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Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud vs Snowplow 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...
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
5.6
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Streaming Analytics (12th)
Snowplow
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
4
Ranking in other categories
AWS Marketplace (53rd)
 

Mindshare comparison

Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud and Snowplow aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is designed for Streaming Analytics and holds a mindshare of 0.7%.
Snowplow, on the other hand, focuses on AWS Marketplace, holds 0.2% mindshare, down 1.0% since last year.
Streaming Analytics Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud0.7%
Apache Flink8.9%
Databricks8.1%
Other82.3%
Streaming Analytics
AWS Marketplace Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Snowplow0.2%
47Lining Enterprise PaaS- Adoption Catalyst0.4%
Alt/Finance - Crystal & Rhinestone Bag Index (CRI)0.4%
Other99.0%
AWS Marketplace
 

Featured Reviews

AF
Lead Software Engineer at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
Has unified log streams from multiple systems and accelerated issue tracking through streamlined setup
I think Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud can be improved by probably working more around Confluent or the tool. In my opinion, it should utilize the response structures in a better way or be able to detect if there is any variable or if there is any data structure that is mismatched, as it would be easier than us manually having to put in the exact name in order for it to match the response. Regarding additional improvements, I would say probably around error handling, where when we encounter errors specific to our response structures and everything, or the tables or anything of that nature, it would be better if we were prompted with better error handling mechanisms. I do not think there are any other improvements Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud needs, aside from error handling and response structures.
KK
Product Owner at Karine Caimo
Data teams have gained full control over real‑time user behavior tracking for advertising insights
Snowplow offers the best features in that you are completely free to make your own data model, track the way you want to track, and control the way the data comes to Snowflake so you are the complete owner of the raw data without being forced into a certain data model. Having that level of flexibility impacts our team's work and projects as we needed quite a lot of people that were really good in Snowplow. However, from the moment that you completely understood the technical aspects, you were completely free to set up your own Snowplow environment and track the way you wanted to track and what you wanted to track, which is not possible with Google Analytics and Adobe Analytics, for example. Snowplow has impacted my organization positively, very well. For DPG Media, it is the most important data source that we have, delivering a lot of value in the company. We are making data mesh products on this data all over the company. I think for advertisement, it is really the most important source of data.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The benefits that I have seen from having a real-time architecture include better velocity for developers; instead of developing many of those capabilities in each team, we can rely on Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud to provide those functionalities we want, and the teams can focus on their own business instead of providing all sorts of APIs and dependencies to other domains, allowing everyone to run faster."
"Kafka provides handy properties that allow us to directly configure the data, whether to keep it or discard it after use."
"The benefits that I have seen from having a real-time architecture include better velocity for developers; instead of developing many of those capabilities in each team, we can rely on Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud to provide those functionalities we want, and the teams can focus on their own business instead of providing all sorts of APIs and dependencies to other domains, allowing everyone to run faster."
"The order guarantee of Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud and the amount of throughput it can handle are valuable; the fact that the consumer pulls the data, not the broker, makes it more resilient and more reliable compared to other technologies."
"The state-saving feature is very much appreciated. It allows me to rewind a certain process if I see an error and then reprocess it."
"Overall, I think it's a good experience. Apache Kafka can be quite complex and difficult to maintain on your own, so using Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud makes it much easier to use it without worrying about setup and maintenance."
"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 ship-to-shore and various Azure integrations. Our findings revealed that Confluent Kafka performed exceptionally well, standing out alongside Genesys and Azure Event Hubs. While these three are top contenders, the choice among other tools depends on the specific use case and project requirements. The customer initially used tools like SMQs, FITRA, and Stream for real-time data processing. However, after our recommendation, Confluent Cloud proved to be a superior choice, capable of replacing these three tools and simplifying their data infrastructure. This shift to a single tool, Confluent Cloud, streamlined their operations, making maintenance and management more efficient for their internal projects."
"Some of the best features with Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud are streaming and event capabilities, which are important due to scalability and resiliency."
"Snowplow is excellent at what it is designed for: full control over data collection and processing, strong schema-driven tracking, and works really well with warehouse-first stacks like Google BigQuery."
"Snowplow has impacted my organization positively, very well. For DPG Media, it is the most important data source that we have, delivering a lot of value in the company."
"Snowplow is doing perfectly what it says it is doing; it meets everything it promises and develops the product all the time."
"We have a lot more insight into our user behaviour and can now make the correct decisions."
 

Cons

"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."
"The clustering is a little hard for juniors and clients. It's suitable for senior engineers, but the configuration and clustering are very hard for juniors."
"Some areas for improvement in Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud include issues faced during migration with Kubernetes pods."
"The ability to implement request-response communication on Apache Kafka needs improvement."
"The administration port could be more extensive."
"Improvement can be made by making it easier to build applications on the real-time stream, focusing on real-time pre-processing and anomaly detection."
"I thought Confluent would stop me when I crossed the credits, but it did not, and then I got charged."
"Maybe in terms of Apache Kafka's integration with other Microsoft tools, our company faced some challenges."
"Setup is challenging because getting the pipeline infrastructure right is hard."
"Maintenance overhead was high, debugging and schema management were time-consuming, and there were increasing security concerns due to it no longer being actively maintained."
"The only issue that we had at a certain moment was that Snowplow was offering more services and asking us to pay more, but we did not use all these services."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I think the pricing is fair, but Confluent requires a little bit more thinking because the price can go up really quickly when it comes to premium connectors."
"Regarding pricing, Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is not a cheap tool. The right use case would justify the cost. It might make sense if you have a high volume of data that you can leverage to generate value for the business. But if you don't have those requirements, there are likely cheaper solutions you could use instead."
"I consider that the product's price falls under the middle range category."
Information not available
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Construction Company
16%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Construction Company
37%
Insurance Company
32%
Comms Service Provider
6%
Healthcare Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business6
Midsize Enterprise3
Large Enterprise8
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
I think Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud can be improved by probably working more around Confluent or the tool. In my opinion, it should utilize the response structures in a better way or be able to...
What is your primary use case for Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
I have used Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud for one of my projects with regard to log monitoring. My main use case for Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud in that project was mainly streaming of the lo...
What advice do you have for others considering Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
My advice to others looking into using Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is that it is easier and has a low learning curve. If there is any use case regarding streaming, I would suggest starting off ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Snowplow?
My experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing was very good. The only issue that we had at a certain moment was that Snowplow was offering more services and asking us to pay more, but we di...
What needs improvement with Snowplow?
I do not have many improvements to deliver for Snowplow. Perhaps for smaller companies that do not need to customize so many things would be helpful. In the beginning, we also did some things wrong...
What is your primary use case for Snowplow?
My main use case for Snowplow is user behavior tracking at DPG Media on all their websites and apps as well as on television streaming. We stream the data to Snowflake in real time and stitch the d...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about Databricks, Microsoft, Apache and others in Streaming Analytics. Updated: May 2026.
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