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Google Cloud Pub/Sub VS Apache ActiveMQ

Compare Google Cloud Pub/Sub VS Apache ActiveMQ and see what are their differences

Google Cloud Pub/Sub logo Google Cloud Pub/Sub

Cloud Pub/Sub is a flexible, reliable, real-time messaging service for independent applications to publish & subscribe to asynchronous events.

Apache ActiveMQ logo Apache ActiveMQ

Apache ActiveMQ is an open source messaging and integration patterns server.
  • Google Cloud Pub/Sub Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-03-23
  • Apache ActiveMQ Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-10-01

Google Cloud Pub/Sub features and specs

  • Scalability
    Google Cloud Pub/Sub is designed to handle large volumes of messages, allowing it to scale effortlessly to accommodate varying workloads.
  • Global Availability
    The service is globally distributed, ensuring low-latency access and reliability wherever your application is hosted.
  • Asynchronous Communication
    Supports asynchronous communication between services, decoupling the producer and consumer, leading to better fault tolerance and resource utilization.
  • Integration
    It integrates smoothly with other Google Cloud services and supports many third-party tools, enhancing its utility in diverse environments.
  • Security
    Offers robust security features including encryption of messages both at rest and in transit.
  • Managed Service
    Being a fully managed service, it reduces the operational overhead associated with maintaining messaging infrastructure.

Possible disadvantages of Google Cloud Pub/Sub

  • Cost Structure
    Depending on usage patterns, costs can increase significantly, making it difficult to predict expenses in high-throughput scenarios.
  • Complexity
    For beginners, setting up Pub/Sub and managing topics and subscriptions can be complex and require a learning curve.
  • Latency Variability
    While generally low, message delivery latency can sometimes vary, especially under peak loads.
  • Dependency on Network
    As a cloud-based service, its performance is heavily dependent on network reliability, which might not be suitable for extremely sensitive real-time applications.
  • Limited Message Retention
    By default, messages are retained for a limited period, which may not be suitable for applications needing long-term message storage.

Apache ActiveMQ features and specs

  • Open Source
    ActiveMQ is open-source under the Apache License, making it free to use and modify. This can lead to cost savings compared to commercial solutions.
  • Wide Protocol Support
    ActiveMQ supports multiple messaging protocols, including AMQP, MQTT, OpenWire, Stomp, and others, allowing for flexible integration with various systems and applications.
  • Java Integration
    Written in Java, ActiveMQ integrates well with JVM-based applications and other Apache projects like Camel and Karaf, making it a good fit for Java-centric environments.
  • High Availability
    Features like broker clustering, network of brokers, and failover support provide robust high availability options, ensuring message delivery even in case of failures.
  • Performance and Scalability
    ActiveMQ can handle a large number of messages and users by scaling horizontally, making it suitable for both small and enterprise-level applications.
  • Admin Console
    ActiveMQ provides a web-based admin console for easy management and monitoring of the message broker, simplifying administrative tasks.

Possible disadvantages of Apache ActiveMQ

  • Complex Configuration
    The initial setup and configuration can be complex, especially for newcomers. It often requires a steep learning curve to understand all the available options and optimizations.
  • Resource Intensive
    ActiveMQ can be resource-intensive, particularly in high-throughput scenarios, which may necessitate more robust hardware for optimal performance.
  • Latency
    In certain configurations, ActiveMQ may exhibit higher latency compared to other brokers, which might not make it suitable for use cases requiring real-time guarantees.
  • Java Dependency
    As a Java-based solution, ActiveMQ requires the JVM, which can be a downside for organizations that have standardized on other technology stacks.
  • Community Support
    While there is a community around ActiveMQ, it may not be as large or as active as those for other, similar open-source projects. This can lead to slower responses to issues and fewer community-based resources.
  • Documentation
    Though comprehensive, the documentation can sometimes be difficult to navigate, making it challenging for users to find specific information quickly.

Analysis of Google Cloud Pub/Sub

Overall verdict

  • Google Cloud Pub/Sub is a powerful and reliable messaging service that is highly regarded for its scalability, integration capabilities, and security features. It is a strong choice for businesses looking for a robust cloud-based messaging solution.

Why this product is good

  • Scalability: Google Cloud Pub/Sub is built to handle huge amounts of data, making it ideal for large-scale applications.
  • Reliability: It provides strong reliability and consistent performance due to its distributed nature across multiple data centers.
  • Integration: Pub/Sub integrates well with other Google Cloud services, enhancing its functionality and making it easier to create comprehensive cloud solutions.
  • Security: Offers robust security features including encryption at rest and in transit, aligning with Google Cloud's overall focus on security.
  • Ease of Use: It provides a user-friendly interface and comprehensive documentation, making it accessible even for those new to cloud services.

Recommended for

  • Organizations needing to process and analyze large volumes of messages in real-time.
  • Developers building cloud-native applications requiring scalable messaging services.
  • Businesses already leveraging the Google Cloud ecosystem, as Pub/Sub integrates seamlessly with other services.
  • Teams looking for a secure and reliable messaging solution with global availability.

Analysis of Apache ActiveMQ

Overall verdict

  • Apache ActiveMQ is generally considered a good choice for message brokering due to its comprehensive feature set, stability, and scalability. It is especially beneficial in environments where integration between different systems and technologies is necessary, thanks to its support of numerous messaging protocols.

Why this product is good

  • Apache ActiveMQ is a popular open-source message broker that is known for its flexibility and reliability. It supports multiple messaging protocols and offers features such as high availability, load balancing, and a robust set of messaging patterns. It is a mature project with a large user base and a supportive community. Its ability to integrate with various platforms and languages, along with its rich feature set, makes it a suitable choice for many applications requiring reliable message queuing.

Recommended for

    Apache ActiveMQ is recommended for enterprises looking for a reliable and scalable message broker, developers needing rich messaging functionality, and organizations that require robust support for various messaging protocols, including JMS, AMQP, STOMP, and MQTT. It is particularly well-suited for applications that need to distribute messages between different applications, languages, and platforms.

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google Cloud Pub/Sub and Apache ActiveMQ)
Stream Processing
43 43%
57% 57
Data Integration
28 28%
72% 72
Web Service Automation
28 28%
72% 72
Data Management
100 100%
0% 0

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Google Cloud Pub/Sub and Apache ActiveMQ

Google Cloud Pub/Sub Reviews

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Apache ActiveMQ Reviews

6 Best Kafka Alternatives: 2022’s Must-know List
ActiveMQ is a flexible, open-source, multi-protocol messaging broker that supports many protocols. This makes it easy for developers to use a variety of languages and platforms. The AMQP protocol facilitates integration with many applications based on different platforms. However, ActiveMQ’s high-end data accessibility capabilities are complemented by its load balancing,...
Source: hevodata.com
Top 15 Alternatives to RabbitMQ In 2021
It is a managed information broker for Apache ActiveMQ which has simple installation and it runs message broker in cloud. It doesn’t need any special look after regular management and maintenance of the message system. It is utilized to send bulk message services.
Source: gokicker.com
Top 15 Kafka Alternatives Popular In 2021
Apache ActiveMQ is a popular, open-source, flexible multi-protocol messaging broker. Since it has great support for industry-based protocols, developers get access to languages and platforms. It helps in connecting clients written in languages like Python, C, C++, JavaScript, etc. With the help of the AMQP protocol, integration with many applications with different platforms...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Google Cloud Pub/Sub should be more popular than Apache ActiveMQ. It has been mentiond 15 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Google Cloud Pub/Sub mentions (15)

  • Event-Driven Architecture 101
    Secondly, Go is incredibly easy to learn and in my opinion, maintain. This means that if you're a growing company and expect to onboard new teams and team members, having Go as a basis for your systems should mean that new engineers can get up to speed quickly.  Below is a small sample application that can connect to Google PubSub, subscribe to a topic, send an event and then clean up. In total, its 82 lines of... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Top 6 message queues for distributed architectures
    Google Cloud Pub/Sub is a fully-managed, globally scalable and secure queue provided by Google Cloud for asynchronous processing messages. Cloud Pub/Sub has many of the same advantages and disadvantages as SQS due to also being cloud hosted. It has a free and paid tier. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Job Scheduling on Google Cloud Platform
    Cloud Pub/Sub: A global messaging service for event-driven architectures. - Source: dev.to / about 2 years ago
  • Effortlessly Scale Your Applications with FaaS: Learn How Functions as a Service Can Help You Grow and Thrive
    Google Cloud Functions is a FaaS offering from Google Cloud Platform (GCP). It allows developers to run their code in response to events, such as changes in a database or the arrival of a message in a Pub/Sub topic. Like AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions can be used to build a variety of applications, including serverless websites, data processing pipelines, and real-time data streams. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Mixing GCloud and F#
    That gets triggered when a Pub/Sub topic is fired (from the webhook function). - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
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Apache ActiveMQ mentions (7)

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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google Cloud Pub/Sub and Apache ActiveMQ, you can also consider the following products

Amazon Kinesis - Amazon Kinesis services make it easy to work with real-time streaming data in the AWS cloud.

RabbitMQ - RabbitMQ is an open source message broker software.

Apache Kafka - Apache Kafka is an open-source message broker project developed by the Apache Software Foundation written in Scala.

IBM MQ - IBM MQ is messaging middleware that simplifies and accelerates the integration of diverse applications and data across multiple platforms.

PieSync - Seamless two-way sync between your CRM, marketing apps and Google in no time

Amazon SQS - Amazon Simple Queue Service is a fully managed message queuing service.