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Apache Kafka vs PubSub+ Platform comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Dec 17, 2024

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
6.3
Apache Kafka boosts efficiency and insights with customizable, cost-effective data processing, enhancing analytics and decision-making in many applications.
Sentiment score
6.4
Users experienced varied ROI with PubSub+; some saw cost savings and productivity gains, others faced maintenance cost concerns.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.8
Apache Kafka support relies on community help; paid options like Confluent offer better but occasionally slow assistance.
Sentiment score
7.4
PubSub+ Platform is renowned for excellent, responsive support, with dedicated teams enhancing user experiences through prompt issue resolution.
With Microsoft, expectations are higher because we pay for a license and have a contract.
Senior Manager at Timestamp, SA
There is plenty of community support available online.
The Apache community provides support for the open-source version.
Technology Leader at eTCaaS
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
7.7
Apache Kafka excels in scalable data handling, efficiently managing growth despite occasional challenges in adjustments and resource management.
Sentiment score
7.1
PubSub+ Platform is scalable and flexible, supporting complex use cases, though some users report deployment challenges and feature gaps.
Customers have not faced issues with user growth or data streaming needs.
Technology Leader at eTCaaS
I need to enable my solution with high availability and scalability.
Solution Architect at Ascendion
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Apache Kafka is stable and reliable, though configuration complexities and evolving APIs may pose occasional challenges.
Sentiment score
8.2
PubSub+ Platform offers exceptional reliability, maintaining zero downtime and robust performance even during high-stress global events.
Apache Kafka is stable.
Technology Leader at eTCaaS
Partitioning helps us distribute all the messages that we receive between all partitions, which helps us to be stable.
DevOps Engineer
Apache Kafka is a mature product and can handle a massive amount of data in real time for data consumption.
Solution Architect at Ascendion
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

Users seek easier setup, improved UI, better documentation, monitoring, and memory management for Apache Kafka, addressing complexity and scalability.
PubSub+ Platform requires improved integration, usability, cost management, and features like dynamic topics and enhanced monitoring capabilities.
The performance angle is critical, and while it works in milliseconds, the goal is to move towards microseconds.
Technology Leader at eTCaaS
We are always trying to find the best configs, which is a challenge.
Team Lead, Data Engineering at Nesine.com
Scaling up continues to be a challenge, though it is much easier now than it was in the beginning.
Senior Manager at Timestamp, SA
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
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 weigh open-source Apache Kafka's low cost against expensive cloud solutions like Confluent, requiring careful cost analysis.
PubSub+ Platform offers flexible, tiered pricing based on message volume with free options and scalable enterprise solutions.
The open-source version of Apache Kafka results in minimal costs, mainly linked to accessing documentation and limited support.
Technology Leader at eTCaaS
Its pricing is reasonable.
 

Valuable Features

Apache Kafka offers scalable, reliable real-time streaming, integration with Spark, robust architecture, and strong community support for customization.
The PubSub+ Platform excels in scalability, reliability, and integration, offering outstanding support, flexibility, and efficient event handling capabilities.
Apache Kafka is effective when dealing with large volumes of data flowing at high speeds, requiring real-time processing.
Apache Kafka is particularly valuable for managing high levels of transactions.
Senior Manager at Timestamp, SA
The impact of Apache Kafka's scalability features on my organization and data processing capabilities depends on how many messages each company wants to receive.
DevOps Engineer
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 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
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
7th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
PubSub+ Platform
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
14th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
Message Queue (MQ) Software (8th), Message Oriented Middleware (MOM) (2nd), Event Monitoring (12th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of January 2026, in the Streaming Analytics category, the mindshare of Apache Kafka is 3.8%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PubSub+ Platform is 3.0%, up from 2.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Streaming Analytics Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Apache Kafka3.8%
PubSub+ Platform3.0%
Other93.2%
Streaming Analytics
 

Featured Reviews

Bruno da Silva - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at Timestamp, SA
Have worked closely with the team to deploy streaming and transaction pipelines in a flexible cloud environment
The interface of Apache Kafka could be significantly better. I started working with Apache Kafka from its early days, and I have seen many improvements. The back office functionality could be enhanced. Scaling up continues to be a challenge, though it is much easier now than it was in the beginning.
reviewer2714190 - PeerSpot reviewer
freelancer at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Offers a seamless way to decouple applications, providing impressive performance and flexibility
Regarding improving the PubSub+ Platform, I'm not sure about the pricing aspect, but I heard that it is quite expensive compared to Kafka. That's the only concern I can mention; otherwise, it was as impressive as Kafka, better than Kafka based on my experience working on the Solace and Kafka white paper.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
5%
Financial Services Firm
26%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
10%
Computer Software Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise1
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What are the differences between Apache Kafka and IBM MQ?
Apache Kafka is open source and can be used for free. It has very good log management and has a way to store the data used for analytics. Apache Kafka is very good if you have a high number of user...
What do you like most about Apache Kafka?
Apache Kafka is an open-source solution that can be used for messaging or event processing.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache Kafka?
Its pricing is reasonable. It's not always about cost, but about meeting specific needs.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PubSub+ Event Broker?
I do not know about the pricing of PubSub+ Platform because I did not manage the instance.
What needs improvement with PubSub+ Event Broker?
Additional in-line information about certain things on PubSub+ Platform could be more beneficial for new users who are just starting to use this technology. The analytics tools integrated within Pu...
What is your primary use case for PubSub+ Event Broker?
I describe the main use cases for PubSub+ Platform as wanting to use it as a messaging queue pipeline for managing the data stream events in our IoT platform while I was working at an IoT-based com...
 

Also Known As

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

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Uber, Netflix, Activision, Spotify, Slack, Pinterest
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 vs. PubSub+ Platform and other solutions. Updated: December 2025.
881,082 professionals have used our research since 2012.