No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud vs PubSub+ Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
4.7
Confluent Cloud's Kafka offers cost-effective scalability and reliability, enhancing data processing and schema management despite higher costs.
Sentiment score
6.0
Organizations see mixed ROI with PubSub+ Platform, noting both operational benefits and challenges with costs and alternatives.
Returns depend on the application you deploy and the amount of benefits you are getting, which depends on how many applications you are deploying, what are the sorts of applications, and what are the requirements.
Chief Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
Apache Kafka support on Confluent Cloud is praised for timely and competent assistance, with high user satisfaction ratings.
Sentiment score
7.4
PubSub+ Platform excels in customer service with knowledgeable, responsive support and strong leadership involvement, ensuring efficient issue resolution.
I was getting prompt responses, and it was nicely handled regarding the support.
Lead Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
I would rate them eight if 10 was the best and one was the worst.
Chief Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
they can come on calls and assist quite well,
Integration Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
I have looked into PubSub+ Platform's support forums to read and understand a few things that I did not understand.
Developer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
5.8
Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is scalable and flexible, though some users report reliability issues when scaling.
Sentiment score
7.3
PubSub+ Platform is scalable with easy expansion, although some find Docker setup complex; supports multi-cloud messaging efficiently.
According to me, it is quite scalable in terms of all the data it can handle and stream.
Lead Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
In terms of scalability, I would rate PubSub+ Platform as quite scalable, around 9.99.
Integration Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
6.0
Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is stable and reliable, with occasional issues in high traffic and dashboard access.
Sentiment score
8.3
PubSub+ Platform is praised for exceptional stability, handling data surges with high availability, and reliability in high-volume environments.
I think the stability of PubSub+ Platform is pretty good, and I would rate it at eight.
Developer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud needs improvements in integrations, user interface, cost, monitoring, and configuration for enhanced functionality.
PubSub+ Platform needs simpler usage, better connectivity, enhanced tools, robust authentication, and improved integration with open-source and existing applications.
Regarding additional improvements, I would say probably around error handling, where when we encounter errors specific to our response structures and everything, or the tables or anything of that nature, it would be better if we were prompted with better error handling mechanisms.
Lead Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
If it were easier to configure clusters and had more straightforward configuration, high-level API abstraction in the APIs could improve it.
Partner at SouJava
Observability and monitoring are areas that could be enhanced.
Chief Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
It was as impressive as Kafka, better than Kafka based on my experience working on the Solace and Kafka white paper.
freelancer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
There is a lack of functionality in PubSub+ Platform; Solace has introduced microservices and micro-integrations recently with some capabilities, but they can improve on these.
Integration Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The analytics tools integrated within PubSub+ Platform are good, as it has already integrated with cloud logging and the cloud logging features, making the analytics pretty good already.
Developer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users of Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud find pricing accessible but warn of potential cost surges with added features.
Enterprise users value PubSub+ Platform’s flexibility, free version, and tailored agreements despite perceived high licensing costs.
I thought Confluent would stop me when I crossed the credits, but it did not, and then I got charged.
Lead Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Pricing-wise for PubSub+ Platform, I find it a little expensive, so I would rate it at six.
Integration Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
 

Valuable Features

Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud enables scalable, efficient real-time data processing with seamless platform integration and advanced management features.
PubSub+ Platform offers advanced messaging with scalability, low latency, cloud integration, real-time support, and comprehensive analytics for businesses.
These features are important due to scalability and resiliency.
Chief Architect at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
The best features Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud offers would be the connection with various external systems through various languages such as Python and C#.
Lead Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
The Kafka Streams API helps with real-time data transformations and aggregations.
Partner at SouJava
The solution's ability to decouple message producers and consumers allows us to have high cohesion and low coupling, making it an excellent solution for that purpose.
freelancer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
The main benefits PubSub+ Platform provides for the end-user include building a robust and scalable system with very low network latency, which improves the customer experience, whether using mobile phones or applications.
Integration Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
The best features of PubSub+ Platform include being highly scalable, allowing us to handle billions and billions of events.
Developer at a computer software company with 51-200 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Apache Kafka on Confluent C...
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
PubSub+ Platform
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
15th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
Message Queue (MQ) Software (8th), Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) (2nd), Event Monitoring (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Streaming Analytics category, the mindshare of Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is 0.7%. The mindshare of PubSub+ Platform is 3.8%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Streaming Analytics Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud0.7%
PubSub+ Platform3.8%
Other95.5%
Streaming Analytics
 

Featured Reviews

AF
Lead Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Has unified log streams from multiple systems and accelerated issue tracking through streamlined setup
I think Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud can be improved by probably working more around Confluent or the tool. In my opinion, it should utilize the response structures in a better way or be able to detect if there is any variable or if there is any data structure that is mismatched, as it would be easier than us manually having to put in the exact name in order for it to match the response. Regarding additional improvements, I would say probably around error handling, where when we encounter errors specific to our response structures and everything, or the tables or anything of that nature, it would be better if we were prompted with better error handling mechanisms. I do not think there are any other improvements Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud needs, aside from error handling and response structures.
Deepankar Bbhowmick - PeerSpot reviewer
Integration Architect at a tech services company with 11-50 employees
Messaging design has become visual and reliable and now supports fast microservice communication
The unique functions I appreciate about PubSub+ Platform are that it allows me to design my solution in a graphical manner, which is not available in many other products, and the design can also be pushed to the actual infrastructure layer, making it quite advantageous. Mesh technology is useful in scenarios where different geographies have to be connected, although such situations are not commonly found. It is beneficial but not a super-used feature of PubSub+ Platform. The event replay function is quite mature in PubSub+ Platform, allowing me to replay messages that are days in the past, which is a good feature. The main benefits PubSub+ Platform provides for the end-user include building a robust and scalable system with very low network latency, which improves the customer experience, whether using mobile phones or applications. This type of messaging framework is extremely important, and Solace is a very good product in that space. Nowadays, most applications are built using microservices technology, with small microservices interchanging messages via PubSub+ Platform. Without it, realizing a scalable system would not be possible; for example, one cannot have Netflix or similar services that require quick data transit and a good user experience, ensuring that data cannot be lost in transit. The analytics part of PubSub+ Platform is quite useful as it can connect with many analytical software tools, mainly for analysis of system logs, such as Splunk, DataDog, or Prometheus. It has the flexibility to connect with any of these and supports OpenTelemetry, which is not available in many other products, making traceability very easy. I can see how a message travels from a source system to the target system, end-to-end, along with what happens to that message along the path, making the analytics quite good.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Streaming Analytics solutions are best for your needs.
892,943 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Financial Services Firm
22%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
5%
Healthcare Company
4%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business5
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
I think Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud can be improved by probably working more around Confluent or the tool. In my opinion, it should utilize the response structures in a better way or be able to...
What is your primary use case for Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
I have used Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud for one of my projects with regard to log monitoring. My main use case for Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud in that project was mainly streaming of the lo...
What advice do you have for others considering Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
My advice to others looking into using Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is that it is easier and has a low learning curve. If there is any use case regarding streaming, I would suggest starting off ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PubSub+ Event Broker?
Pricing-wise for PubSub+ Platform, I find it a little expensive, so I would rate it at six.
What needs improvement with PubSub+ Event Broker?
Potential areas for improvement in PubSub+ Platform are its authentication mechanisms, which could be slightly better. While simple authentication using basic methods is easy, moving to more robust...
What is your primary use case for PubSub+ Event Broker?
PubSub+ Platform is primarily used for guaranteed delivery of messages from across systems, for microservice-based development, and for high-speed data consumption purposes. Guaranteed transmission...
 

Also Known As

No data available
PubSub+ Event Broker, PubSub+ Event Portal
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
FxPro, TP ICAP, Barclays, Airtel, American Express, Cobalt, Legal & General, LSE Group, Akuna Capital, Azure Information Technology, Brand.net, Canadian Securities Exchange, Core Transport Technologies, Crédit Agricole, Fluent Trade Technologies, Harris Corporation, Korea Exchange, Live E!, Mercuria Energy, Myspace, NYSE Technologies, Pico, RBC Capital Markets, Standard Chartered Bank, Unibet 
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud vs. PubSub+ Platform and other solutions. Updated: April 2026.
892,943 professionals have used our research since 2012.