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Amazon MSK vs Google Cloud Dataflow 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
5.1
Amazon MSK enhances ROI through reduced integration time, flexibility, and cost-efficient experimentation, outperforming Confluent in innovation speed.
Sentiment score
5.6
Google Cloud Dataflow was appreciated for cost savings and time efficiency, though some considered its impact not fully assessable yet.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.1
Amazon MSK support is generally satisfactory with expertise, but experiences vary based on support plans and perceived decline over time.
Sentiment score
6.6
Google Cloud Dataflow support varies, with users praising technical resolution but highlighting inconsistent response times and accessibility.
Amazon's support is excellent.
The fact that no interaction is needed shows their great support since I don't face issues.
Google's support team is good at resolving issues, especially with large data.
Whenever we have issues, we can consult with Google.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
6.4
Amazon MSK offers scalable, flexible serverless and classic options, efficiently handling user demands despite occasional manual interventions.
Sentiment score
7.3
Google Cloud Dataflow excels in scalability and efficiency, making it ideal for real-time data processing and dynamic needs.
The functionality for scaling comes out of the box and is very effective.
Google Cloud Dataflow has auto-scaling capabilities, allowing me to add different machine types based on pace and requirements.
Google Cloud Dataflow can handle large data processing for real-time streaming workloads as they grow, making it a good fit for our business.
As a team lead, I'm responsible for handling five to six applications, but Google Cloud Dataflow seems to handle our use case effectively.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.1
Amazon MSK is generally seen as stable, rated 8-9/10, with 99.9% availability but limited long-term usage insights.
Sentiment score
8.3
Google Cloud Dataflow is stable, reliably handles tasks, and benefits from automatic scaling, with minor issues on complex tasks.
I have not encountered any issues with the performance of Dataflow, as it is stable and backed by Google services.
The job we built has not failed once over six to seven months.
The automatic scaling feature helps maintain stability.
 

Room For Improvement

Amazon MSK struggles with integration, pricing, setup complexity, limited schema support, and lacks default connectors, complicating user experience.
Google Cloud Dataflow needs better Kafka integration, improved error logs, reduced startup time, and enhanced Python SDK features.
The increase in cloud costs by 50% to 60% does not justify the savings.
Outside of Google Cloud Platform, it is problematic for others to use it and may require promotion as an actual technology.
I would like to see improvements in consistency and flexibility for schema design for NoSQL data stored in wide columns.
Dealing with a huge volume of data causes failure due to array size.
 

Setup Cost

Amazon MSK offers competitive pricing for large workloads, but small use cases may incur higher costs, similar to Confluent.
Google Cloud Dataflow is praised for cost-effectiveness and scalability, offering competitive pricing influenced by pipeline complexity and company size.
Once we started using Kafka, our cloud costs rose by 50% to 60%.
It is part of a package received from Google, and they are not charging us too high.
 

Valuable Features

Amazon MSK integrates with AWS services, offering cost-effectiveness, scalability, and ease of use for data pipelines and migrations.
Google Cloud Dataflow offers seamless integration, multi-language support, scalability, and serverless data handling for efficient batch and streaming processes.
The scalability and usability are quite remarkable.
It supports multiple programming languages such as Java and Python, enabling flexibility without the need to learn something new.
The integration within Google Cloud Platform is very good.
We then perform data cleansing, including deduplications, schema standardizations, and filtering of invalid records.
 

Categories and Ranking

Amazon MSK
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
6th
Average Rating
7.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
12
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Google Cloud Dataflow
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
7th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.1
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Streaming Analytics category, the mindshare of Amazon MSK is 6.5%, down from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Dataflow is 6.0%, down from 7.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Streaming Analytics
 

Featured Reviews

FNU AKSHANSH - PeerSpot reviewer
Streamlines our processes, and we don't need to configure any VPCs; it's automatic
We don't have many use cases involving ingesting large amounts of data and scaling up and down. We have a clear understanding of our data volume, which remains relatively constant throughout the week. While we're aware of other features Amazon MSK offers, we feel confident in our current setup. If our requirements change significantly in the future, we'll reassess our needs and consider adopting Amazon MSK.
Jana Polianskaja - PeerSpot reviewer
Build Scalable Data Pipelines with Apache Beam and Google Cloud Dataflow
As a data engineer, I find several features of Google Cloud Dataflow particularly valuable. The ability to test solutions locally using Direct Runner is crucial for development, allowing me to validate pipelines without incurring the costs of full Dataflow jobs. The unified programming model for both batch and streaming processing is exceptional - requiring only minor code adjustments to optimize for either mode. This flexibility extends to language support, with robust implementations in both Java and Python, allowing teams to leverage their existing expertise. The platform's comprehensive monitoring capabilities are another standout feature. The intuitive interface, Grafana integration, and extensive service connectivity make troubleshooting and performance tracking highly efficient. Furthermore, seamless integration with Google Cloud Composer (managed Airflow) enables sophisticated orchestration of data pipelines.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
23%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Healthcare Company
4%
Financial Services Firm
17%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Retailer
11%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Amazon MSK?
Amazon MSK has significantly improved our organization by building seamless integration between systems.
What needs improvement with Amazon MSK?
I'm not sure exactly what benefit we have because we are using multiple AWS tools. We have AWS DMS, which is also the same as Amazon MSK, and we have Fivetran, which is a third-party website provid...
What is your primary use case for Amazon MSK?
We are currently using Amazon MSK to transfer data from our PostgreSQL database to our DynamoDB, acting as a mediator between those two databases for migration purposes. Our data is in an on-premis...
What do you like most about Google Cloud Dataflow?
The product's installation process is easy...The tool's maintenance part is somewhat easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Dataflow?
Pricing is normal. It is part of a package received from Google, and they are not charging us too high.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Dataflow?
I am not sure, as we built only one job, and it is running on a daily basis. Everything else is managed using BigQuery schedulers and Talend. However, occasionally, dealing with a huge volume of da...
 

Also Known As

Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka
Google Dataflow
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Expedia, Intuit, Royal Dutch Shell, Brooks Brothers
Absolutdata, Backflip Studios, Bluecore, Claritics, Crystalloids, Energyworx, GenieConnect, Leanplum, Nomanini, Redbus, Streak, TabTale
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon MSK vs. Google Cloud Dataflow and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.