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Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud vs Azure Stream Analytics 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
3.1
Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud boosts ROI and reliability, but adoption may be challenging due to associated costs.
Sentiment score
5.3
Azure Stream Analytics offers quick, cost-effective deployment, resulting in positive ROI and customer satisfaction for non-complex scenarios.
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.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
4.3
Apache Kafka's Confluent Cloud support is well-rated, effective with tools, timely, despite minor communication issues and preference for forums.
Sentiment score
6.2
Azure Stream Analytics support is effective and responsive, with service quality varying by subscription and occasional communication challenges.
I would rate them eight if 10 was the best and one was the worst.
The support on critical issues depends on the level of subscription that you have with Microsoft itself.
There is a big communication gap due to lack of understanding of local scenarios and language barriers.
They've managed to answer all my questions and provide help in a timely manner.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
3.8
Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is praised for scalability, despite some reliability issues, with managed services reducing operational burdens.
Sentiment score
7.2
Azure Stream Analytics is highly scalable, cloud-based, easily integrated, adaptable, and efficiently manages varying workloads, despite some cost concerns.
Maintenance requires a couple of people, however, it's not a full-time endeavor.
Azure Stream Analytics is scalable, and I would rate it seven out of ten.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
3.5
Users consider Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud stable but report performance drops with traffic spikes and dashboard management challenges.
Sentiment score
6.3
Azure Stream Analytics is reliable but can face downtime, bugs, transformation challenges, and requires tuning for optimal stability.
They require significant effort and fine-tuning to function effectively.
 

Room For Improvement

Confluent Cloud improves Kafka integration with PyTRAN and Microsoft, but faces challenges in real-time processing, monitoring, and cost.
Azure Stream Analytics needs better pricing, logging, customization, connectivity, integration, UI, flexibility, support, error handling, and simplified licensing.
If it were easier to configure clusters and had more straightforward configuration, high-level API abstraction in the APIs could improve it.
Observability and monitoring are areas that could be enhanced.
There's setup time required to get it integrated with different services such as Power BI, so it's not a straight out-of-the-box configuration.
A cost comparison between products is also not straightforward.
Regarding technical support for Azure Stream Analytics, it's not good.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users see Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud's pricing as flexible but requiring careful management for cost optimization.
Azure Stream Analytics offers competitive pricing but can be costly for enterprises; users find billing reports confusing.
The Azure solution is better now, and competitors, even within Microsoft, may offer solutions that could make it cheaper.
Regarding the cost of Azure Stream Analytics, I believe the price is reasonable for the tool.
We sell the data analytics value and operational value to customers, focusing on productivity and efficiency from the cloud.
 

Valuable Features

Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud offers scalable streaming, seamless integration, and efficient data processing, simplifying microservices and multi-cloud support.
Azure Stream Analytics provides integrated, scalable real-time analytics with SQL queries and machine learning, enhancing data processing capabilities efficiently.
These features are important due to scalability and resiliency.
The Kafka Streams API helps with real-time data transformations and aggregations.
It's very accurate and uses existing technologies in terms of writing queries, utilizing standard query languages such as SQL, Spark, and others to provide information.
It is quite easy for my technicians to understand, and the learning curve is not steep.
Clients can choose and subscribe to the service items they need, making it more flexible than IBM solutions, especially in data analytics or data governance.
 

Categories and Ranking

Apache Kafka on Confluent C...
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
11th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
3.7
Number of Reviews
14
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Azure Stream Analytics
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
5th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
6.5
Number of Reviews
29
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Streaming Analytics category, the mindshare of Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is 0.0%. The mindshare of Azure Stream Analytics is 8.1%, down from 12.6% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Streaming Analytics Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Azure Stream Analytics8.1%
Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud0.0%
Other91.9%
Streaming Analytics
 

Featured Reviews

FABIO LUIS VELLOSO DA SILVA - PeerSpot reviewer
Has enabled asynchronous communication and real-time data processing with strong performance
The valuable features with Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud are the messaging and the asynchronous messages; it's the basic, not advanced usage. It's only to create clusters to receive and send messages. The point is the asynchronous messages and the scalability; it is important for us. To guarantee the compliance of the architecture and the patterns for the company, to provide scalability, and to guarantee the security to send the messages. The Kafka Streams API helps with real-time data transformations and aggregations. It's very fast and helps us to create the project, guarantee the message delivery, and the performance. It's a good experience with very impressive processing and a very impressive project and product.
SantiagoCordero - PeerSpot reviewer
Native connectors and integration simplify tasks but portfolio complexity needs addressing
There are too many products in the Azure landscape, which sometimes leads to overlap between them. Microsoft continuously releases new products or solutions, which can be frustrating when determining the appropriate features from one solution over another. A cost comparison between products is also not straightforward. They should simplify their portfolio. The Microsoft licensing system is confusing and not easy to understand, and this is something they should address. In the future, I may stop using Stream Analytics and move to other solutions. I discussed Palantir earlier, which is something I want to explore in depth because it allows me to accomplish more efficiently compared to solely using Azure. Additionally, the vendors should make the solution more user-friendly, incorporating low-code and no-code features. This is something I wish to explore further.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise6
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise17
 

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
Kafka and Confluent Cloud have proven to be cost-effective, especially when compared to other tools. In a recent BI integration program over the past year, we assessed multiple use cases spanning s...
What needs improvement with Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
In terms of improvements, observability and monitoring are areas that could be enhanced. They are lacking in terms of observability and monitoring compared to other products.
What is your primary use case for Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
The use cases with this product are events. I use Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud, and that's what events are.
Which would you choose - Databricks or Azure Stream Analytics?
Databricks is an easy-to-set-up and versatile tool for data management, analysis, and business analytics. For analytics teams that have to interpret data to further the business goals of their orga...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Azure Stream Analytics?
The solution does not need any license; it comes with your subscription.
What needs improvement with Azure Stream Analytics?
It does not always give you the right reason or the correct reason. For example, if a service is stopped, it just tells you that it stopped and started. It does not give you any good insight as to ...
 

Also Known As

No data available
ASA
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Rockwell Automation, Milliman, Honeywell Building Solutions, Arcoflex Automation Solutions, Real Madrid C.F., Aerocrine, Ziosk, Tacoma Public Schools, P97 Networks
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud vs. Azure Stream Analytics and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,826 professionals have used our research since 2012.