Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

IBM MQ vs PubSub+ Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 27, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
7.2
IBM MQ is reliable, cost-effective, supports scalability, and offers stability with minimal bugs, achieving ROI within two years.
Sentiment score
7.0
PubSub+ Platform aids digital transformation with increased productivity and cost savings, though some report higher operational costs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
7.0
IBM's technical support is praised for expertise but varies in response times, impacting user satisfaction and reliance on alternatives.
Sentiment score
7.5
Users praise PubSub+ Platform's responsive and knowledgeable support, with senior leadership involvement and prompt technical resolutions.
I would rate technical support as an eight.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.5
IBM MQ offers robust scalability and reliability across platforms, efficiently managing high transaction volumes and large-scale messaging traffic.
Sentiment score
6.9
PubSub+ Platform efficiently scales and integrates across clouds, handling enterprise messaging; improvements needed in topic management and operations.
IBM MQ handles many thousands of messages in a second, indicating good scalability.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
IBM MQ offers exceptional stability and reliability, with most issues arising from external factors rather than the software itself.
Sentiment score
8.2
Users praise PubSub+ for its stability, reliability, and performance under increased loads, citing minimal maintenance and high availability.
We have never had any downtime or crashes since it's been running.
 

Room For Improvement

IBM MQ needs better security, interface, cloud integration, monitoring, pricing, installation, and supports enhanced administration and documentation.
PubSub+ Platform needs better integration, observability, open-source options, and cost reduction to improve usability and adoption.
Having a graphical user interface would improve usability.
 

Setup Cost

IBM MQ's pricing, seen as costly, justifies its robust features, offering flexibility but higher costs than open-source options.
Enterprise buyers value PubSub+ Platform for its transparent, flexible pricing and licensing, with adjustable costs based on usage projections.
I am not exactly sure about the licensing cost compared to similar products, but I assume it is affordable since we continue to use it, and it is also used by our customers.
 

Valuable Features

IBM MQ offers reliable, secure, scalable messaging with seamless integration, supporting high transaction volumes and diverse environments efficiently.
PubSub+ Platform offers seamless message routing and real-time event distribution with flexible management, supporting various protocols and networks.
We have not experienced any downtime or crashes with IBM MQ.
 

Categories and Ranking

IBM MQ
Ranking in Message Queue (MQ) Software
1st
Ranking in Message Oriented Middleware (MOM)
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
164
Ranking in other categories
Business Activity Monitoring (1st)
PubSub+ Platform
Ranking in Message Queue (MQ) Software
6th
Ranking in Message Oriented Middleware (MOM)
2nd
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
16
Ranking in other categories
Event Monitoring (10th), Streaming Analytics (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Message Queue (MQ) Software category, the mindshare of IBM MQ is 25.6%, up from 20.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PubSub+ Platform is 4.7%, down from 4.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Message Queue (MQ) Software
 

Featured Reviews

SelvaKumar4 - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers the ability to batch metadata transfers between systems that support MQ as the communication method
We find it scalable for internal applications, but not so much for external integrations. It should support a wider range of protocols, not just a few specific ones. Many other products have broader protocol support, and IBM MQ is lagging in that area. IBM MQ needs to improve the UI for quicker logging. Users should also have a lot more control over logging, with a dashboard-like interface. That's something they should definitely work on.
BhanuChidigam - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs well, high availability, and helpful support
We use approximately four people for the maintenance of the solution. My advice to others is this solution has high throughput and is used for many stock exchanges. For business critical use cases, such as processing financial transactions at a quick speed, I would recommend this solution. I rate PubSub+ Event Broker an eight out of ten.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Message Queue (MQ) Software solutions are best for your needs.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
38%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Government
5%
Financial Services Firm
35%
Computer Software Company
12%
Retailer
8%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 PubSub+ Event Broker?
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.
What needs improvement with PubSub+ Event Broker?
The solution could be improved by enhancing the message pooling size for persistent messages to handle both small and large messages effectively. Additionally, providing a comprehensive dashboard t...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

WebSphere MQ
PubSub+ Event Broker, PubSub+ Event Portal
 

Overview

 

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 
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM MQ vs. PubSub+ Platform and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
844,944 professionals have used our research since 2012.