The archive · Developer & Business Tools · Product decision · 2024–2026
SmoothMQ bets a drop-in SQLite SQS clone can undercut AWS; 2.3k stars
Open-source SQS replacement on SQLite with a UI and observability; 656-point Show HN in 2024, 2.3k GitHub stars by Sept 2026.
SmoothMQ
What the business is
SmoothMQ is an open-source, drop-in replacement for Amazon SQS: a single Go binary runs an SQS-compatible server on any cloud with SQLite storage, a functional web UI on port 3000, observability, tracing, message scheduling and rate limiting, and it works with any existing SQS client — including boto3 and Celery — by changing the endpoint URL.
How it started
SmoothMQ began as its maintainer's own itch: on launch day the author (HN: memset) said it grew out of his existing realtime-data business but was 'something I wish existed' rather than a VC strategy, and that an earlier round of Hacker News feedback about a month before had encouraged him to keep going and pick the first features. The GitHub README positions it as 'a drop-in replacement for SQS with a much smoother developer experience' — a private SQS instance on any cloud, deployed as a single binary and usable from any SQS client.
What happened
The launch thread (656 points, 156 comments) tested the bet on both edges. Commenters asked whether SQLite could scale like SQS and whether the AGPL license hurt adoption, and one asked outright 'is there really any money left in message queues?' The author answered that SQLite was incidental — 'I've chosen SQLite as the file format for now,' with a distributed implementation to come — and that a hosted version would only add multi-tenancy and billing integrations, with no proprietary performance layer, following the ClickHouse and DuckDB model where the open-source code must impress on its own. He was still figuring out the market: very large firms running thousands of queues, developers wanting one stack on familiar tech, or hosting companies wanting to offer queue-as-a-service.
How it ended up
Still live as open source as of 2026-09-05: the repo recorded 2.3k stars, 52 forks, 8 watchers and 114 commits at the 2026-09-04 crawl, and the README still asks for feedback on product direction. The record shows no company entity, funding, revenue or hosted offering, so the cheaper-than-SQS hosted bet remains unproven.
Background
SmoothMQ is an open-source answer to a developer pain with Amazon SQS: queues are powerful but opaque. The project is a drop-in SQS replacement built on SQLite that deploys as a single Go binary, exposing an SQS-compatible server on port 3001 and a functional UI on port 3000, so any existing SQS client — the README shows boto3 and Celery — can connect simply by changing the endpoint URL.
The bet is twofold. First, developers want an SQS they can actually see and operate: the README promises observability, tracing, message scheduling and rate limiting, plus a UI where queues and individual messages can be searched. Second, a hosted version can undercut Amazon on price the way the author says Minio and Backblaze competed with S3. He framed the project as something he wished existed, related to his realtime-data business, and credited earlier Hacker News feedback with pushing him to launch.
The June 2024 Show HN drew 656 points and 156 comments, and the discussion probed exactly where the bet could break: SQLite's ceiling versus SQS scale, AGPL licensing, and whether any money remains in message queues. The maintainer answered that SQLite was a deliberate starting point rather than the endgame, and that the hosted layer would only add multi-tenant and billing concerns — the open-source core had to be good enough to earn trust. By the 2026-09-04 crawl the repo had 2.3k stars, 52 forks and 114 commits, with no company or hosted offering disclosed.
What has to be true
- Concrete traction: the 2024-06-30 Show HN drew 656 points and 156 comments, and the 2026-09-04 crawl recorded 2.3k stars, 52 forks and 114 commits.
- A sharp competitive bet: clone AWS's SQS API and win on developer experience and price, with Backblaze and Minio in the S3 market as the stated template.
- The open-core mechanism is explicit in the thread: no proprietary layer, so the open-source code must be impressive enough to sell the future hosted version.
- The discussion stress-tested the bet in public — SQLite scale, AGPL licensing and queue monetization — making the case a live debate rather than a silent launch.
What can be applied
Compete with the hyperscaler by cloning its API and fixing the developer experience it ignores; open-source credibility then becomes the wedge into a cheaper hosted service.
Aftermath
As of 2026-09-05 SmoothMQ is live as an open-source project: the 2026-09-04 GitHub crawl recorded 2.3k stars, 52 forks, 8 watchers and 114 commits, and the README still carries the survey asking for feedback on product direction. The material and launch thread contain no company entity, funding, revenue, customer or hosted-offering disclosures, so the commercial half of the bet — a cheaper-than-SQS hosted queue — has no verifiable outcome in the record.
Sources
- poundifdef/SmoothMQ — An improved drop-in replacement for SQS (2.3k stars at crawl)
- Show HN: Drop-in SQS replacement based on SQLite
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