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Head-to-head · Message Broker Software

Amazon SQS vs Amazon SNS

  • Updated Nov 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 3 checks side by side
Higher score Amazon SQS #8 in Message Broker Software 8.5/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 1 features Visit Amazon SQS
Amazon SNS #17 in Message Broker Software 7.6/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 1 features Visit Amazon SNS

Amazon SQS leads on 0 checks, Amazon SNS on 0, and 3 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 3 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreAmazon SQS · 8.5/10
  • Free planboth

Amazon SQS scores higher on our rubric for message broker software: 8.5 against 7.6 out of 10; our editors rank them #8 and #17.

On ordering guarantees, Amazon SNS gives you Per_partition where Amazon SQS offers Per_queue.

Amazon SQS is the better fit for managed AWS queues. Amazon SNS is the better fit for AWS fan-out and notifications.

  • Amazon SQS fits best

    Managed AWS queues

  • Amazon SNS fits best

    AWS fan-out and notifications

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Side by side

Feature Amazon SQS 8.5/10 Visit ↗ Amazon SNS 7.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 8.5 7.6
Ranking #8 in Message Broker Software #17 in Message Broker Software
Best for Managed AWS queues AWS fan-out and notifications
Pricing model Free plan + paid Free plan + paid
Starting price — $0.06/unit usage-based
Free plan ✓ ✓
Free trial — —
Deployment Cloud Cloud
Platforms Web Web
Support Docs Docs
Integrations 8 integrations 7 integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Amazon SQS 1/1 · Amazon SNS 1/1
Dead-letter queues ✓ ✓
Specs
Deployment model Cloud Cloud
Delivery guarantees Configurable Configurable
Ordering guarantees Per_queue Per_partition
Maximum message size 1 MB 1 MB
Supported protocols AWS JSON, AWS Query, HTTPS, TLS http, https, email, email-json, sms, sqs, application, lambda, firehose
Our review
Pros
  • Standard and FIFO queues support different delivery guarantees
  • Dead-letter queues, redrive, batching, and long polling are built in
  • Integrates with Lambda, SNS, S3, DynamoDB, and other AWS services
  • Standard and FIFO topics support flexible delivery patterns
  • Filtering, deduplication, replay, and dead-letter queues
  • Delivers to SQS, Lambda, HTTP/S, email, SMS, and mobile push
Cons
  • Best-effort ordering applies to standard queues
  • Usage-based pricing varies by queue type and request characteristics
  • Designed for AWS environments rather than broad multi-cloud portability
  • Usage-based pricing can span multiple delivery charges
  • FIFO features center on supported SNS-to-SQS configurations
  • Cloud deployment is closely tied to the AWS ecosystem
Our verdict

Amazon SQS is a fully managed cloud message queuing service for decoupling microservices, distributed systems, and serverless applications. It is suited to teams building around AWS services and accessing queues through the AWS Management…

Read the review →

Amazon SNS is a managed publish-subscribe messaging service for application-to-application and application-to-person communication. It publishes messages to topics and asynchronously fans them out to destinations including Amazon SQS, AWS…

Read the review →
  1. Amazon SQSMessage Broker Software 8.5Free plan
  2. Amazon SNSMessage Broker Software 7.6Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Amazon SQS — where it wins

    • Standard and FIFO queues support different delivery guarantees
    • Dead-letter queues, redrive, batching, and long polling are built in
    • Integrates with Lambda, SNS, S3, DynamoDB, and other AWS services

    Where it doesn't

    • Best-effort ordering applies to standard queues
    • Usage-based pricing varies by queue type and request characteristics
    • Designed for AWS environments rather than broad multi-cloud portability

  • Amazon SNS — where it wins

    • Standard and FIFO topics support flexible delivery patterns
    • Filtering, deduplication, replay, and dead-letter queues
    • Delivers to SQS, Lambda, HTTP/S, email, SMS, and mobile push

    Where it doesn't

    • Usage-based pricing can span multiple delivery charges
    • FIFO features center on supported SNS-to-SQS configurations
    • Cloud deployment is closely tied to the AWS ecosystem

Amazon SQS vs Amazon SNS: questions

Which is better for message broker software, Amazon SQS or Amazon SNS?

Amazon SQS scores higher on our rubric for message broker software: 8.5 against 7.6 out of 10; our editors rank them #8 and #17.

How do Amazon SQS and Amazon SNS compare?

All 3 checks we put side by side come out level: neither leads on any.

Do Amazon SQS and Amazon SNS have a free plan?

Amazon SQS: Yes. Amazon SNS: Yes.

More comparisons

All message broker software comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Nov 2026

Last updated · How we research and update