What is Amazon SQS?

Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) is a fully managed message queuing service that enables you to decouple and scale microservices, distributed systems, and serverless applications. SQS eliminates the complexity and overhead associated with managing and operating message-oriented middleware, and empowers developers to focus on differentiating work instead of infrastructure management.

Launched in 2006 as one of AWS's first services, SQS offers two types of message queues: Standard queues for maximum throughput and best-effort ordering, and FIFO (First-In-First-Out) queues for guaranteed ordering and exactly-once processing. With SQS, you can send, store, and receive messages between software components at any volume without losing messages or requiring other services to be available.

SQS Cost Calculator

SQS Queue Types

SQS Core Features

Key SQS Concepts

SQS Code Examples

import boto3

sqs = boto3.client('sqs')
queue_url = 'https://sqs.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/123456789012/my-queue'

response = sqs.send_message(
  QueueUrl=queue_url,
  MessageBody='Hello from SQS!',
  MessageAttributes={
    'Priority': {
      'StringValue': 'High',
      'DataType': 'String'
    }
  }
)

print(f"Message ID: {response['MessageId']}")

import boto3

sqs = boto3.client('sqs')
queue_url = 'https://sqs.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/123456789012/my-queue'

response = sqs.receive_message(
  QueueUrl=queue_url,
  MaxNumberOfMessages=10,
  WaitTimeSeconds=20,  # Long polling
  MessageAttributeNames=['All']
)

if 'Messages' in response:
  for message in response['Messages']:
    print(f"Body: {message['Body']}")
    
    # Process message here
    
    # Delete message after processing
    sqs.delete_message(
      QueueUrl=queue_url,
      ReceiptHandle=message['ReceiptHandle']
    )

SQS Use Cases

Real-World SQS Implementations

SQS Best Practices