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Integration Consultant at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Real User
Dec 11, 2022
Helps us with enterprise messaging between applications and has valuable MQ messaging topologies
Pros and Cons
  • "We have found the MQ messaging topologies valuable."
  • "The issue is that they're using a very old clustering model."

What is our primary use case?

Our primary use case for IBM MQ is as an enterprise messaging between applications. So when applications need to transmit data from one to another, they use a messaging broker, the IBM MQ, RabbitMQ and ActiveMQ.

What is most valuable?

We have found the MQ messaging topologies valuable mainly the published, subscribe and direct messaging. A feature that no other market could offer at the time was data-addressed encryption.

What needs improvement?

The clustering model can be improved to allow consumers to consume from all brokers simultaneously. Currently, the issue is that they're using a very old clustering model where several of the individual brokers in the same cluster still behave as individuals rather than behaving like a cluster. They call it a cluster, but it's just a group of brokers not working as a cluster. It doesn't properly share the resources between all of the member clusters. Compared to other solutions like Apache Kafka, or RabbitMQ, this is a huge drawback.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the solution for approximately nine years, deploying it on public, private cloud and on-premises.

Buyer's Guide
IBM MQ
March 2026
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is not easily scalable. 

How are customer service and support?

Technical support is tough to connect with because the training and documentation from IBM are awful and the technical support from IBM is also poor. So it's easier to solve your issue using Google rather than calling support at IBM.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was a bit complex. The installation itself can take anywhere from half an hour to four hours, and the configuration could also take a couple of hours, depending on the complexity of the design.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The solution is expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution an eight out of ten. The solution is good, but the clustering model can be improved. My advice to others considering the solution is to check other products on the market and ensure their product of choice complies with everything they need. They should go for IBM MQ but ensure they carefully read the terms and conditions and view the price beforehand. Alternatively, if they want to go with a more lightweight solution that is just as reliable, they should review RabbitMQ.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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Architect at T-Systems International GmbH
Real User
Oct 30, 2022
Scalable, reliable, and good support
Pros and Cons
  • "The scalability of IBM MQ is good."
  • "IBM MQ could improve capacity, monitoring, and automatization."

What needs improvement?

IBM MQ could improve capacity, monitoring, and automatization.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using IBM MQ for approximately 22 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

IBM MQ is a stable solution, it is used mainframe computers and it is secure.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of IBM MQ is good.

We have approximately 100 people using this solution in my company.

How are customer service and support?

The support from IBM MQ is good.

How was the initial setup?

IBM MQ has a complex setup. The time it takes for deployment take approximately two to three months.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

We have a special contract with IBM MQ that give us a certain price.

What other advice do I have?

I am satisfied with the solution overall.

We have five to six people for the maintenance of this solution.

I rate IBM MQ an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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Buyer's Guide
IBM MQ
March 2026
Learn what your peers think about IBM MQ. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: March 2026.
884,371 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Yogesh Kshirsagar - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate V P - Technology Delivery at a computer software company with 501-1,000 employees
Real User
Sep 20, 2022
Effective transaction processing, reliable, and scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of IBM MQ is transaction processing."
  • "I have used the support from IBM MQ. There is some room for improvement."

What is our primary use case?

IBM MQ is used to ensure that transactions are properly handled.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of IBM MQ is transaction processing.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using IBM MQ for approximately 10 years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

IBM MQ is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of IBM MQ is good.

We have only customer transactions using IBM MQ.

How are customer service and support?

I have used the support from IBM MQ. There is some room for improvement.

I rate the support from IBM MQ a four out of five.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I have not used another solution prior to IBM MQ.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of IBM MQ is complex.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The price of IBM MQ could improve by being less expensive.

I rate the price of IBM MQ a three out of five.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

I choose IBM MQ over other solutions because of personal comfort.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend IBM MQ to others that are using major transaction processing.

I rate IBM MQ an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
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Guirino Ciliberti - PeerSpot reviewer
Data Governance & Lineage Product Manager at Primeur
Real User
Sep 9, 2022
Robust, reliable, and responsive
Pros and Cons
  • "IBM HQ's stability is great - we send six million messages a day, and we're very satisfied with HQ's ability to handle that volume."
  • "IBM HQ's scalability isn't the best."

What is our primary use case?

I use IBM HQ to communicate with subsystems within our plants e.g. the supply chain.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using IBM HQ for eight years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

IBM HQ's stability is great - we send six million messages a day, and we're very satisfied with HQ's ability to handle that volume.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

IBM HQ's scalability isn't the best.

How are customer service and support?

IBM's technical support is great.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward and took around half an hour.

What about the implementation team?

We used an in-house team and a system integrator.

What other advice do I have?

I would absolutely recommend IBM HQ to others as a very robust, reliable, responsive product. I would give IBM HQ a rating of nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Ahmed Elgrouney - PeerSpot reviewer
Software Integration Developer at ISFP
Real User
Sep 7, 2022
An excellent solution with great security and monitoring capabilities
Pros and Cons
  • "The product helps us monitor messages with other queues, view duplicated messages and control undelivered messages."
  • "It would be great if the dashboard had additional features like a board design."

What is our primary use case?

We use this solution locally and work in port authority where we deal with multiple parties like warehousing, containers, customs and Egyptian customs. Therefore we can communicate with each other and achieve middleware goals. We use the MQ Server and MQ client in each party and control it with the MQ server in port authority.

How has it helped my organization?

The product has allowed our organization to deal with all parties, like containers and warehousing. As a result, we can deal with these parties, exchange messages, and achieve our goals.

What is most valuable?

We have found the security and monitoring capabilities of the product most valuable. The product helps us monitor messages with other queues, view duplicated messages and control undelivered messages so they can be stored in pack-out queues and restored. We like more than one feature in MQ as the product is secure. For example, we can exchange messages between all parties with a stake and have control of undelivered and unrouted messages. Furthermore, with a scheme of validation, we can report access.

What needs improvement?

The dashboard is handy because we use it to monitor the messages and know how many messages are delivered to parties' dashboards. For example, we can notice how many letters are delivered, how many messages are undelivered, and how many messages are brought incorrectly by the dashboard. However, it would be great if the dashboard had additional features like a board design or picture management features.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for over six years and are currently using MQ version nine.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The solution is scalable. Over ten parties, with 10,000 people, are using this solution in our organization, and two employees are required for maintenance. One employee is a system analyst, and the other is an integration developer.

How are customer service and support?

I rate technical support a ten out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not previously use any other solutions.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward. It was easy to install and configure.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment was done in-house.

What was our ROI?

The product is good, and our organization has used this product for more than ten years.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The licenses for our company are according to port authority contract sales and we buy a license for six months or one year. I don't know the exact costs of the licenses.

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution a ten out of ten because we have no issues with it. The solution is good, but improvements could be made to the dashboard.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Dinesh Patri - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager - Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Jul 21, 2022
Speeds up active communication but pricing is high
Pros and Cons
  • "IBM MQ's flexibility has sped up our active communication."
  • "IBM MQ's pricing is higher than its competitors'."

What is our primary use case?

Primarily, I use IBM MQ for microservices, modeling, and communications.

How has it helped my organization?

IBM MQ's flexibility has sped up our active communication. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using IBM MQ for five and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

IBM MQ's stability is good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

IBM MQ can scale, but there are some challenges with it.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

IBM MQ's pricing is higher than its competitors'.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate IBM MQ seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1164303 - PeerSpot reviewer
Service Delivery Consultant at a computer software company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Feb 20, 2022
Secure, no data loss, and it is easy to set up
Pros and Cons
  • "This product has good security."
  • "The licensing fees should be more cost-effective so that we can better pitch the product to our clients. With the pricing as it is, they tend to move away from IBM products."

What is our primary use case?

We are a solution provider and this is one of the products that we implement for our clients.

The primary use case for IBM MQ is handling the transportation of messages between applications.

This is being used in a mainframe environment.

How has it helped my organization?

Our clients complain about the price of this solution but otherwise, they have not had any problems with it. They are very happy with the quality of the product.

What is most valuable?

This product has good security.

There is no data loss while transporting messages.

What needs improvement?

The licensing fees should be more cost-effective so that we can better pitch the product to our clients. With the pricing as it is, they tend to move away from IBM products. They look for other solutions, such as open-source products.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with IBM MQ for fifteen years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This product is used on a daily basis and it is quite stable. In terms of reliability, I would rate it a five out of five.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

I have not found any issues related to scalability.

We have multiple clients that use IBM MQ.

How are customer service and support?

We handle the support that initially comes in from our clients. If we have any problem, then we take it to IBM using a PMR (Problem Management Report). When there is an issue then we feel that we can go to them.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

We did not use another similar solution prior to IBM MQ.

How was the initial setup?

IBM MQ is not at all difficult to set up.

There is no deployment, per se. A broker will handle the deployment.

What about the implementation team?

We handle the implementation and maintenance in-house. The number of people required for maintenance depends on the team. Our team members support multiple accounts.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The problem with this product is that it's a little bit expensive. This is one of the main challenges that we face with our clients. The charges are high and there should be a less costly solution available. This is especially true when you consider it in comparison to open-source tools that are available.

What other advice do I have?

Overall, I am very happy with this product and my only complaint is that the price is high. I definitely recommend it.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
reviewer914148 - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud Integration Leader - Cloud Migration Leader at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Feb 18, 2022
We like the solution for our synchronous communications and transactional applications that require a lot of CPS
Pros and Cons
  • "We like IBM MQ for our synchronous communications and transactional applications that require a lot of CPS."
  • "It's not always easy for applications to connect to IBM MQ, but I think it's fine in general."

What is our primary use case?

We use MQ for our transactional layer in conjunction with IBM Bus. We use MQ for our web application servers and many of our processes.

What is most valuable?

We like IBM MQ for our synchronous communications and transactional applications that require a lot of CPS.

For how long have I used the solution?

We've been using IBM MQ for about 10 years, but we are currently in the process of migrating our IBM workload to the integration layer in AWS.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

IBM MQ is highly stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The portion of IBM MQ that we have in the cloud is scalable, but the on-premise part isn't so much. However, we are working on sending our loads to cloud.

How are customer service and support?

IBM support is good. I would rate it nine out of 10.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

It's straightforward to set up IBM MQ because we can use it in lightweight modules, like containers, for example. It's not always easy for applications to connect to IBM MQ, but I think it's fine in general.

What other advice do I have?

I rate IBM MQ nine out of 10. It's a good solution.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM MQ Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: March 2026
Buyer's Guide
Download our free IBM MQ Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.