Differences between Amazon SQS, Amazon MQ, and Amazon SNS - Amazon Simple Queue Service

Differences between Amazon SQS, Amazon MQ, and Amazon SNS

Amazon SQS, Amazon SNS, and Amazon MQ offer highly scalable and easy-to-use managed messaging services, each designed for specific roles within distributed systems. Here's an enhanced overview of the differences between these services:

Amazon SQS decouples and scales distributed software systems and components as a queue service. It processes messages through a single subscriber typically, ideal for workflows where order and loss prevention are critical. For wider distribution, integrating Amazon SQS with Amazon SNS enables a fanout messaging pattern, effectively pushing messages to multiple subscribers at once.

Amazon SNS allows publishers to send messages to multiple subscribers through topics, which serve as communication channels. Subscribers receive published messages using a supported endpoint type, such as Amazon Data Firehose, Amazon SQS, Lambda, HTTP, email, mobile push notifications, and mobile text messages (SMS). This service is ideal for scenarios requiring immediate notifications, such as real-time user engagement or alarm systems. To prevent message loss when subscribers are offline, integrating Amazon SNS with Amazon SQS queue messages ensures consistent delivery.

Amazon MQ fits best with enterprises looking to migrate from traditional message brokers, supporting standard messaging protocols like AMQP and MQTT, along with Apache ActiveMQ and RabbitMQ. It offers compatibility with legacy systems needing stable, reliable messaging without significant reconfiguration.

The following chart provides an overview of each services' resource type:

Resource type Amazon SNS Amazon SQS Amazon MQ
Synchronous No No Yes
Asynchronous Yes Yes Yes
Queues No Yes Yes
Publisher-subscriber messaging Yes No Yes
Message brokers No No Yes

Both Amazon SQS and Amazon SNS are recommended for new applications that can benefit from nearly unlimited scalability and simple APIs. They generally offer more cost-effective solutions for high-volume applications with their pay-as-you-go pricing. We recommend Amazon MQ for migrating applications from existing message brokers that rely on compatibility with APIs such as JMS or protocols such as Advanced Message Queuing Protocol (AMQP), MQTT, OpenWire, and Simple Text Oriented Message Protocol (STOMP).