

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14,445 views|9,689 comparisons
94% willing to recommend
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3,486 views|2,705 comparisons
100% willing to recommend
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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM MQ and PubSub+ Event Broker based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Message Queue (MQ) Software solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed IBM MQ vs. PubSub+ Event Broker Report (Updated: May 2024).
771,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The solution is very easy to work with.""Setting up MQ is easy. We had a "grow as you go" implementation strategy. We started with a single channel and progressed to multiple queues and channels depending on the systems and integrations with other systems. It was a gradual deployment and expansion as we grew the services interacting with the core system using MQ.""Overall the solution operates well and has good integration.""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.""It also has a backup queue concept and topics, features that I have not seen anywhere else. I like these features very much.""It offers better reliability and monitoring compared to other tools.""The most valuable feature is the stability. It's perfect in this way.""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."

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"When it comes to granularity, you can literally do anything regarding how the filtering works.""Guaranteed Messaging allows for us to transport messages between on-prem and the cloud without any loss of data.""This solution reduces the latency to access changes in real-time and the effort required to onboard a new subscriber. It also reduces the maintenance of each of those interfaces because now the publisher and subscribers are decoupled. Event Broker handles all the communication and engagement. We can just push one update, then we don't have to know who is consuming it and what's happening to that publication downstream. It's all done by the broker, which is a huge benefit of using Event Broker.""The topic hierarchy is pretty flexible. Once you have the subject defined just about anybody who knows Java can come onboard. The APIs are all there.""When we went to add another installation in our private cloud, it was easy. We received support from Solace and the install was seamless with no issues.""The valuable feature of PubSub+ Event Broker is the speed of processing, publishing, and consumption.""We like the seamless flexibility in protocol exchange offering without writing a code.""In my assessment of Solace against other products — as I was responsible for evaluating various products and bringing the right tool into companies in the past — I worked with multiple platforms like RabbitMQ, Confluent, Kafka, and various other tools in the market. But I found the event mesh capability to be a very interesting as well as fulfilling capability, towards what we want to achieve from a digital-integration-strategy point of view... It's distributed, yet it is intelligently connected. It can also span and I can plug and play any number of brokers into the event mesh, so it's a great deal. That's a differentiator."

More PubSub+ Event Broker 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.""The scalability is the one area where IBM has fallen behind. As much as it is used, there is a limit to the number of people who are skilled in MQ. That is definitely an issue. Places have kept their MQ-skilled people and other places have really struggled to get MQ skills. It's not a widely-known skillset.""IBM HQ's scalability isn't the best.""We have had scalability issues with some projects in the past.""The solution should offer a freeware version, free vouchers, or certifications for learning purposes and building knowledge base.""It is expensive. The cost is high. There should be more improvement in the new age of technologies.""They have provided a Liberty Profile in the Web Console for administration, and that could be further enhanced. It is not fit for use by an enterprise. They have to get rid of their WebSphere process and develop a front-end on Node.js or the like.""The worst part is the monitoring or admin, especially in the ACE or Broker. There is always a problem of transparency. In MQ you can observe any process and you know exactly what's going on behind the scenes, but with the ACE or Broker, it's a problem monitoring the HTTP inputs. It's like a black box."

More IBM MQ Cons →

"The ease of management could be approved. The GUI is very good, but to configure and manage these devices programmatically in the software version is not easy. For example, if I would like to spin up a new software broker, then I could in theory use the API, but it would require a considerable amount of development effort to do so. There should be a tool, or something that Solace supports, that we could use for this, e.g., a platform like Terraform where we could use infrastructure as code to configure our source appliances.""A challenge we currently have is Solace's ability to integrate with single sign-on in our Active Directory and other single sign-on tools and platforms that any company would have. It's important for the platforms to work. Typically, they support only LDAP-based connectivity to our SQL Servers.""Some of the feature's gaps with some of the open-source vendors have been closed in a lot of ways. Being more agile and addressing those earlier could be an area for improvement.""If you create one event in the past, you cannot resend it.""We've pointed out some things with the DMR piece, the event mesh, in edge cases where we could see a problem. Something like 99 percent of users wouldn't ever see this problem, but it has to do with if you get multiple bad clients sending data over a WAN, for example. That could then impact other clients.""The licensing and the cost are the major pitfalls.""The product should allow third-party agents to be installed. Currently, it is quite proprietary.""The deployment process is complex."

More PubSub+ Event Broker 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."
  • "IBM MQ has a flexible license model based on the Processor Value Unit (PVU) and I recommend it."
  • "Use the new and lightweight version (Liberty) to lower licensing costs. It is also easier to upgrade/maintain."
  • "I think the pricing is reasonable, especially with IIB as a part of it."
  • "Pricing could be better, as with all IBM products. But their performance in production, along with security and scalability, will pay returns in the long run."
  • "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."
  • "IBM MQ appliance has pricing options, but they are costly."
  • "In terms of cost, IBM MQ is slightly on the higher side."
  • More IBM MQ Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "There are different tiers where you can choose what would work for you. As a customer, you need to know roughly how many messages a month you will use."
  • "We have been really happy with the product licensing rates. It has been free for us, up to a 100,000 transactions per second, and all we have to do is pay for support. Making their product available and accessible to us has not been a problem at all."
  • "Having a free version is critical for our technology operations use case. This is primarily because our technology operations team is a cost center in our company. They are not profit drivers and having a free version for installation will probably meet our needs. Even for production, it'll support up to a 100,000 messages per second. I don't think in technology operations that we have that many events and alerts from our detection tools. Even if I have 20 or 30 event detection products out there, they're only going to publish the things which are critical or warnings. I don't think we'll ever reach a 100,000 messages per second."
  • "Having a free version of the solution was a big, important part of our decision to go with it. This was the big driver for us to evaluate Solace. We started using it as the free version. When we felt comfortable with the free version, that is when we bought the enterprise version."
  • "The pricing and licensing were very transparent and well-communicated by our account manager."
  • "We are looking for something that will add value and fit for purpose. Freeware is good if you want to try something quickly without putting in much money. However, as far as our decision is concerned, I don't think it helps. At the end of the day, if we are convinced that a capability is required, we will ask for the funding. Then, when the funding is available, we will go for an enterprise solution only."
  • "The licensing is dependent on the volume that is flowing. If you go for their support services, it will cost some more money, but I think it is worth it, especially if you are just starting your journey."
  • "It could be cheaper. Its licensing is on a yearly basis."
  • More PubSub+ Event Broker Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer: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… more »
    Top Answer: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 users… more »
    Top Answer: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 protocols… more »
    Top Answer:The most valuable feature of PubSub+ Event Broker is the scaling integration. Prior to using the solution, it was done manually with a file, and it can be done instantly live.
    Top Answer:The section on observability pertains to understanding the functioning of an event crash. Instead of focusing on how the crash occurs, attention is given to the observable aspects, such as a memory… more »
    Ranking
    Views
    14,445
    Comparisons
    9,689
    Reviews
    20
    Average Words per Review
    448
    Rating
    8.5
    Views
    3,486
    Comparisons
    2,705
    Reviews
    7
    Average Words per Review
    557
    Rating
    8.3
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    WebSphere MQ
    Solace Virtual Message Router, Solace Cloud, Solace Message Router Appliance
    Learn More
    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."

    Solace PubSub+ Event Broker is a serverless, scalable technology that efficiently streams events throughout all sorts of environments: within the cloud, on-premises, and IoT. The technology is based on the publish/subscribe model of communication. The “+” in the solution’s name alludes to its support of a wide spectrum of message exchange patterns beyond the publish/subscribe model; it supports queueing, streaming, and request/reply. The “+” also alludes to the fact that the solution supports a range of different qualities of service. PubSub+ Event Broker can be managed and monitored with a single administration interface.

    PubSub+ Event Broker uses robust, battle-tested, and reliable event broker technology. It allows users to tie their architectures together to benefit from the best of all technologies, including legacy ESBs/messaging, DB system of record on-prem, cloud-native services, and Kafka clusters as endpoints.

    PubSub+ Event Broker lets you connect event brokers to form an event mesh (an architecture layer) which allows you to route events in a dynamic way between applications, regardless of where those applications are deployed (for example, from public-cloud, private-cloud, or no-cloud).

    PubSub+ Event Broker Benefits

    PubSub+ Event Broker is the only unified event broker technology available as software, hardware, and a managed service. All options offer the same functionality and management experience.

    • Software: Simple to use in clouds, containers and iPaaS/PaaS.
    • Hardware: A turnkey appliance with low TCO that gives you robust performance and capacity.
    • Managed service: Cloud based version is managed by Solace, allowing you to accomplish event broker services in minutes and scale to any level.

    PubSub+ Event Broker Capabilities

    • Orchestrates and connects microservices
    • Pushes events from on-premises systems of record to cloud services
    • Enables digital transformation across LoBs and IoT

    PubSub+ Event Broker Features

    • Federated architecture: Routing across geographically distributed cloud and on-premises environments, self-learning routing, bandwidth-efficient routing over wide area networks.
    • APIs and protocols: Native support for AMQP, Node.js, WebSocket, MQTT, JMS, Paho, Qpid,numerous messaging APIs and free open-source Kafka connectors.
    • Advanced messaging capabilities: Message caching, replay, prioritization, and dead message queues.
    • Management and governance: Centralized administration, automated disaster recovery, authentication, authorization and encryption of information, built-in high availability, and proactive monitoring, including integration with existing monitoring tools.
    • Capacity and performance: High-capacity throughput persistent and non-persistent messaging in fanout scenarios, optimized for low latency, and numerous concurrent IoT connections.

    Reviews from Real Users

    PubSub+ Event Broker stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its ability to communicate with numerous subscribers and its scalability. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:

    Jitendra J., a websphere MQ specialist at a maritime company, notes, “The way we can replicate information and send it to several subscribers is most valuable. It can be used for any kind of business where you've got multiple users who need information. Any company, such as LinkedIn, with a huge number of subscribers and any business, such as publishing, supermarket, airline, or shipping can use it.”

    The head of enterprise architecture and digital innovation at a tech vendor writes, “This solution reduces the latency to access changes in real-time and the effort required to onboard a new subscriber. It also reduces the maintenance of each of those interfaces because now the publisher and subscribers are decoupled. Event Broker handles all the communication and engagement.”

    Another PeerSpot user, who is a senior project manager at a financial services firm, describes, "Going from something where we had outages and capacity issues constantly to a system that was able to scale with the massive market data and messaging spikes that happened during the initial stages of the COVID crisis in March, we were able to scale with 40 plus percent growth in our platform over the course of days."

    Sample Customers
    Deutsche Bahn, Bon-Ton, WestJet, ARBURG, Northern Territory Government, Tata Steel Europe, Sharp Corporation
    FxPro, TP ICAP, Barclays, Airtel, American Express, Cobalt, Legal & General, LSE Group, Akuna Capital, Azure Information Technology, Brand.net, Canadian Securities Exchange, Core Transport Technologies, Crédit Agricole, Fluent Trade Technologies, Harris Corporation, Korea Exchange, Live E!, Mercuria Energy, Myspace, NYSE Technologies, Pico, RBC Capital Markets, Standard Chartered Bank, Unibet 
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm39%
    Retailer10%
    Insurance Company9%
    Computer Software Company6%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm37%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Government5%
    REVIEWERS
    Financial Services Firm60%
    Manufacturing Company10%
    Pharma/Biotech Company10%
    Maritime Company10%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm34%
    Computer Software Company12%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    Retailer6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business9%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise82%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business15%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise75%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business21%
    Midsize Enterprise7%
    Large Enterprise71%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise8%
    Large Enterprise74%
    Buyer's Guide
    IBM MQ vs. PubSub+ Event Broker
    May 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about IBM MQ vs. PubSub+ Event Broker and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
    771,212 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    IBM MQ is ranked 2nd in Message Queue (MQ) Software with 158 reviews while PubSub+ Event Broker is ranked 6th in Message Queue (MQ) Software with 15 reviews. IBM MQ is rated 8.4, while PubSub+ Event Broker is rated 8.6. The top reviewer of IBM MQ writes "Offers the ability to batch metadata transfers between systems that support MQ as the communication method". On the other hand, the top reviewer of PubSub+ Event Broker writes "Event life cycle management changes the way a designer or architect will design a topic and discover what is available". IBM MQ is most compared with ActiveMQ, Apache Kafka, VMware Tanzu Data Services, Red Hat AMQ and Amazon SQS, whereas PubSub+ Event Broker is most compared with Apache Kafka, ActiveMQ, VMware Tanzu Data Services, Confluent and Amazon EventBridge. See our IBM MQ vs. PubSub+ Event Broker report.

    See our list of best Message Queue (MQ) Software vendors and best Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) vendors.

    We monitor all Message Queue (MQ) Software reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.