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Head-to-head · Message Broker Software

Google Cloud Pub/Sub vs Amazon SNS

  • Updated Nov 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 3 checks side by side
Higher score Google Cloud Pub/Sub #3 in Message Broker Software 9.1/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 1 features Visit Google Cloud
Amazon SNS #17 in Message Broker Software 7.6/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 1 of 1 features Visit Amazon SNS

Google Cloud Pub/Sub leads on 1 check, Amazon SNS on 0, and 2 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 scoreGoogle Cloud Pub/Sub · 9.1/10
  • Free planboth

Google Cloud Pub/Sub scores higher on our rubric for message broker software: 9.1 against 7.6 out of 10; our editors rank them #3 and #17.

Google Cloud Pub/Sub leads on maximum message size: 10 MB versus 1 MB.

Google Cloud Pub/Sub is the better fit for managed cloud pub/sub. Amazon SNS is the better fit for AWS fan-out and notifications.

  • Google Cloud Pub/Sub fits best

    Managed cloud pub/sub

  • Amazon SNS fits best

    AWS fan-out and notifications

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Side by side

Feature Google Cloud Pub/Sub 9.1/10 Visit ↗ Amazon SNS 7.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.1 7.6
Ranking #3 in Message Broker Software #17 in Message Broker Software
Best for Managed cloud pub/sub 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 Tickets, Community, Docs · 24/7 Docs
Integrations 9 integrations 7 integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Google Cloud Pub/Sub 1/1 · Amazon SNS 1/1
Dead-letter queues ✓ ✓
Specs
Deployment model Cloud Cloud
Delivery guarantees Configurable Configurable
Ordering guarantees Not checked yet Per_partition
Maximum message size 10 MB (best) 1 MB
Supported protocols REST, gRPC http, https, email, email-json, sms, sqs, application, lambda, firehose
Our review
Pros
  • Exactly-once delivery, ordering keys, replay, and dead-letter topics
  • Pull and push subscriptions with message filtering
  • Integrations with BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Dataflow, and more
  • 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
  • Paid standard throughput starts at $40 per TiB monthly
  • Storage, transfer, import, export, and transformation charges can also apply
  • Cloud deployment may not suit teams seeking a self-managed broker
  • 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

Google Cloud Pub/Sub is a fully managed real-time messaging service for exchanging messages between independent applications. It fits teams building event-driven applications, streaming pipelines, and distributed systems that need publish…

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. Google Cloud Pub/SubMessage Broker Software 9.1Free plan
  2. Amazon SNSMessage Broker Software 7.6Free plan

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Google Cloud Pub/Sub — where it wins

    • Exactly-once delivery, ordering keys, replay, and dead-letter topics
    • Pull and push subscriptions with message filtering
    • Integrations with BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Dataflow, and more

    Where it doesn't

    • Paid standard throughput starts at $40 per TiB monthly
    • Storage, transfer, import, export, and transformation charges can also apply
    • Cloud deployment may not suit teams seeking a self-managed broker

  • 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

Google Cloud Pub/Sub vs Amazon SNS: questions

Which is better for message broker software, Google Cloud Pub/Sub or Amazon SNS?

Google Cloud Pub/Sub scores higher on our rubric for message broker software: 9.1 against 7.6 out of 10; our editors rank them #3 and #17.

How do Google Cloud Pub/Sub and Amazon SNS compare?

Of the 3 checks we put side by side, Google Cloud Pub/Sub leads on 1, Amazon SNS on none, and 2 are level. Maximum message size: 10 MB on Google Cloud Pub/Sub vs 1 MB.

Do Google Cloud Pub/Sub and Amazon SNS have a free plan?

Google Cloud Pub/Sub: 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