No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.

Apache Kafka vs Redis 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
6.3
Apache Kafka boosts efficiency and insights with customizable, cost-effective data processing, enhancing analytics and decision-making in many applications.
Sentiment score
6.5
Redis improves performance, reduces costs, and enhances developer productivity by managing caching efficiently and minimizing downtime and data loss.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.8
Apache Kafka support relies on community help; paid options like Confluent offer better but occasionally slow assistance.
Sentiment score
1.0
Redis' customer service feedback varies, with some praising it, others dissatisfied, and many not engaging with support.
With Microsoft, expectations are higher because we pay for a license and have a contract.
Senior Manager at Timestamp, SA
There is plenty of community support available online.
The Apache community provides support for the open-source version.
Technology Leader at eTCaaS
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Apache Kafka excels in scalable data handling, efficiently managing growth despite occasional challenges in adjustments and resource management.
Sentiment score
7.7
Redis is valued for scalability, cloud integration, and platform compatibility, though limited in non-clustered legacy systems.
Customers have not faced issues with user growth or data streaming needs.
Technology Leader at eTCaaS
I need to enable my solution with high availability and scalability.
Data Architect at Ascendion
Data migration and changes to application-side configurations are challenging due to the lack of automatic migration tools in a non-clustered legacy system.
Data Engineer at a photography company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.6
Apache Kafka is stable and reliable, though configuration complexities and evolving APIs may pose occasional challenges.
Sentiment score
7.7
Redis offers robust stability and high availability with consistent performance, despite occasional downtime under heavy loads.
Apache Kafka is stable.
Technology Leader at eTCaaS
This feature of Apache Kafka has helped enhance our system stability when handling high volume data.
DevOps Engineer
Apache Kafka is a mature product and can handle a massive amount of data in real time for data consumption.
Data Architect at Ascendion
Redis is fairly stable.
Data Engineer at a photography company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Room For Improvement

Users seek easier setup, improved UI, better documentation, monitoring, and memory management for Apache Kafka, addressing complexity and scalability.
Redis requires better cluster management, enhanced security, improved documentation, and advanced enterprise features for optimal non-cloud and cloud performance.
The performance angle is critical, and while it works in milliseconds, the goal is to move towards microseconds.
Technology Leader at eTCaaS
We are always trying to find the best configs, which is a challenge.
Team Lead, Data Engineering at Nesine.com
Scaling up continues to be a challenge, though it is much easier now than it was in the beginning.
Senior Manager at Timestamp, SA
Features such as authentication and encryption exist but are not always enabled by default, posing a risk if not properly set up.
SDE 1 at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Data persistence and recovery face issues with compatibility across major versions, making upgrades possible but downgrades not active.
Data Engineer at a photography company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Setup Cost

Enterprise users weigh open-source Apache Kafka's low cost against expensive cloud solutions like Confluent, requiring careful cost analysis.
Redis provides cost-effective options from free open-source versions to paid managed services, with potential extra costs for high RAM usage.
The open-source version of Apache Kafka results in minimal costs, mainly linked to accessing documentation and limited support.
Technology Leader at eTCaaS
Its pricing is reasonable.
Since we use an open-source version of Redis, we do not experience any setup costs or licensing expenses.
Data Engineer at a photography company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Valuable Features

Apache Kafka offers scalable, reliable real-time streaming, integration with Spark, robust architecture, and strong community support for customization.
Redis offers fast, easy in-memory storage, supports diverse data types, aids real-time and scalable operations with simple setup.
Apache Kafka is particularly valuable for managing high levels of transactions.
Senior Manager at Timestamp, SA
Apache Kafka is effective when dealing with large volumes of data flowing at high speeds, requiring real-time processing.
Splitting the topic data into multiple partitions primarily helps with my system scalability.
Data Architect at Ascendion
First is its in-memory preference, as Redis is extremely fast, making it ideal for caching and session management where low latency is critical.
SDE 1 at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
It functions similarly to a foundational building block in a larger system, enabling native integration and high functionality in core data processes.
Data Engineer at a photography company with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

Apache Kafka
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
90
Ranking in other categories
Streaming Analytics (7th)
Redis
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
5.7
Number of Reviews
24
Ranking in other categories
NoSQL Databases (5th), Managed NoSQL Databases (7th), In-Memory Data Store Services (1st), Vector Databases (3rd), AI Software Development (10th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Apache Kafka and Redis aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Apache Kafka is designed for Streaming Analytics and holds a mindshare of 4.2%, up 2.4% compared to last year.
Redis, on the other hand, focuses on In-Memory Data Store Services, holds 22.7% mindshare, up 14.7% since last year.
Streaming Analytics Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Apache Kafka4.2%
Apache Flink10.9%
Databricks9.0%
Other75.9%
Streaming Analytics
In-Memory Data Store Services Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Redis22.7%
Amazon ElastiCache17.8%
Google Cloud Memorystore14.2%
Other45.3%
In-Memory Data Store Services
 

Featured Reviews

Bruno da Silva - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Manager at Timestamp, SA
Have worked closely with the team to deploy streaming and transaction pipelines in a flexible cloud environment
The interface of Apache Kafka could be significantly better. I started working with Apache Kafka from its early days, and I have seen many improvements. The back office functionality could be enhanced. Scaling up continues to be a challenge, though it is much easier now than it was in the beginning.
reviewer2811600 - PeerSpot reviewer
SDE 1 at a educational organization with 501-1,000 employees
Caching and session design has improved performance and now supports high-traffic workloads
Overall, Redis is a powerful and reliable tool, but there are a few areas for improvement. One limitation is that Redis is memory-based, so scaling can become expensive compared to disk-based systems. While it offers persistence options, it is not always ideal for large datasets where cost efficiency is critical. Another area is cache consistency; Redis itself does not enforce consistency with the primary database, so developers need to carefully design cache invalidation strategies. More built-in mechanisms or patterns to simplify this would be helpful. Additional areas where Redis could improve include monitoring, security, and ease of use in large-scale ecosystems. From a monitoring perspective, while Redis provides basic metrics, deep visibility into issues such as memory fragmentation, hot keys, or latency spikes often requires external tools; more built-in, user-friendly options would make diagnosing production issues quicker. Regarding security, Redis has improved over time, but historically, it required careful configurations; features such as authentication and encryption exist but are not always enabled by default, posing a risk if not properly set up. A strong, secure by default configuration would be beneficial. In terms of ease of use, while Redis is straightforward for basic use cases, managing clusters and persistence strategies can become complex at scale, so better abstractions or tooling for distributed setups and operations would make it more developer-friendly.
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Streaming Analytics solutions are best for your needs.
885,728 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Computer Software Company
10%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Computer Software Company
10%
Comms Service Provider
7%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business32
Midsize Enterprise18
Large Enterprise49
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business11
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise9
 

Questions from the Community

What are the differences between Apache Kafka and IBM MQ?
Apache Kafka is open source and can be used for free. It has very good log management and has a way to store the data used for analytics. Apache Kafka is very good if you have a high number of user...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache Kafka?
Its pricing is reasonable. It's not always about cost, but about meeting specific needs.
What needs improvement with Apache Kafka?
The long-term data storage feature in Apache Kafka depends on the setting, but I believe the maximum duration is seven days.
What do you like most about Redis?
Redis is better tested and is used by large companies. I haven't found a direct alternative to what Redis offers. Plus, there are a lot of support and learning resources available, which help you u...
What needs improvement with Redis?
The disadvantage of Redis is that it's a little bit hard to have too many clusters or too many nodes and create the clusters. The sync between the nodes is easier to implement with Couchbase, for e...
What is your primary use case for Redis?
Redis is used for a part of a booking engine for travel, specifically for the front part to get some sessions and information about the sessions. If a customer or user is using the sites in differe...
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Redis Enterprise
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Uber, Netflix, Activision, Spotify, Slack, Pinterest
1. Twitter 2. GitHub 3. StackOverflow 4. Pinterest 5. Snapchat 6. Craigslist 7. Digg 8. Weibo 9. Airbnb 10. Uber 11. Slack 12. Trello 13. Shopify 14. Coursera 15. Medium 16. Twitch 17. Foursquare 18. Meetup 19. Kickstarter 20. Docker 21. Heroku 22. Bitbucket 23. Groupon 24. Flipboard 25. SoundCloud 26. BuzzFeed 27. Disqus 28. The New York Times 29. Walmart 30. Nike 31. Sony 32. Philips
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Kafka vs. Redis and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
885,728 professionals have used our research since 2012.