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Amazon SQS vs Inngest

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of Amazon SQS and Inngest built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 24 criteria comparedSources last checked

The short answer

Choose Amazon SQS if…

AWS-resident systems that want a queue with a permanent free million requests a month and no capacity to plan — SQS scales without a throughput setting to choose.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Choose Inngest if…

Multi-step workflows that need durable execution and retries between steps, rather than a bare queue you write a consumer for.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Consider something else if…

  • Amazon SQS: Billing is per request rather than per message, and a 1 MiB payload counts as sixteen, so chatty polling or large messages cost far more than the message count suggests.
  • Inngest: Every step is a billable execution, so a three-step workflow costs three times what the run count implies, and the free plan allows five concurrent steps.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Amazon SQS alternatives · Inngest alternatives

16 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit Amazon SQS documentationVisit Inngest documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionAmazon SQSInngest
Pricing
Free tierYesYes
Kind of free offerFree tierFree tier
Entry paid planNo paid plan or minimum fee; billed per request after the free 1 million requests a month.$99/month for Pro, described as a starting price with usage above the included allowance billed on top.
Pricing modelPer request, not per message: every API action counts, and a 1 MiB payload is billed as 16 requests. FIFO queues cost $0.50 per million against standard's $0.40 in us-east-1, and fair queue requests add $0.10 per million on top of the standard rate.Per execution, where a step counts the same as a run, plus separate meters for events ingested, span data, scores and realtime connections. The pricing page ships a calculator because the execution count is not the run count.
Infrastructure
Regions34 commercial AWS Regions plus 2 AWS GovCloud (US) Regions listed in the SQS service endpoints table.All customer data hosted on AWS databases located in the United States; no other region offered on the security page.
Queues
Included per month1,000,000 requests a month free, permanently and across all regions. Beyond that, standard queues are $0.40 per million in us-east-1, falling to $0.30 above 100 billion and $0.24 above 200 billion.50,000 executions a month on the free Hobby plan and 1,000,000 on Pro, pay-as-you-go to 20M. An execution is one function run or one step, so a run with two steps counts as three.
Maximum message size
256 KB per message. A single request carries 1 to 10 messages up to 1 MiB total, and each 64 KB chunk of payload is billed as one request.
4 MiB per step-returned payload; 32 MiB total function run state; 10 MiB hard cap per event batch.
Message retention4 days by default; configurable from 60 seconds up to 14 days per queue.Queue depth rather than a time window: 100,000 queued items on the free plan and 1,000,000 or more on Pro. Trace retention is 7 days on Pro and 90 on Enterprise.
Maximum delay
15 minutes maximum per-message delay (message timer) or per-queue delay; default is 0 seconds.
Step sleeps up to 1 year on paid plans; the free plan supports sleeps up to 7 days.
ConcurrencyApproximately 120,000 in-flight messages per standard queue (received but not yet deleted); API call rate on standard queues is nearly unlimited.5 concurrent steps on the free plan, 100 or more on Pro, custom on Enterprise.
Dead letter queue
Supported
Not supported — No dead-letter queue; failed runs stay in the dashboard and are re-run in bulk with Replay.
Compliance
SOC 2Listed as SOC-compliant on AWS's own compliance scope page.SOC 2 Type II compliant; report available on request via the trust center.
ISO 27001Covered under AWS's account-wide ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification — not scoped per-service the way SOC, HIPAA and PCI DSS are on AWS's own site.Not held as of the June 2024 SOC 2 announcement, which says Inngest is exploring additional certifications, such as ISO 27001. Stated on the SOC 2 Type II announcement, dated Jun 20, 2024.
HIPAAListed as a HIPAA-eligible service on AWS's own reference page.HIPAA BAAs offered as an add-on for healthcare compliance (Enterprise column of the pricing table).
GDPR / data residency
AWS customers can process personal data on all AWS services in compliance with GDPR, and choose the storage type and geographic region for their data.
Data residency only: Inngest Cloud runs in two eastern-US footprints, AWS us-east-2 (Ohio) and Inngest bare metal in Ashburn, Virginia.
Encryption at restServer-side encryption of queue contents with SQS-managed keys (SSE-SQS) or AWS KMS keys (SSE-KMS).All data in Inngest databases is encrypted at rest and in transit; optional encryption middleware lets you bring your own key.
Customer-managed keys
Supported via SSE-KMS: queues can use a customer managed KMS key created and policy-controlled in AWS KMS.
Bring-your-own-key via SDK encryption middleware that encrypts payloads client-side before they reach Inngest; not a server-side KMS option.
Role-based access controlIAM identity-based policies on users, groups and roles plus resource-based queue policies control access to queues and actions.SAML, RBAC and audit trails listed as Enterprise plan features.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

Entry paid plan

Amazon SQS
No paid plan or minimum fee; billed per request after the free 1 million requests a month.
Inngest
$99/month for Pro, described as a starting price with usage above the included allowance billed on top.
Sources (2) →

Pricing model

Amazon SQS
Per request, not per message: every API action counts, and a 1 MiB payload is billed as 16 requests. FIFO queues cost $0.50 per million against standard's $0.40 in us-east-1, and fair queue requests add $0.10 per million on top of the standard rate.
Inngest
Per execution, where a step counts the same as a run, plus separate meters for events ingested, span data, scores and realtime connections. The pricing page ships a calculator because the execution count is not the run count.
Sources (2) →
  • AWS Price List API — AWSQueueService, us-east-1 ↗

    “"$0.50 per million Amazon SQS FIFO requests in Tier1 in US East" [...] "$0.40 per million Amazon SQS standard requests in Tier1" [...] "$0.10 per million Amazon SQS fair queue requests in US East"”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — Inngest ↗

    “TOTAL EXECUTIONS PER MONTH (30,000 runs × 2 steps per run) + 30,000 runs = 90,000 executions [...] 500 MB span data ingested [...] 10K scores [...] 500k events ingested [...] 50 realtime connections”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

Regions

Amazon SQS
34 commercial AWS Regions plus 2 AWS GovCloud (US) Regions listed in the SQS service endpoints table.
Inngest
All customer data hosted on AWS databases located in the United States; no other region offered on the security page.
Sources (2) →

Included per month

Amazon SQS
1,000,000 requests a month free, permanently and across all regions. Beyond that, standard queues are $0.40 per million in us-east-1, falling to $0.30 above 100 billion and $0.24 above 200 billion.
Inngest
50,000 executions a month on the free Hobby plan and 1,000,000 on Pro, pay-as-you-go to 20M. An execution is one function run or one step, so a run with two steps counts as three.
Sources (2) →
  • AWS Price List API — AWSQueueService, us-east-1 ↗

    “"First 1,000,000 Amazon SQS Requests per month are free" [...] "$0.40 per million Amazon SQS standard requests in Tier1 in US East" [...] "$0.30 per million ... Tier2" [...] "$0.24 per million ... Tier3"”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

  • Pricing — Inngest ↗

    “50k executions [...] 1M executions included Pay as you go up to 20M [...] (30,000 runs × 2 steps per run) + 30,000 runs = 90,000 executions [...] A single durable function run or step execution”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official pricing · Report a correction

Maximum message size

Amazon SQS

256 KB per message. A single request carries 1 to 10 messages up to 1 MiB total, and each 64 KB chunk of payload is billed as one request.

Inngest

4 MiB per step-returned payload; 32 MiB total function run state; 10 MiB hard cap per event batch.

Sources (2) →
  • Amazon SQS Pricing — AWS ↗

    “A single request can have from 1 to 10 messages, up to a maximum total payload of 1 MiB. [...] Each 64 KB chunk of a payload is billed as 1 request (for example, an API action with a 1 MiB payload is billed as 16 requests).”

    Read 2026-09-06 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Inngest usage limits - Inngest Documentation ↗

    “Step-returned payload size 4MiB Applies to data returned by a step. Function run state size 32MiB Includes event data, step data, function return data, and internal metadata.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Message retention

Amazon SQS
4 days by default; configurable from 60 seconds up to 14 days per queue.
Inngest
Queue depth rather than a time window: 100,000 queued items on the free plan and 1,000,000 or more on Pro. Trace retention is 7 days on Pro and 90 on Enterprise.
Sources (2) →

Maximum delay

Amazon SQS

15 minutes maximum per-message delay (message timer) or per-queue delay; default is 0 seconds.

Inngest

Step sleeps up to 1 year on paid plans; the free plan supports sleeps up to 7 days.

Sources (2) →

Concurrency

Amazon SQS
Approximately 120,000 in-flight messages per standard queue (received but not yet deleted); API call rate on standard queues is nearly unlimited.
Inngest
5 concurrent steps on the free plan, 100 or more on Pro, custom on Enterprise.
Sources (2) →

Dead letter queue

Amazon SQS
Supported
Inngest
Not supported — No dead-letter queue; failed runs stay in the dashboard and are re-run in bulk with Replay.
Sources (2) →

SOC 2

Amazon SQS
Listed as SOC-compliant on AWS's own compliance scope page.
Inngest
SOC 2 Type II compliant; report available on request via the trust center.
Sources (2) →
  • AWS Services in Scope — SOC ↗

    “This webpage provides a list of AWS Services in Scope of AWS assurance programs. [...] Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) ✓ Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) ✓ Amazon Simple”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

  • Security | Inngest ↗

    “Inngest is SOC 2 Type II compliant. [...] Read our announcement , request a copy of the report or contact us for additional questions.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

ISO 27001

Amazon SQS
Covered under AWS's account-wide ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification — not scoped per-service the way SOC, HIPAA and PCI DSS are on AWS's own site.
Inngest
Not held as of the June 2024 SOC 2 announcement, which says Inngest is exploring additional certifications, such as ISO 27001. Stated on the SOC 2 Type II announcement, dated Jun 20, 2024.
Sources (2) →

HIPAA

Amazon SQS
Listed as a HIPAA-eligible service on AWS's own reference page.
Inngest
HIPAA BAAs offered as an add-on for healthcare compliance (Enterprise column of the pricing table).
Sources (2) →
  • HIPAA Eligible Services Reference — AWS ↗

    “The services listed below are eligible to create, receive, process, maintain, or transmit electronic protected health information (ePHI). [...] Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3) Amazon Simple Workflow”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

  • Pricing | Inngest ↗

    “Dedicated slack channel Direct P0 support from our team HIPAA BAAs for healthcare compliance Add-on”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction

GDPR / data residency

Amazon SQS
AWS customers can process personal data on all AWS services in compliance with GDPR, and choose the storage type and geographic region for their data.
Inngest
Data residency only: Inngest Cloud runs in two eastern-US footprints, AWS us-east-2 (Ohio) and Inngest bare metal in Ashburn, Virginia.
Sources (2) →
  • GDPR — Amazon Web Services ↗

    “AWS customers can use all AWS services to process personal data [...] in compliance with the GDPR. [...] Customers have control of their customer data. With AWS, customers can: Determine where their customer data will be stored, including the type of storage and geographic region of that storage.”

    Read 2026-09-12 · official site · Report a correction

  • Inngest Cloud Architecture | Scheduling & Execution - Inngest Docs ↗

    “Inngest Cloud runs across two nearby infrastructure footprints in the eastern United States: [...] AWS us-east-2 (Ohio) hosts customer-facing APIs, control plane services, and supporting data services. [...] Inngest-operated bare metal in Ashburn, Virginia hosts the primary run scheduling and function execution data plane”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Encryption at rest

Amazon SQS
Server-side encryption of queue contents with SQS-managed keys (SSE-SQS) or AWS KMS keys (SSE-KMS).
Inngest
All data in Inngest databases is encrypted at rest and in transit; optional encryption middleware lets you bring your own key.
Sources (2) →

Customer-managed keys

Amazon SQS
Supported via SSE-KMS: queues can use a customer managed KMS key created and policy-controlled in AWS KMS.
Inngest
Bring-your-own-key via SDK encryption middleware that encrypts payloads client-side before they reach Inngest; not a server-side KMS option.
Sources (2) →

Role-based access control

Amazon SQS
IAM identity-based policies on users, groups and roles plus resource-based queue policies control access to queues and actions.
Inngest
SAML, RBAC and audit trails listed as Enterprise plan features.
Sources (2) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

Documented by only one.

These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.

What the free plan includesInngest: 50,000 executions and 500,000 events ingested a month with 5 concurrent steps, no credit card required.
Credit card to startInngest: No
Uptime SLAAmazon SQS: 99.9% monthly uptime per AWS Region, one figure with no configuration split.
PCI DSSAmazon SQS: Listed as PCI DSS-compliant on AWS's own compliance scope page.
Private networking / VPCAmazon SQS: Interface VPC endpoints (AWS PrivateLink) let a VPC reach SQS privately, including FIPS endpoints; HTTPS endpoints only.
Dedicated infrastructureInngest: Enterprise runs on dedicated function execution infrastructure with isolated queue and constraint shards; Dedicated Infrastructure is an enterprise add-on. The add-on's contents and price are not described on the page.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: Amazon SQS or Inngest?

Amazon SQS: No paid plan or minimum fee; billed per request after the free 1 million requests a month.

Inngest: $99/month for Pro, described as a starting price with usage above the included allowance billed on top.

Should I choose Amazon SQS or Inngest?

Pick Amazon SQS if AWS-resident systems that want a queue with a permanent free million requests a month and no capacity to plan — SQS scales without a throughput setting to choose.

Pick Inngest if Multi-step workflows that need durable execution and retries between steps, rather than a bare queue you write a consumer for.

Provider pages

Amazon SQSAWS managed message queue, billed per request with standard and FIFO rates and a permanent free tier.InngestDurable execution platform where the billable unit is a function or step execution rather than a queued message.

Related comparisons

Amazon SQS vs Azure Queue StorageAmazon SQS vs Cloudflare QueuesAmazon SQS vs Google Cloud Pub/SubAmazon SQS vs HatchetAmazon SQS vs TemporalAmazon SQS vs Trigger.devAmazon SQS vs ZeploCloudflare Queues vs Inngest

Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.