IBM MQ vs Redis comparison

IBM and RedisLabs are both solutions in the Message Queue (MQ) Software category. Additionally, 94% of IBM users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 100% of RedisLabs users who would recommend it.

IBM MQ

Read 163 IBM MQ reviews

6,629 Views
4,341 Comparison Views

94% willing to recommend

Redis

Read 21 Redis reviews

1,322 Views
1,165 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM MQ

Redis

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between IBM MQ and Redis 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. Redis Report (Updated: March 2025).

Buyer's Guide

IBM MQ vs. Redis

March 2025

Download the complete report

Helped 841,152 peers since 2012

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

163

Ranking in other categories

Business Activity Monitoring (1st), Message Queue (MQ) Software (1st), Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) (1st)

Redis

Average Rating

8.8

Reviews Sentiment

8.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

NoSQL Databases (7th), In-Memory Data Store Services (1st), Vector Databases (4th)

Featured Reviews

SelvaKumar4

System Analyst at Walmart

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.

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Yaseer Arafat

.Net Developer at Freelance

Unmatched Performance and Scalability for Modern Applications

Redis has room for improvement in a few areas. Enhanced tools for managing and monitoring clusters would be beneficial, as would built-in security mechanisms like advanced encryption and granular access controls. Simplifying setup and configuration could make Redis more accessible to new users. Introducing more enterprise-grade features, such as better multi-tenancy support and improved backup and restore capabilities, would also be advantageous. For the next release, it would be great to see enhanced cluster management tools, native multi-region supports for better data redundancy, integrated analytics for deeper insights, AI and ML integration features, and improved developer experience through enhanced SDKs and tools.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The clusterization which results in persistence is the most valuable feature."

"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."

"There are a lot of extensible options for security, i.e., various things you can do. It's pretty easy to navigate."

"IBM MQ deals mainly with the queuing mechanism. It passes the data and it publishes it. These two abilities are the most valuable features."

"This solution has improved and influenced the communication between different applications, then standardized that communication."

"The solution is fast with end data compared to other messaging tools."

"The product's initial setup phase is very easy."

"It offers better reliability and monitoring compared to other tools."

More IBM MQ pros

"It makes operations more efficient. The information processing is very fast, and very responsive. It's all about the technology."

"Redis is better tested and is used by large companies. I haven't found a direct alternative to what Redis offers. Plus, there are a lot of support and learning resources available, which help you use Redis efficiently."

"The in-memory data makes it fast."

"Redis is a simple, powerful, and fast solution."

"I find Redis valuable primarily for its caching capabilities, particularly in handling cache requests effectively. Its simplicity in managing key-value pairs for caching is one of its strengths, making it a preferred choice over more complex databases like MongoDB for specific use cases. However, I haven't explored Redis extensively for managing complex data structures beyond caching, as MongoDB might be more suitable for such scenarios."

"It is particularly efficient for cloud-based storage and operations."

"The ability to fetch and save data quickly is valuable."

"The solution is fast, provides good performance, and is not too expensive."

More Redis pros

Cons

"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."

"With IBM products, there's less marketing. If they do more demos and more seminars on their products, it will be very useful. On a given day. I get seminar invites for many vendors and products, but for IBM, I may get an invite once or twice a year."

"I'm not sure that current version has event-driven mechanism requests that people go for. I would like the latest version to come with both type of event mechanisms: an email server and a POP server. If that is not there, then that would be a great addition."

"It would be nice if we could use the cluster facilities because we are doing active/passive configuration use."

"I would like to see faster monitoring tools for this solution."

"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."

"The pricing needs improvement."

"Presenting and maybe having some different options for different user experiences based on the administrative duties that you have to do as an app manager or configure the server or security would be an improvement."

More IBM MQ cons

"The tool should improve by increasing its size limits and handling dynamic data better. We use the client ID or associate it with a key for static content. The solution will not be easy for a beginner. Unless you understand SQL data, it will be difficult to understand and use Redis. It also needs to be user-friendly."

"The development of clusters could improve. Additionally, it would be helpful if it was integrated with Amazon AWS or Google Cloud."

"The solution's pricing for a local installation is very expensive."

"For the PubSub feature, we had to create our own tools to monitor the events."

"The initial setup took some time as our technical team needed to familiarize themselves with Redis."

"If we use a lot of data, it will eventually cost us a lot."

"The only thing is the lack of a GUI application. There was a time when we needed to resolve an issue in production. If we had a GUI, it would have been easier."

"Sometimes, we use Redis as a cluster, and the clusters can sometimes suffer some issues and bring some downtime to your application."

More Redis cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"IBM MQ has a flexible license model based on the Processor Value Unit (PVU) and I recommend it."

"IBM products, in general, have high licensing costs and support costs are too high."

"It would be a 10 out of 10 if it wasn't so expensive."

"It is a licensed product. As compared to an open-source solution, such as RabbitMQ, it is obviously costly. If you're using IBM Message Broker, which is a licensed product, IBM MQ is included in the same license. You don't have to pay separately for IBM MQ. The license cost of IBM MQ is lesser than IBM Message Broker."

"Our costs haven't increased but they also have not improved."

"The pricing seems good according to the functionality that the solution provides."

"To implement such an IBM solution, a company has to pay a lot in term of licensing and consultancy. A pricing model might be a better option."

"It's a very expensive product."

More IBM MQ pricing and cost advice

"Redis is not an overpriced solution."

"Redis is an open-source product."

"The tool is open-source. There are no additional costs."

"We saw an ROI. It made the processing of our transactions faster."

"Redis is an open-source solution. There are not any hidden fees."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

38%

Computer Software Company

12%

Manufacturing Company

Government

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

15%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

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...

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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...

See all answers

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...

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What do you like most about Redis?

Redis is better tested and is used by large companies. I haven't found a direct alternative to what Redis offers. Plus, there are a lot of support and learning resources available, which help you u...

See all answers

What needs improvement with Redis?

Redis could be improved by introducing a GUI to display key-value pair database information, as it is currently a CLI tool with no visual representation. Additionally, better documentation is neede...

See all answers

What is your primary use case for Redis?

I use Redis as a tool in building projects, specifically for in-memory caching. My backend API uses Redis to cache information retrieved from the database.

See all answers

Comparisons

ActiveMQ vs IBM MQ

Compared 43% of the time

Apache Kafka vs IBM MQ

Compared 10% of the time

Red Hat AMQ vs IBM MQ

Compared 8% of the time

MuleSoft Anypoint Platform vs IBM MQ

Compared 7% of the time

Avada Software Infrared360 vs IBM MQ

Compared 1% of the time

More IBM MQ Competitors

Chroma vs Redis

Compared 12% of the time

Amazon SQS vs Redis

Compared 11% of the time

Oracle Coherence vs Redis

Compared 11% of the time

Red Hat Data Grid vs Redis

Compared 7% of the time

ScyllaDB vs Redis

Compared 3% of the time

More Redis Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

IBM MQ

March 2025

Download IBM MQ product report

Buyer's Guide

Redis

February 2025

Download Redis product report

Also Known As

WebSphere MQ

Redis Enterprise

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."

IBM

Redis is a high-performance, scalable, and easy-to-use caching solution that improves application performance. It is also used for session management, real-time analytics, and as a message broker.

Redis's valuable features include its ability to handle large amounts of data quickly, its simplicity and straightforward setup process, and its support for various data structures, providing flexibility for different use cases.

RedisLabs

Sample Customers

Deutsche Bahn, Bon-Ton, WestJet, ARBURG, Northern Territory Government, Tata Steel Europe, Sharp Corporation

1. Twitter 2. GitHub 3. StackOverflow 4. Pinterest 5. Snapchat 6. Craigslist 7. Digg 8. Weibo 9. Airbnb 10. Uber 11. Slack 12. Trello 13. Shopify 14. Coursera 15. Medium 16. Twitch 17. Foursquare 18. Meetup 19. Kickstarter 20. Docker 21. Heroku 22. Bitbucket 23. Groupon 24. Flipboard 25. SoundCloud 26. BuzzFeed 27. Disqus 28. The New York Times 29. Walmart 30. Nike 31. Sony 32. Philips

Buyer's Guide

IBM MQ vs. Redis

March 2025

Free Report: IBM MQ vs. Redis

Find out what your peers are saying about IBM MQ vs. Redis and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.

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