Amazon MQ

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What Amazon MQ is

Amazon MQ is a cloud service for running Apache ActiveMQ and RabbitMQ message brokers without taking on broker setup, operation, and maintenance. It handles provisioning, upgrades, and recovery from failures, and supports migrating existing brokers through standard messaging protocols without rewriting application messaging code. Teams can start and manage brokers through the AWS Management Console, CloudFormation, the CLI, or API calls. Deployment choices include a single instance, a replicated cluster, and active/standby configurations, with availability and durability features across Availability Zones.

ActiveMQ supports JMS, NMS, AMQP, STOMP, OpenWire, WebSocket, and MQTT, with client options for Java, Node.js, Go, Python, Ruby, and C++. RabbitMQ offers classic, classic mirrored, and quorum queues; quorum queues require RabbitMQ 3.13 or later. Amazon MQ integrates with CloudWatch for broker and queue metrics, which are sent every minute, and CloudTrail for broker and configuration API records. AWS Lambda functions can poll a broker. Data at rest is encrypted with AWS KMS, and broker connections use TLS. Brokers can run in an Amazon VPC, with private cross-VPC and cross-account networking for RabbitMQ.

Who it suits

Amazon MQ suits teams moving existing ActiveMQ or RabbitMQ brokers to AWS, and applications that need messaging without managing broker operations. It also fits workloads such as low-latency event messaging or communication between cloud-native components.

What it does well

Migrates existing brokers without requiring messaging code rewrites.
Offers single-instance, replicated-cluster, and active/standby deployments.
Supports multiple protocols and client languages with ActiveMQ.
Sends broker and queue metrics to CloudWatch every minute.
Encrypts stored data with AWS KMS.

What to know first

The service is paid outside its eligible AWS Free Tier offer.
Standard AWS data transfer fees may apply.
RabbitMQ brokers do not support TLS 1.3.

Limits

Eligible new AWS customers can use the AWS Free Tier for six months after account creation, with up to $200 in credits that must be used within 12 months. Pay-as-you-go broker use is billed hourly at one-second resolution and storage monthly; charges depend on instance size, deployment type, and storage, and data transfer fees may apply.

Plans

Plan	Billed and limits	Price
AWS Free Tier	Eligible new AWS customers can choose a free plan available for 6 months after account creation; AWS Free Tier credits can be applied to eligible Amazon MQ usage. · Up to $200 in credits · credits must be used within 12 months of account creation	Free
Pay-as-you-go	Broker usage is billed hourly at one-second resolution; storage is billed monthly. Fees vary by instance size, deployment type, and storage. · No minimum fees or upfront commitments · standard data transfer fees may apply	On request

As aws.amazon.com lists them, read 8 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.

Getting started

Visit the Amazon MQ website.
Choose the AWS Free Tier offer if you are an eligible new AWS customer, or use pay-as-you-go.
Launch and manage a broker through the AWS Management Console, CloudFormation, CLI, or API calls.
Choose ActiveMQ or RabbitMQ and a deployment mode.
Connect applications using a supported protocol and client.

Verdict

Choose Amazon MQ if you need managed ActiveMQ or RabbitMQ brokers and want to migrate applications using standard messaging protocols. Look elsewhere if you require TLS 1.3 for RabbitMQ, or if AWS data transfer charges are a concern.

Questions

Is Amazon MQ free?

It has an AWS Free Tier plan for eligible new AWS customers for six months after account creation. Up to $200 in AWS Free Tier credits can apply to eligible Amazon MQ usage and must be used within 12 months of account creation.

How is pay-as-you-go pricing billed?

Broker usage is billed hourly at one-second resolution, and storage is billed monthly. Fees vary with instance size, deployment type, and storage; standard AWS data transfer fees may apply.

Which platforms does Amazon MQ support?

The listed platforms are API and web.

Which messaging protocols does it support?

Supported protocols include AMQP, AMQP 0-9-1, AMQP 1.0, JMS, NMS, MQTT, OpenWire, STOMP, and WebSocket, including MQTT and STOMP over WebSocket.

What security options does it offer?

Amazon MQ encrypts data at rest with AWS KMS and uses TLS for connections between brokers. Authentication options include LDAP for ActiveMQ and OAuth 2.0, IAM, LDAP, HTTP, and mutual TLS for RabbitMQ.

Can RabbitMQ use quorum queues?

Yes. Amazon MQ for RabbitMQ supports quorum queues on RabbitMQ 3.13 and above.

Facts from Amazon MQ's own pages

Access controls: Amazon MQ supports IAM controls for service actions; broker authentication methods include LDAP for ActiveMQ and OAuth 2.0, IAM, LDAP, HTTP, and mutual TLS options for RabbitMQ. · docs.aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
Availability: Amazon MQ offers single-instance, replicated cluster, and active/standby deployment modes, with availability and durability features across Availability Zones. · aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
AWS integrations: Amazon MQ integrates with CloudWatch for broker and queue metrics and supports using AWS Lambda functions to poll a broker. · aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
Intended workloads: AWS describes Amazon MQ use cases including low-latency event messaging, migration from on premises, and communication between cloud-native applications and components. · aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
Limits: Amazon MQ charges standard AWS data transfer fees, and traffic forwarded between brokers across Availability Zones in the same Region is charged at $0.01/GB in each direction. · aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
Maker history: Amazon Web Services says it launched in 2006; Amazon's investor FAQ says the company was incorporated in 1994 and its principal corporate offices are in Seattle, Washington. · aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
Management: Amazon MQ can be launched through the AWS Management Console, CloudFormation, the CLI, or API calls, and manages provisioning, setup, upgrades, and failure recovery. · aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
Migration: Applications can migrate existing message brokers to Amazon MQ using industry-standard messaging protocols without rewriting messaging code. · docs.aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
Monitoring and audit: Amazon MQ sends broker and queue metrics to CloudWatch every minute and integrates with CloudTrail to record API calls related to brokers and configurations. · docs.aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
Private networking: Amazon MQ brokers can be isolated in an Amazon VPC, and RabbitMQ brokers can connect across VPCs and AWS accounts using private networking. · aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
Protocols and clients: ActiveMQ supports JMS, NMS, AMQP, STOMP, OpenWire, WebSocket, and MQTT, with clients including Java, Node.js, Go, Python, Ruby, and C++. · aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
RabbitMQ queues: Amazon MQ for RabbitMQ supports classic, classic mirrored, and quorum queues; quorum queues are supported on RabbitMQ 3.13 and above. · aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
Security: Amazon MQ encrypts data at rest with AWS KMS and uses TLS for connections between brokers; the documentation says TLS 1.3 is not available for RabbitMQ brokers. · docs.aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026
What it does: Amazon MQ is a managed message broker service for Apache ActiveMQ and RabbitMQ that handles broker setup, operation, and maintenance. · docs.aws.amazon.com, 8 Oct 2026

Where Amazon MQ stands on Freedom251

Message Broker Software#9 of 39
Message Queue (MQ) Software#9 of 29