Google Cloud Dataflow and Apache Kafka are competing in data processing and real-time analytics. Apache Kafka holds an upper hand with its advanced data streaming capabilities and flexibility, making it ideal for users needing robust real-time features.
Features: Google Cloud Dataflow is known for dynamic workload management, automated resource tuning, and seamless integration within the Google Cloud ecosystem. In contrast, Apache Kafka is valued for real-time data streaming, integration capabilities, and proven efficiency in large-scale message brokering.
Room for Improvement: Google Cloud Dataflow could improve its cross-platform compatibility, enhance real-time processing capabilities, and expand language support beyond the Google ecosystem. Apache Kafka's areas for improvement include simplifying deployment configurations, enhancing out-of-the-box monitoring tools, and providing more comprehensive official support options beyond community forums.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Google Cloud Dataflow offers straightforward deployment with guided setups and extensive support from Google Cloud services. Apache Kafka's deployment can be more intricate, requiring significant technical expertise, although the community-driven support provides valuable insights.
Pricing and ROI: Google Cloud Dataflow presents a cost-effective pricing model that suits various workloads, providing substantial ROI through efficient scalability. Apache Kafka, being free to deploy, may involve hidden costs related to infrastructure and maintenance but offers compelling long-term value for those utilizing its rich feature set.
The Apache community provides support for the open-source version.
There is plenty of community support available online.
With Microsoft, expectations are higher because we pay for a license and have a contract.
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.
Customers have not faced issues with user growth or data streaming needs.
I need to enable my solution with high availability and scalability.
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.
Apache Kafka is stable.
This feature of Apache Kafka has helped enhance our system stability when handling high volume data.
Apache Kafka is a mature product and can handle a massive amount of data in real time for data consumption.
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.
The performance angle is critical, and while it works in milliseconds, the goal is to move towards microseconds.
A more user-friendly interface and better management consoles with improved documentation could be beneficial.
I would appreciate having some kind of UI integrated into Apache Kafka for connecting to it because using code to connect it is basic, but we can use a UI.
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.
The open-source version of Apache Kafka results in minimal costs, mainly linked to accessing documentation and limited support.
Its pricing is reasonable.
It is part of a package received from Google, and they are not charging us too high.
Apache Kafka is effective when dealing with large volumes of data flowing at high speeds, requiring real-time processing.
Apache Kafka is particularly valuable for managing high levels of transactions.
Apache Kafka acts as a broker and supports my data integration process by sitting in between systems.
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.
| Product | Market Share (%) |
|---|---|
| Apache Kafka | 3.8% |
| Google Cloud Dataflow | 4.5% |
| Other | 91.7% |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 32 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 18 |
| Large Enterprise | 49 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 3 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 2 |
| Large Enterprise | 10 |
Apache Kafka is an open-source distributed streaming platform that serves as a central hub for handling real-time data streams. It allows efficient publishing, subscribing, and processing of data from various sources like applications, servers, and sensors.
Kafka's core benefits include high scalability for big data pipelines, fault tolerance ensuring continuous operation despite node failures, low latency for real-time applications, and decoupling of data producers from consumers.
Key features include topics for organizing data streams, producers for publishing data, consumers for subscribing to data, brokers for managing clusters, and connectors for easy integration with various data sources.
Large organizations use Kafka for real-time analytics, log aggregation, fraud detection, IoT data processing, and facilitating communication between microservices.
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