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Amazon MSK Reviews

Vendor: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
3.6 out of 5
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What is Amazon MSK?

Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (Amazon MSK) is a fully managed service that enables you to build and run applications that use Apache Kafka to process streaming data. Amazon MSK provides the control-plane operations, such as those for creating, updating, and deleting clusters.

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Amazon MSK is the #6 ranked solution in Streaming Analytics tools. PeerSpot users give Amazon MSK an average rating of 7.2 out of 10. Amazon MSK is most commonly compared to Databricks: Amazon MSK vs Databricks. Amazon MSK is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 68% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 22% of all views.
Buyer's Guide
Amazon MSK
September 2025
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Amazon MSK mindshare

As of September 2025, the mindshare of Amazon MSK in the Streaming Analytics category stands at 6.1%, down from 9.3% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Streaming Analytics Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Amazon MSK6.1%
Apache Flink14.6%
Databricks13.1%
Other66.2%
Streaming Analytics

PeerResearch reports based on Amazon MSK reviews

TypeTitleDate
CategoryStreaming AnalyticsSep 15, 2025Download
ProductReviews, tips, and advice from real usersSep 15, 2025Download
ComparisonAmazon MSK vs DatabricksSep 15, 2025Download
ComparisonAmazon MSK vs Amazon KinesisSep 15, 2025Download
ComparisonAmazon MSK vs ConfluentSep 15, 2025Download
Suggested products
TitleRatingMindshareRecommending
Databricks4.113.1%96%91 interviewsAdd to research
Confluent4.18.4%95%24 interviewsAdd to research
 
 
Key learnings from peers

Valuable Features

Amazon MSK offers valuable features such as seamless integration, cost-effectiveness, scalability, and ease of deployment. Users appreciate its ability to handle workflows efficiently without complex configurations. The integration with other AWS services like S3 and Lambda enhances usability. Real-time analytics, event sourcing, and log ingestion are heavily utilized. Scalability and stability are enhanced with automatic configuration and problem-solving capabilities, minimizing human intervention and allowing developers to focus on new feature development and real-time data processing.
  • "What I appreciate most about Amazon MSK is that it doesn't require extensive concern about the configurations; it starts checking how the brokers are functioning, and automatically, Amazon MSK tries to resolve all the problems."
  • "Amazon MSK has contributed positively to our real-time analytics capabilities because Fortis's dashboards have dashboard health that needs to be maintained, user logs that need to be maintained, and usage tracking."
  • "Amazon MSK has contributed positively to our real-time analytics capabilities because Fortis's dashboards have dashboard health that needs to be maintained, user logs that need to be maintained, and usage tracking."

Room for Improvement

Amazon MSK users report challenges with integration flexibility, especially for public networks. Configuration complexities and high setup costs are noted, alongside limited scalability. Schema access and connector support lag behind competitors like Confluent Cloud. Users suggest enhanced documentation, simplified installation processes, improved schema validation, and flexible configuration adjustments. The pricing is perceived as high, and the lack of default connectors requires custom plugin creation, complicating integration efforts. Operational overhead is manageable but non-negligible.
  • "The downside of Amazon MSK is that when I needed to make a small change in the MSK configuration, it wasn't possible. I had to remove and drop all the clusters and recreate them again, which is complicated in a production environment."
  • "The only issue with Amazon MSK that we are facing is the configurations. There are preset configurations and limited configurations that we can set for our unique use case."
  • "The only issue with Amazon MSK that we are facing is the configurations. There are preset configurations and limited configurations that we can set for our unique use case."

ROI

Amazon MSK shows a return on investment by reducing integration time and increasing flexibility. Users report faster innovation, quicker testing, and decreased costs compared to Confluent. While its cost model offers savings on experimentation, savings are sometimes offset by a 60% cost increase. MSK efficiently handles large data volumes with few issues, making it beneficial for some but challenging to fully assess impact.

Pricing

Amazon MSK users highlight pricing as competitive compared to some alternatives like Confluent. While smaller use cases might find it expensive, larger workloads benefit from resource efficiency. Licensing costs include a monthly fee of $50, with expenses dependent on broker instance hours, storage, and data transfer. Enterprise-scale deployments may see costs rise substantially, potentially by 50%-60%, aligning MSK's pricing closer to competitors when scaling up.
  • "When you create a complete enterprise-driven architecture that is deployable on an enterprise scale, I would say that the prices of Amazon MSK and Confluent Platform become comparable."
  • "The platform has better pricing than one of its competitors."
  • "The price of Amazon MSK is less than some competitor solutions, such as Confluence."

Popular Use Cases

Organizations primarily use Amazon MSK for collecting and streaming data in various sectors, such as banking for real-time transactions, e-commerce for inventory data, and retail for customized orders. It facilitates data migration between databases like PostgreSQL and DynamoDB, manages high-volume data, enables microservice communication, supports change data capture processes, and integrates systems. In IoT, Amazon MSK processes audio data from retail environments, while in gaming, it serves for communication and notifications.

Service and Support

Amazon MSK customer support is generally well-received, with varying experiences. Users find the assistance helpful, though its effectiveness often depends on the support plan. Some note declining knowledgeability over time, yet others praise the prompt service and technical knowledge. While some rate the support highly, others feel improvement is needed. Despite not universally engaged, when assistance is sought, it is mostly reliable and provides guidance on unresolved issues, influencing varied satisfaction levels.

Deployment

Amazon MSK's initial setup is perceived as straightforward by those familiar with Kafka, while newcomers find it complex due to limited documentation. Deployment usually requires collaboration with multiple teams, yet it can be completed in less than ten minutes for those experienced. Some setups took several weeks due to networking configurations. Familiarity with AWS eases the process. Users appreciate its ease of use and integration with AWS, though they recommend evaluating its necessity based on specific needs.

Scalability

Amazon MSK exhibits strong scalability, effectively handling increased usage with minimal concerns. While the system requires manual scaling, it remains efficient for many despite lacking autoscaling. Users report variable experiences, with some encountering minor operational challenges. The cluster-based architecture supports easy expansion by adding nodes, yet operational overhead may arise when managing the infrastructure. Additionally, serverless options offer ease, while classic versions necessitate manual adjustments for increased processes.

Stability

Users generally consider Amazon MSK stable, with no significant downtimes or crashes reported. Any issues experienced were linked to integration with other services, like Debezium, rather than Amazon MSK itself. Stability ratings hover around eight or nine out of ten. A few concerns were noted with older server versions, but those were resolved. Amazon MSK boasts 99.9% availability, demonstrating reliable performance during high-load testing scenarios.
These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.
Download our Amazon MSK Buyer's Guide for additional reliable information.

Review data by company size

By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise6
Large Enterprise4
By reviewers
By visitors reading reviews
Company SizeCount
Small Business82
Midsize Enterprise54
Large Enterprise289
By visitors reading reviews

Top industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
22%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Retailer
5%
University
4%
Healthcare Company
4%
Energy/Utilities Company
3%
Insurance Company
3%
Construction Company
3%
Educational Organization
3%
Hospitality Company
3%
Government
3%
Media Company
3%
Legal Firm
2%
Performing Arts
2%
Non Profit
2%
Recruiting/Hr Firm
2%
Outsourcing Company
2%
Consumer Goods Company
1%
Real Estate/Law Firm
1%
Recreational Facilities/Services Company
1%
Wholesaler/Distributor
1%
Transportation Company
1%
Logistics Company
1%
Venture Capital & Private Equity Firm
1%
Sports Company
1%

Compare Amazon MSK with alternative products

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Learn more about Amazon MSK

Amazon MSK was previously known as Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka.

Amazon MSK customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers

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Product Categories

Product Categories
Streaming Analytics

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Amazon MSK Reviews Summary
Author infoRatingReview Summary
Co-Founder & CTO at Photios AI3.0I’ve found Amazon MSK effective for real-time analytics and microservice communication, though configuration limitations and fewer connectors compared to alternatives slightly hinder flexibility for our unique AWS-based use case.
Senior Software Engineer at a consultancy with 201-500 employees4.0I use Amazon MSK with Debezium to stream data from Oracle to Kafka on AWS. Setup was easy, auto-scaling is helpful, and it's low-maintenance, but changing configurations is difficult without recreating clusters, which is frustrating.
CTO at Atulya Abhinav Tech Private Limited4.0We used Amazon MSK to manage high-volume data efficiently with remarkable scalability and stability, though its high cost is a drawback, as the 60% cost increase doesn't justify the savings. Overall, it manages installations with minimal human intervention.
devops engineer at bpm links3.0I use Amazon MSK to migrate data from PostgreSQL to DynamoDB, appreciating its encryption and integration with AWS services, though setup was complex due to poor documentation and the need for custom plugin creation, unlike simpler alternatives like Fivetran.
Senior Data Engineer at a computer software company with 201-500 employees4.0We value Amazon MSK for its seamless AWS integration and automatic configuration, making it ideal for our stable data volume. While Confluent presented schema challenges, our current Amazon MSK setup suits us unless future needs change significantly.
SDE at Mindtickle4.0I use Amazon MSK in my company for CDC pipelines to asynchronously collect data from databases and systems. Although valuable, it needs improvement in horizontal scaling and message size limitations. We haven't explored other solutions or cloud providers.
Integration Solution Architect at a consultancy with 11-50 employees3.5I use Amazon MSK for CDC processes to extract and distribute data. While it's flexible and cost-effective for innovation, schema validation needs improvement. Integration is complex, and additional AWS services like Glue and EventBridge are required for comprehensive solutions.
Senior Software Engineer at a recreational facilities/services company with 1,001-5,000 employees4.0I use Amazon MSK for communication purposes, appreciating its ease of deploying new features and separation of concerns. While initial configuration was challenging, its performance handling large data volumes is positive, providing a good return on investment.