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Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud vs Databricks 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
6.6
Databricks efficiently lowers costs with cloud services, though ROI varies by sector and integration, particularly with Azure.
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.
When it comes to big data processing, I prefer Databricks over other solutions.
For a lot of different tasks, including machine learning, it is a nice solution.
 

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
7.1
Databricks support is praised for prompt, professional service, comprehensive resources, and effective communication, enhancing overall user satisfaction.
I would rate them eight if 10 was the best and one was the worst.
As of now, we are raising issues and they are providing solutions without any problems.
Whenever we reach out, they respond promptly.
I rate the technical support as fine because they have levels of technical support available, especially partners who get really good support from Databricks on new features.
 

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
7.4
Databricks is praised for its scalability, enabling easy adaptation to large data and user loads with efficient resource management.
Databricks is an easily scalable platform.
I would rate the scalability of this solution as very high, about nine out of ten.
The patches have sometimes caused issues leading to our jobs being paused for about six hours.
 

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
7.7
Databricks is stable and robust, with minor issues, handling large data volumes and earning high stability ratings.
Although it is too early to definitively state the platform's stability, we have not encountered any issues so far.
They release patches that sometimes break our code.
Databricks is definitely a very stable product and reliable.
 

Room For Improvement

Confluent Cloud improves Kafka integration with PyTRAN and Microsoft, but faces challenges in real-time processing, monitoring, and cost.
Databricks requires visualization improvements, pricing clarity, user-friendliness, expanded integrations, and simplification for non-technical users to enhance usability.
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.
We could use their job clusters, however, that increases costs, which is challenging for us as a startup.
This feature, if made publicly available, may act as a game-changer, considering many global organizations use SAP data for their ERP requirements.
If I could right-click to copy absolute paths or to read files directly into a data frame, it would standardize and simplify the process.
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users see Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud's pricing as flexible but requiring careful management for cost optimization.
Enterprise buyers view Databricks as moderately pricey, with high setup costs, though discounts and licensing flexibility are available.
 

Valuable Features

Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud offers scalable streaming, seamless integration, and efficient data processing, simplifying microservices and multi-cloud support.
Databricks excels in scalability, integration, and user-friendly features, making it ideal for data processing and AI across industries.
These features are important due to scalability and resiliency.
The Kafka Streams API helps with real-time data transformations and aggregations.
The Unity Catalog is for data governance, and the Delta Lake is to build the lakehouse.
The platform allows us to leverage cloud advantages effectively, enhancing our AI and ML projects.
Databricks' capability to process data in parallel enhances data processing speed.
 

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
Databricks
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
1st
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Cloud Data Warehouse (9th), Data Science Platforms (1st)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Streaming Analytics category, the mindshare of Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is 0.1%, up from 0.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Databricks is 12.5%, down from 12.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Streaming Analytics Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Databricks12.5%
Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud0.1%
Other87.4%
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.
ShubhamSharma7 - PeerSpot reviewer
Capability to integrate diverse coding languages in a single notebook greatly enhances workflow
Databricks offers various courses that I can use, whether it's PySpark, Scala, or R. I can leverage all these courses in a single notebook, which is beneficial for clients as they can access various tools in one place whenever needed. This is quite significant. I usually work with PySpark based on client requirements. After coding, I feed the Databricks notebooks into the ADF pipeline for updates. Databricks' capability to process data in parallel enhances data processing speed. Furthermore, I can connect our Databricks notebook directly with Power BI and other visualization tools like Qlik. Once we develop code, it allows us to transform raw data into visualizations for clients using analysis diagrams, which is very helpful.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Educational Organization
6%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Healthcare Company
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 Business25
Midsize Enterprise12
Large Enterprise56
 

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?
If it were easier to configure clusters and had more straightforward configuration, high-level API abstraction in the APIs could improve it. The clustering is a little hard for juniors and clients....
What is your primary use case for Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
We need to send a lot of asynchronous messages in this project, and we use the middleware and Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud to guarantee asynchronous messaging between the services. We use Apache...
Which do you prefer - Databricks or Azure Machine Learning Studio?
Databricks gives you the option of working with several different languages, such as SQL, R, Scala, Apache Spark, or Python. It offers many different cluster choices and excellent integration with ...
How would you compare Databricks vs Amazon SageMaker?
We researched AWS SageMaker, but in the end, we chose Databricks. Databricks is a Unified Analytics Platform designed to accelerate innovation projects. It is based on Spark so it is very fast. It...
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...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Databricks Unified Analytics, Databricks Unified Analytics Platform, Redash
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Elsevier, MyFitnessPal, Sharethrough, Automatic Labs, Celtra, Radius Intelligence, Yesware
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud vs. Databricks and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
869,202 professionals have used our research since 2012.