# Amazon SQS vs Trigger.dev

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/amazon-sqs-vs-trigger-dev/

Every value below is read from Amazon SQS's and Trigger.dev's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Amazon SQS | Trigger.dev |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Entry paid plan | No paid plan or minimum fee; billed per request after the free 1 million requests a month. | $10/month for Hobby, which includes $10 of credits; Pro is $50/month including $50 of credits. |
| Pricing model | 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. | A monthly plan fee that is also a credit balance — the fee buys compute rather than sitting on top of it — with concurrency, preview branches, dashboards and schedules each priced as separate add-ons beyond the plan's allowance. |
| Included per month | 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. | Credits rather than a message or execution count: $5 a month free, $10 included on Hobby and $50 on Pro, spent against compute. |
| 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. | 3 MB per trigger payload (each batch item up to 3 MB on SDK 4.3.1+); task outputs up to 10 MB; payloads over 512 KB offloaded to object storage. |
| Message retention | 4 days by default; configurable from 60 seconds up to 14 days per queue. | Log retention of 1 day on the free plan, 7 days on Hobby and 30 days on Pro, with the query period matching. |
| Concurrency | Approximately 120,000 in-flight messages per standard queue (received but not yet deleted); API call rate on standard queues is nearly unlimited. | 20 concurrent runs on the free plan, 50 on Hobby, and more on Pro at $10 a month per additional 50. |
| SOC 2 | Listed as SOC-compliant on AWS's own compliance scope page. | SOC 2 Type II compliant; latest report available on request for Enterprise customers. |
| HIPAA | Listed as a HIPAA-eligible service on AWS's own reference page. | Meets HIPAA Business Associate requirements; a signed BAA is a paid add-on for running PHI workloads on Trigger.dev Cloud. |
| 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. | Stated GDPR compliant; DPA forms part of the Terms of Service automatically on sign-up. |
| Encryption at rest | Server-side encryption of queue contents with SQS-managed keys (SSE-SQS) or AWS KMS keys (SSE-KMS). | Data encrypted at rest with AES-256 and in transit with HTTPS/TLS. |
| Role-based access control | IAM identity-based policies on users, groups and roles plus resource-based queue policies control access to queues and actions. | Role-based access control (RBAC) and SSO listed as Enterprise plan features. |
| Private networking / VPC | Interface VPC endpoints (AWS PrivateLink) let a VPC reach SQS privately, including FIPS endpoints; HTTPS endpoints only. | AWS PrivateLink to resources in your own AWS VPC; a Pro and Enterprise feature enabled on request. |

## 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. ([source](https://aws.amazon.com/sqs/pricing/))
- Trigger.dev: $10/month for Hobby, which includes $10 of credits; Pro is $50/month including $50 of credits. ([source](https://trigger.dev/pricing))

### 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. ([source](https://pricing.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/offers/v1.0/aws/AWSQueueService/current/us-east-1/index.json))
- Trigger.dev: A monthly plan fee that is also a credit balance — the fee buys compute rather than sitting on top of it — with concurrency, preview branches, dashboards and schedules each priced as separate add-ons beyond the plan's allowance. ([source](https://trigger.dev/pricing))

### 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. ([source](https://pricing.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/offers/v1.0/aws/AWSQueueService/current/us-east-1/index.json))
- Trigger.dev: Credits rather than a message or execution count: $5 a month free, $10 included on Hobby and $50 on Pro, spent against compute. ([source](https://trigger.dev/pricing))

### 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. ([source](https://aws.amazon.com/sqs/pricing/))
- Trigger.dev: 3 MB per trigger payload (each batch item up to 3 MB on SDK 4.3.1+); task outputs up to 10 MB; payloads over 512 KB offloaded to object storage. ([source](https://trigger.dev/docs/limits))

### Message retention

- Amazon SQS: 4 days by default; configurable from 60 seconds up to 14 days per queue. ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSSimpleQueueService/latest/SQSDeveloperGuide/quotas-messages.html))
- Trigger.dev: Log retention of 1 day on the free plan, 7 days on Hobby and 30 days on Pro, with the query period matching. ([source](https://trigger.dev/pricing))

### 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. ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSSimpleQueueService/latest/SQSDeveloperGuide/quotas-queues.html))
- Trigger.dev: 20 concurrent runs on the free plan, 50 on Hobby, and more on Pro at $10 a month per additional 50. ([source](https://trigger.dev/pricing))

### SOC 2

- Amazon SQS: Listed as SOC-compliant on AWS's own compliance scope page. ([source](https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/services-in-scope/SOC/))
- Trigger.dev: SOC 2 Type II compliant; latest report available on request for Enterprise customers. ([source](https://trigger.dev/security))

### HIPAA

- Amazon SQS: Listed as a HIPAA-eligible service on AWS's own reference page. ([source](https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/hipaa-eligible-services-reference/))
- Trigger.dev: Meets HIPAA Business Associate requirements; a signed BAA is a paid add-on for running PHI workloads on Trigger.dev Cloud. ([source](https://trigger.dev/security))

### 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. ([source](https://aws.amazon.com/compliance/gdpr-center/))
- Trigger.dev: Stated GDPR compliant; DPA forms part of the Terms of Service automatically on sign-up. ([source](https://trigger.dev/security))

### Encryption at rest

- Amazon SQS: Server-side encryption of queue contents with SQS-managed keys (SSE-SQS) or AWS KMS keys (SSE-KMS). ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSSimpleQueueService/latest/SQSDeveloperGuide/sqs-server-side-encryption.html))
- Trigger.dev: Data encrypted at rest with AES-256 and in transit with HTTPS/TLS. ([source](https://trigger.dev/security))

### 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. ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSSimpleQueueService/latest/SQSDeveloperGuide/sqs-overview-of-managing-access.html))
- Trigger.dev: Role-based access control (RBAC) and SSO listed as Enterprise plan features. ([source](https://trigger.dev/pricing))

### Private networking / VPC

- Amazon SQS: Interface VPC endpoints (AWS PrivateLink) let a VPC reach SQS privately, including FIPS endpoints; HTTPS endpoints only. ([source](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AWSSimpleQueueService/latest/SQSDeveloperGuide/sqs-internetwork-traffic-privacy.html))
- Trigger.dev: AWS PrivateLink to resources in your own AWS VPC; a Pro and Enterprise feature enabled on request. ([source](https://trigger.dev/docs/private-networking/overview))

## Which should you choose?

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 Trigger.dev if Teams that want background jobs written as normal code with the bill expressed as compute credits rather than a per-message meter.

Consider something else: 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.

Consider something else: Trigger.dev — Concurrency is the axis that forces an upgrade — 20 simultaneous runs on free, 50 on Hobby, then $10 a month per additional 50.

## Documented by only one

- Regions: Amazon SQS: 34 commercial AWS Regions plus 2 AWS GovCloud (US) Regions listed in the SQS service endpoints table.
- Maximum delay: Amazon SQS: 15 minutes maximum per-message delay (message timer) or per-queue delay; default is 0 seconds.
- Dead letter queue: Amazon SQS: Supported
- 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.
- PCI DSS: Amazon SQS: Listed as PCI DSS-compliant on AWS's own compliance scope page.
- Customer-managed keys: Amazon SQS: Supported via SSE-KMS: queues can use a customer managed KMS key created and policy-controlled in AWS KMS.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Amazon SQS or Trigger.dev?**

Amazon SQS: No paid plan or minimum fee; billed per request after the free 1 million requests a month.
Trigger.dev: $10/month for Hobby, which includes $10 of credits; Pro is $50/month including $50 of credits.

**Should I choose Amazon SQS or Trigger.dev?**

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 Trigger.dev if Teams that want background jobs written as normal code with the bill expressed as compute credits rather than a per-message meter.