# Best Message Queue Systems ## How Many Message Queue (MQ) Software Products Does G2 Track? **Total Products under this Category:** 51 ### Category Stats (Jul 2026) - **Average Rating:** 4.27/5 (↓0.01 vs Jun 2026) The average rating of products in this category, based on all submitted ratings _Last updated: July 10, 2026_ ## How Does G2 Rank Message Queue (MQ) Software Products? **Why You Can Trust G2's Software Rankings:** - 30 Analysts and Data Experts - 2,400+ Authentic Reviews - 51+ Products - Unbiased Rankings G2's software rankings are built on verified user reviews, rigorous moderation, and a consistent research methodology maintained by a team of analysts and data experts. Each product is measured using the same transparent criteria, with no paid placement or vendor influence. While reviews reflect real user experiences, which can be subjective, they offer valuable insight into how software performs in the hands of professionals. Together, these inputs power the G2 Score, a standardized way to compare tools within every category. ## G2 Grid® for Message Queue (MQ) Software ![G2 Grid® for Message Queue (MQ) Software plotting products by satisfaction and market presence](https://www.g2.com/categories/message-queue-mq/grids.png?focus%5B%5D=4208&focus%5B%5D=10911&focus%5B%5D=121712&focus%5B%5D=40547&focus%5B%5D=52187&focus%5B%5D=74185&focus%5B%5D=115113&focus%5B%5D=170955) Highlighted products: MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, IBM MQ, HiveMQ, Google Cloud Pub/Sub, Azure Logic Apps, TIBCO Messaging, IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, and Hookdeck. Underlying data: [Grid® JSON](https://www.g2.com/categories/message-queue-mq/grids.json?focus%5B%5D=mulesoft-anypoint-platform&focus%5B%5D=ibm-mq&focus%5B%5D=hivemq&focus%5B%5D=google-cloud-pub-sub&focus%5B%5D=azure-logic-apps&focus%5B%5D=tibco-messaging&focus%5B%5D=ibm-cloud-pak-for-integration&focus%5B%5D=hookdeck) **Sponsored** ### SAP Integration Suite SAP Integration Suite (formerly SAP Cloud Platform Integration Suite) is an integration platform as a service (iPaaS) that allows the user to integrate on-premise and cloud-based applications and processes with tools and prebuilt content managed by SAP. With SAP Integration Suite, you can become future ready and scale up your integration capabilities to connect and contextualize experiences for customers, partners, and employees across the enterprise and extended ecosystems. [Visit website](https://www.g2.com/external_clickthroughs/record?secure%5Bad_program%5D=paid_promo&secure%5Bad_slot%5D=category_product_list&secure%5Bcategory_id%5D=1676&secure%5Bchosen_at%5D=2026-07-28T21%3A05%3A59Z&secure%5Bmedium%5D=sponsored&secure%5Bprioritized%5D=false&secure%5Bproduct_id%5D=6306&secure%5Bresource_id%5D=1676&secure%5Bresource_type%5D=Category&secure%5Bsource_type%5D=category_page&secure%5Bsource_url%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.g2.com%2Fcategories%2Fmessage-queue-mq&secure%5Btoken%5D=00f533242091308da87d206bd9b32464ca32014fc74b7e9c9f0040bec6f0e6dc&secure%5Burl%5D=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sap.com%2Fproducts%2Ftechnology-platform%2Fintegration-suite.html&secure%5Burl_type%5D=paid_promos) [ MuleSoft Anypoint Platform ](https://www.g2.com/products/mulesoft-anypoint-platform/reviews) By [Salesforce](https://www.g2.com/sellers/salesforce) [ 4.5/5(775) ](https://www.g2.com/products/mulesoft-anypoint-platform/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the ease of use and comprehensive API management features of MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, highlighting its ability to streamline integrations and enhance productivity. The pla Pros and Cons [ Ease of Use (113) ](https://www.g2.com/products/mulesoft-anypoint-platform/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons)[ Expensive (57) ](https://www.g2.com/products/mulesoft-anypoint-platform/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [ IBM MQ ](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-mq/reviews) By [IBM](https://www.g2.com/sellers/ibm) [ 4.3/5(174) ](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-mq/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the product for its reliability and ease of use, highlighting its ability to ensure message delivery without loss, even under heavy loads. Many appreciate its robust performa [ HiveMQ ](https://www.g2.com/products/hivemq/reviews) By [HiveMQ](https://www.g2.com/sellers/hivemq) [ 4.5/5(95) ](https://www.g2.com/products/hivemq/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise HiveMQ for its reliability and scalability, making it ideal for handling large volumes of MQTT messages with minimal latency. The platform's intuitive dashboard and robust se Pros and Cons [ Reliability (20) ](https://www.g2.com/products/hivemq/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons)[ Expensive (17) ](https://www.g2.com/products/hivemq/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [ Google Cloud Pub/Sub ](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-pub-sub/reviews) By [Google](https://www.g2.com/sellers/google) [ 4.5/5(39) ](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-pub-sub/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the ease of use and scalability of Google Cloud Pub/Sub, highlighting its ability to integrate seamlessly with other Google services. The fully managed nature of the service Pros and Cons [ Scalability (2) ](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-pub-sub/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons)[ Expensive (1) ](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-pub-sub/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [ Azure Logic Apps ](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-logic-apps/reviews) By [Microsoft](https://www.g2.com/sellers/microsoft) [ 4.3/5(103) ](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-logic-apps/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the ease of use and visual designer of Azure Logic Apps, which allows for quick workflow creation without extensive coding knowledge. The platform's extensive integration cap Pros and Cons [ Ease of Learning (1) ](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-logic-apps/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons)[ Complexity (1) ](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-logic-apps/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [ TIBCO Messaging ](https://www.g2.com/products/tibco-messaging/reviews) By [Cloud Software Group](https://www.g2.com/sellers/cloud-software-group) [ 4.4/5(43) ](https://www.g2.com/products/tibco-messaging/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the product for its high performance and reliable communication, making it a valuable tool for real-time data exchange across systems. Many appreciate its ease of use and str [ IBM Cloud Pak for Integration ](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-cloud-pak-for-integration/reviews) By [IBM](https://www.g2.com/sellers/ibm) [ 4.2/5(51) ](https://www.g2.com/products/ibm-cloud-pak-for-integration/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the ease of use and integration capabilities of IBM Cloud Pak for Integration, highlighting its ability to simplify complex integration tasks across various platforms. Many a [ Apache Kafka ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews) By [The Apache Software Foundation](https://www.g2.com/sellers/the-apache-software-foundation) [ 4.5/5(132) ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the product for its high scalability and reliability, making it ideal for handling large volumes of data in real-time applications. Many appreciate its low latency and abilit Pros and Cons [ Scalability (5) ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons)[ Complexity (1) ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [ Hookdeck ](https://www.g2.com/products/hookdeck/reviews) By [Hookdeck](https://www.g2.com/sellers/hookdeck) [ 4.8/5(71) ](https://www.g2.com/products/hookdeck/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the product for its ease of use and reliable webhook management, which simplifies the process of handling webhooks across various environments. Many appreciate the intuitive Pros and Cons [ Ease of Use (6) ](https://www.g2.com/products/hookdeck/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons)[ Expensive (3) ](https://www.g2.com/products/hookdeck/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [ RabbitMQ ](https://www.g2.com/products/rabbitmq/reviews) By [Broadcom](https://www.g2.com/sellers/broadcom-ab3091cd-4724-46a8-ac89-219d6bc8e166) [ 4.1/5(48) ](https://www.g2.com/products/rabbitmq/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise RabbitMQ for its reliable messaging and ease of use, highlighting its ability to handle asynchronous communication effectively. Many appreciate the intuitive interface and ex [ meshIQ ](https://www.g2.com/products/meshiq/reviews) By [meshIQ](https://www.g2.com/sellers/meshiq) [ 4.6/5(100) ](https://www.g2.com/products/meshiq/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the ease of use and real-time monitoring capabilities of meshIQ, which simplify the management of complex middleware environments. The intuitive interface and responsive cust Pros and Cons [ Ease of Use (33) ](https://www.g2.com/products/meshiq/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons)[ Difficult Learning (14) ](https://www.g2.com/products/meshiq/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [ Amazon MQ ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-mq/reviews) By [Amazon Web Services (AWS)](https://www.g2.com/sellers/amazon-web-services-aws-3e93cc28-2e9b-4961-b258-c6ce0feec7dd) [ 3.6/5(18) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-mq/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the ease of use and integration capabilities of Amazon MQ, highlighting how it simplifies messaging without the need for extensive setup. Many appreciate the robust security Pros and Cons [ Cloud Storage (1) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-mq/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons)[ Complexity Issues (1) ](https://www.g2.com/products/amazon-mq/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [ Lobster Data Platform ](https://www.g2.com/products/lobster-data-platform/reviews) By [Lobster Data GmbH](https://www.g2.com/sellers/lobster-data-gmbh) [ 4.6/5(106) ](https://www.g2.com/products/lobster-data-platform/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the ease of use and excellent customer support provided by Lobster Data Platform, highlighting its intuitive interface that allows for quick integration and data mapping with Pros and Cons [ Ease of Use (18) ](https://www.g2.com/products/lobster-data-platform/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons)[ Complexity (11) ](https://www.g2.com/products/lobster-data-platform/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [ Ably Realtime ](https://www.g2.com/products/ably-realtime/reviews) By [Ably Realtime](https://www.g2.com/sellers/ably-realtime) [ 4.8/5(67) ](https://www.g2.com/products/ably-realtime/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise Ably for its ease of integration and reliable performance, making it a preferred choice for real-time messaging solutions. The platform's comprehensive documentation and resp Pros and Cons [ Customer Support (14) ](https://www.g2.com/products/ably-realtime/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons)[ Expensive (6) ](https://www.g2.com/products/ably-realtime/reviews?qs=pros-and-cons) [ Azure Queue Storage ](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-queue-storage/reviews) By [Microsoft](https://www.g2.com/sellers/microsoft) [ 3.9/5(13) ](https://www.g2.com/products/azure-queue-storage/reviews) What do users say? Users consistently praise the ease of use and reliability of Azure Queue Storage, noting its effective integration with other Azure services. Many appreciate its ability to manage large volumes of mes - ‹ Prev‹ Prev - 1 - [2](/categories/message-queue-mq?order=g2_score&page=2#product-list) - [3](/categories/message-queue-mq?order=g2_score&page=3#product-list) - [4](/categories/message-queue-mq?order=g2_score&page=4#product-list) - [Next ›Next ›](/categories/message-queue-mq?order=g2_score&page=2#product-list) Spotlight Categories [Password Managers Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/password-managers) [Business Continuity Management (BCM) Software Solutions](https://www.g2.com/categories/business-continuity-management-software) [Corporate Learning Management Systems](https://www.g2.com/categories/corporate-learning-management-systems) [Digital Signage Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/digital-signage) [SaaS Backup Software](https://www.g2.com/categories/saas-backup) Similar Categories - [Application Portfolio Management](/categories/application-portfolio-management) - [Auto Scaling](/categories/auto-scaling) - [Cloud Cost Management](/categories/cloud-cost-management) - [Cloud Management Platforms](/categories/cloud-management-platforms) - [Cloud Migration Assessment Tools](/categories/cloud-migration-assessment-tools) - [Columnar Databases](/categories/columnar-databases) - [Data as a Service (DaaS)](/categories/data-as-a-service-daas) - [Data Destruction](/categories/data-destruction) - [Data Extraction](/categories/data-extraction-tools) - [Data Governance](/categories/data-governance-tools) - [Data Observability](/categories/data-observability) - [Data Recovery](/categories/data-recovery) - [Digital Employee Experience (DEX) Management](/categories/digital-employee-experience-dex-management) - [Digital Experience Monitoring (DEM)](/categories/digital-experience-monitoring-dem) - [Digital Governance](/categories/digital-governance) [Browse Message Queue (MQ) Themes](/categories/message-queue-mq/themes) ![Tian Lin](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Tian Lin") TL Researched and written by [Tian Lin](https://research.g2.com/insights/author/tian-lin) Updated October 3, 2024 Message queue (MQ) software is used to enable process-related communication between IT systems. The queue provides asynchronous protocols to allow senders and receivers to communicate remotely and at different times. Messages can consist of requests, replies, or alerts, depending on the sender’s need. The queue facilitates service-to-service communications by storing, processing, and deleting actions as they are completed. Some message queue tools utilize the publisher/subscriber pattern, which is typically used in large, message-oriented middleware systems. MQ tools are typically leveraged by IT professionals, system administrators, and software developers. Companies use message queue software to coordinate distributed applications, simplify coding disparate applications, improve performance, and automate communication-related tasks. MQ solutions provide a buffer that allows users working on separate systems to submit messages into temporary storage until action is required. To qualify for inclusion in the Message Queue (MQ) category, a product must: - Facilitate asynchronous messaging - Store, deliver, and delete messages - Document communication information - Allow administrative control over messaging permissions Top Tools at a Glance | | Async enterprise integration with API-led queuing | User Review "Powerful DataWeave, Rich Connectors, and Strong API Governance with MuleSoft" | | | Guaranteed-delivery messaging across heterogeneous enterprise systems | User Review "MQ: Built for Reliability, Not Hype" | | | High-throughput MQTT brokering for large-scale IoT | User Review "Scales Effortlessly Under Heavy Load with Seamless Clustering" | | | Serverless event-driven messaging inside GCP pipelines | User Review "A dependable way to connect services across GCP" | | | Azure-native event-driven workflow integration | User Review "Perfect scalable platform for nocode integration implementation" | | | Fault-tolerant async messaging for distributed enterprise systems | User Review "I have used these services to exchange data between systems." | | | Containerized MQ and hybrid integration middleware | User Review "Great to work in IBM cloud" | | | High-throughput event streaming with replayable persistence | User Review "Kafka Delivers Scalable, Durable Real-Time Performance" | | | Webhook ingestion queuing with replay and routing | User Review "Great Webhook Relay Service" | | | Async microservice messaging with guaranteed delivery | User Review "The best payload transfer tool" | * * * Show More * * * ## How Do You Choose the Right Message Queue (MQ) Software? ### What You Should Know About Message Queue (MQ) Software ### What is Message Queue Software? Message queue software is an asynchronous communication middleware that connects applications. Traditional monolithic software is built to communicate with itself or a few other applications. When the software sends or receives data from another software, this data is called a message. It is difficult to send and receive data to another app due to different operating systems, network protocols, and programming languages. Message queue software solves these problems by handling messages for applications from different environments. It creates a new high availability, high reliability, high throughput, and low latency environment to send and receive messages from one application to another.  As the name suggests, MQ software lines up different messages by “queue” and processes each message through standardized methods. This helps companies to develop high-performance cloud services and apps such as microservices that can communicate with other applications and operating systems without worrying about compatibility issues.  In the early years, big companies invested heavily in proprietary software and middleware that could connect their products with each other. Using the same IT stacks and standards, these companies can create connected applications. With the vast network of applications connected by middleware, users can solve various complex problems that require multiple inputs and outputs from different environments.  However, only big companies with big budgets can afford to develop this approach. For most companies and non-business users who use different network standards, programming languages, and data structures, connected applications seem to be unobtainable. This is why there are many business issues that seem to be easy to solve but are technically challenging to implement. For example, hospitals and insurance companies can’t share patient data automatically because their applications aren’t compatible in communicating with each other. Those who managed to set up the connectivity may still use proprietary protocols such as raw UDP, TCP, and HTTP, which are hard to scale and integrate with other applications.  To solve this issue, early open-source organizations build open source message brokers specific to a language environment like Java and Python. Later big companies began building their own messaging system for others, such as AWS and IBM MQ, to create enterprise messaging platforms that run on their own IT systems. Software buyers can select the best message queue web services or on-premises software to connect various assets such as big data servers to the internet of things (IoT). **What Does MQ Stand For?** MQ stands for Message Queue. A “message” is data that transfers from one party to another. A “queue” is how that message is transferred and processed from one party to another. ### What are the Common Features of Message Queue Software? The following are some core features within Message Queue Software that can help users ensure high availability of message queuing services: **Message query:** MQ allows applications to query messages by ID, topics, keys, and contents. This enables the user to organize messages based on custom rules. **Message tracing:** MQ can trace routing information from the producer of the message to the consumer. This allows users to analyze metadata on the message producer and consumer for network performance issues.  **Dead-letter queue:** MQ supports dead-letter queues (DLQ) to save messages that can’t be processed for debugging to determine why the queueing process failed.  **Message blocklist and allowlist:** MQ supports account-based blocklist and allowlist policies to authorize or unauthorize messages from internal and external parties.  **Multiple message processes:** Message queue processes can be created for different models. In a peer-to-peer model, a producer sends one message to one consumer. In a pub/sub model, producers can send group messages to consumers with the same cluster ID. In RPC (request/reply) model, MQ can load balance messages back and forth between producer and consumer.  **Dashboard:** A user-friendly dashboard can visualize comprehensive and multidimensional metrics of message product and consumption based on clusters, topics, instances, and groups. This will spot trends for server resource allocation and security improvement.  **Monitoring and alerting:** Messaging activities can be monitored in real time, and alerts can be sent to notify the IT and data team to resolve issues in a timely manner. ### What are the Benefits of Message Queue Software? **Decoupling:** Message queue tools decouple (separate) applications and message services. This simplifies CI/CD development so developers can design and update core components without worrying about the message components.  **Load shifting:** Messages can automatically be queued according to their size, frequency, and quantity. When there is a large number of message requests, servers can fail to process this amount of volume. It will either crash or indiscriminately reject all incoming messages. Without load shifting, message disruption will halt online business operations and negatively affect revenue.  **Scalability:** MQ servers can be integrated with other applications and be allocated an appropriate amount of resources based on needs. This saves users time from manually changing the message process during disruptions or software upgrades. ### Who Uses Message Queue Software? **IT teams:** IT teams can use MQ software to customize how the data can flow from the application to the user. They can process data from other applications and microservices in an asynchronous method instead of relying on synchronous protocol methods such as REST API. ### Challenges with Message Queue Software Software solutions can come with their own set of challenges.  **Poor MQ practice:** MQ policies may slow down message processing speed due to incorrect models. The system might automatically blame the issue on the message senders and blocklist them. MQ users should identify common messages and plan ahead on how to process different types of messages beforehand. It is best to test through multiple message queue processes based on the expected load to avoid bandwidth issues.  **Ease of use:** Message queue can bring additional challenges without the right talent. To set up the correct message queue process, an IT team has to go through different scenarios with different types of network connections and message processing rules, which would result in adding additional layers and slowing down the loading speed. Companies should ensure they invest in additional talent to maintain the MQ process and software.  ### How to Buy Message Queue Software #### Requirements Gathering (RFI/RFP) for Message Queue Software As good as it sounds, message queue software may not be suitable for every use case. MQ software is typically designed to handle a permanent and ongoing messaging process that requires fast processing speed and zero-lost-message tolerance when losing a message can significantly impact the operation. Simple or temporal message processing may not need MQ software, which adds unnecessary costs and time.  Users should have a specific use case in mind before considering buying an MQ software. Financial firms or hospitals that transfer sensitive, timely, critical messages might need a high availability MQ server to process the messages. Different use cases require different MQ models and features. Since not all requirements have the same importance, buyers should assign them priorities and focus on the most important ones. Buyers need to differentiate must-have features from nice-to-have features from their business case. #### Compare Message Queue Software Products **Create a long list** Buyers should start with a large pool of MQ software vendors. Keeping the desired must-have features in mind, buyers must perform consistent inquiries during demos by which they can effectively compare the pros and cons of each software. **Create a short list** It helps cross reference the results of initial vendor evaluations with G2 reviews from other buyers, which will help narrow in on a short three to five product list. From there, buyers can compare pricing and features to determine the best fit. **Conduct demos** As a rule of thumb, companies should make sure to demo all of the products that end up on their short list. During demos, buyers should ask specific questions related to the functionalities they care about most. For example, one might ask to be walked through a typical performance issue from alerting to remediation within the tool.  #### Selection of Message Queue Software **Choose a selection team** Regardless of a company’s size, it’s essential to involve the most relevant personas when beginning the software selection process. Larger companies may include individual team members from development teams, testing teams, data teams, and other IT professionals working with the software closely. Smaller companies with fewer employees might overlap roles.  **Negotiation** Many companies offer full monitoring platforms that go beyond MQ to include network monitoring, infrastructure monitoring, and more. While some companies will not budge on the configurations of their packages, buyers looking to trim costs should try to negotiate down to the specific functions that matter to them to get the best price. For example, a vendor’s pricing page for MQ functionality might only be included with a robust all-in-one monitoring package, whereas a sales conversation may prove otherwise.  **Final decision** After this stage, performing a trial run with a small selection of IT professionals or developers is important. This will help ensure that the MQ software of choice integrates well with an IT administrator’s systems setup or a developer’s day-to-day work. If the software is well-liked and well utilized, the buyer can take that as a sign that their selection is the right one. If not, a reevaluation of the options may be required.