How does Sidekiq differ from other background job processors like Resque or DelayedJob?

Beginner

Answer

Sidekiq differs in several key ways:

  • Concurrency Model: Sidekiq uses threads (lightweight), while Resque uses processes (heavyweight). DelayedJob can use either.
  • Performance: Sidekiq is typically 20x faster than Resque due to threading
  • Storage: Sidekiq and Resque use Redis, DelayedJob uses your application's database
  • Memory Usage: Sidekiq uses less memory due to threading vs forking
  • Dependencies: Sidekiq requires Redis, DelayedJob requires only a database

Example performance difference:

# Sidekiq can process 1000s of jobs/second with one process
# Resque might need 20+ processes for similar throughput