Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud vs IBM Streams 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:
 

Categories and Ranking

Apache Kafka on Confluent C...
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
10th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
5.1
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
IBM Streams
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
22nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
5
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Streaming Analytics category, the mindshare of Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is 0.0%. The mindshare of IBM Streams is 0.9%, up from 0.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Streaming Analytics
 

Featured Reviews

Ritik Varshney - PeerSpot reviewer
Enhanced data streaming with reliable features and good analytics
Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud provides an enhanced level of reliability and resources compared to Apache Kafka alone. It offers more features which are beneficial for our clients, including cluster linking, schema registry, error handling, and dead-letter queues. It significantly improves customer and publisher satisfaction, especially with topic integration and data streaming.
Ahmed_Emad - PeerSpot reviewer
A solution for data pipelines but has connector limitations
We have used Kafka for seven years. IBM streams gives you many OOTB features that can boost the time-to-market, especially when it comes to reporting and monitoring for example. Confluent is recognized as one of the leaders in this space and the main reason for this is related to the complete vision of the platform also the large number of connectors. This gives the edge and competitive advatnage.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Streaming Analytics solutions are best for your needs.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
14%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Computer Software Company
6%
Government
6%
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
20%
Government
9%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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?
I think what I would improve about the solution is the cost, mostly. From my standpoint, it's the cost. From an engineering perspective, it works really well. There's always room for improvement. O...
What is your primary use case for Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
We find that the best features include using the CDC functionality with the connector to take the data from our SQL database and publish it to many consumers. Any changes enable us to easily publis...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for IBM Streams?
The solution’s licenses pricing is different from one region to another region. I rate the solution’s pricing a seven out of ten.
What needs improvement with IBM Streams?
the limited number of connectors. This shall be overcome with work-arounds or eventually buying additional connectors to complete the solution.
What is your primary use case for IBM Streams?
We use the solution for data pipeline by modernizing the traditional ETL jobs done through advanced streaming. Another use case is building the g2g streaming platform, which facilitates data exchan...
 

Also Known As

No data available
IBM InfoSphere Streams
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Globo TV, All England Lawn Tennis Club, CenterPoint Energy, Consolidated Communications Holdings, Darwin Ecosystem, Emory University Hospital, ICICI Securities, Irish Centre for Fetal and Neonatal Translational Research (INFANT), Living Roads, Mobileum, Optibus, Southern Ontario Smart Computing Innovation Platform (SOSCIP), University of Alberta, University of Montana, University of Ontario Institute of Technology, Wimbledon 2015
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud vs. IBM Streams and other solutions. Updated: August 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.