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Apache Kafka vs Upsolver 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
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
8th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Upsolver
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
20th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.6
Number of Reviews
2
Ranking in other categories
Data Integration (38th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Streaming Analytics category, the mindshare of Apache Kafka is 3.5%, up from 2.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Upsolver is 0.4%, up from 0.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Streaming Analytics
 

Featured Reviews

Snehasish Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Data streaming transforms real-time data movement with impressive scalability
I worked with Apache Kafka for customers in the financial industry and OTT platforms. They use Kafka particularly for data streaming. Companies offering movie and entertainment as a service, similar to Netflix, use Kafka Apache Kafka offers unique data streaming. It allows the use of data in…
Snehasish Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Allows for data to be moved across platforms and different data technologies
The most prominent feature of Upsolver is its function as an ETL tool, allowing data to be moved across platforms and different data technologies. Upsolver does this in a quick time, unlike traditional processes which are time-consuming. Additionally, it offers scalability for large volumes of data, with performance and ease of cloud-native integration.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The open-source version is relatively straightforward to set up and only takes a few minutes."
"Apache Kafka is effective when dealing with large volumes of data flowing at high speeds, requiring real-time processing."
"With Kafka, events and streaming are persistent, and multiple subscribers can consume the data. This is an advantage of Kafka compared to simple queue-based solutions."
"The most valuable feature is that it can handle high volume."
"It is a stable solution...A lot of my experience indicates that Apache Kafka is scalable."
"One of the most valuable features I have found is Kafka Connect."
"The valuable features are the group community and support."
"valuable features relate to microservices architecture and working on KStream and KSQL DB as a microservices event bus."
"Customer service is excellent, and I would rate it between eight point five to nine out of ten."
"It was easy to use and set up, with a nearly no-code interface that relied mostly on drag-and-drop functionality."
"The most prominent feature of Upsolver is its function as an ETL tool, allowing data to be moved across platforms and different data technologies."
 

Cons

"Config management can be better."
"Lacks elasticity and the ability to scale down."
"Config management can be better. We are always trying to find the best configs, which is a challenge."
"The solution's initial setup process was complex."
"The management tool could be improved."
"The solution can improve its cloud support."
"An area for improvement would be growth."
"While the solution scales well and easily, you need to understand your future needs and prep for the peaks."
"On the stability side, I would rate it seven out of ten. Using multiple cloud providers and data engineering technologies creates complexity, and managing different plugins is not always easy, but they are working on it."
"Upsolver excels in ETL and data aggregation, while ThoughtSpot is strong in natural language processing for querying datasets. Combining these tools can be very effective: Upsolver handles aggregation and ETL, and ThoughtSpot allows for natural language queries. There’s potential for highlighting these integrations in the future."
"There is room for improvement in query tuning."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open source; it's free to use."
"The solution is free, it is open-source."
"The solution is open source."
"Apache Kafka has an open-source pricing."
"Apache Kafka is an open-source solution and there are no fees, but there are fees associated with confluence, which are based on subscription."
"We are using the free version of Apache Kafka."
"Kafka is more reasonably priced than IBM MQ."
"Kafka is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs."
"Upsolver is affordable at approximately $225 per terabyte per year."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Retailer
6%
No data available
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
 

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 do you like most about Apache Kafka?
Apache Kafka is an open-source solution that can be used for messaging or event processing.
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 is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Upsolver?
Upsolver is affordable at approximately $225 per terabyte per year. Compared to what I know from others, it's cheaper than many other products.
What needs improvement with Upsolver?
There is room for improvement in query tuning. Upsolver could do a more in-depth analysis in employing machine power, such as CPU and memory, to enhance query performance. Furthermore, allocating C...
What is your primary use case for Upsolver?
I am working as a consultant and currently have my own consultancy services. I provide services to companies that are data-heavy and looking for data engineering solutions for their business needs....
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Uber, Netflix, Activision, Spotify, Slack, Pinterest
Information Not Available
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Kafka vs. Upsolver and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,384 professionals have used our research since 2012.