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Apache Pulsar vs Google Cloud Dataflow 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 Pulsar
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
21st
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.2
Number of Reviews
1
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Google Cloud Dataflow
Ranking in Streaming Analytics
11th
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2026, in the Streaming Analytics category, the mindshare of Apache Pulsar is 2.9%, up from 2.2% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Google Cloud Dataflow is 3.7%, down from 7.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Streaming Analytics Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Google Cloud Dataflow3.7%
Apache Pulsar2.9%
Other93.4%
Streaming Analytics
 

Featured Reviews

it_user1087029 - PeerSpot reviewer
Solution Architect at Vlaanderen connect.
The solution can mimic other APIs without changing a line of code
The solution operates as a classic message broker but also as a streaming platform. It operates differently than a traditional streaming platform with storage and computing handled separately. It scales easier and better than Kafka which can be stubborn. You can even make it act like Kafka because it understands Kafka APIs. There are even companies that will sell you Kafka but underneath it is Apache Pulsar. The solution is very compatible because it can mimic other APIs without changing a line of code.
reviewer2812851 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Customer Data Platform Specialist at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Unified user personas have improved data workflows and support detailed monitoring and logging
Google Cloud has many streams and products. In Google Cloud, everything is translated in the backend, so we do not have to use services such as Apache Beam. When you want to use Google Cloud Functions, you write the code, and the backend talks to all the libraries or Apache, so we do not need to be concerned about those. We just need to use our functions that translate and have many tools and services readily available. Google Cloud Dataflow has made it very easy for detailed monitoring and logging features for pipeline performance assessment. For example, if I am using Google Cloud Functions, I can easily see what changes I have done and trace it properly. I can see what is happening with this script, how many users are affected, whether the script is working, what is failing, and how we can rectify issues with proper monitoring.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The solution operates as a classic message broker but also as a streaming platform."
"The solution operates as a classic message broker but also as a streaming platform."
"The integration within Google Cloud Platform is very good."
"Google Cloud Dataflow is useful for streaming and data pipelines."
"The most valuable features of Google Cloud Dataflow are the integration, it's very simple if you have the complete stack, which we are using, it is overall very easy to use, user-friendly, and cost-effective if you know how to use it, and the solution is very flexible for programmers, if you know how to do scripts or program in Python or any other language, it's extremely easy to use."
"The best feature of Google Cloud Dataflow is its practical connectedness."
"I don't need a server running all the time while using the tool. It is also easy to setup. The product offers a pay-as-you-go service."
"The most valuable features of Google Cloud Dataflow are scalability and connectivity."
"Google's support team is good at resolving issues, especially with large data."
"It is a scalable solution."
 

Cons

"Documentation is poor because much of it is in Chinese with no English translation."
"Documentation is poor because much of it is in Chinese with no English translation."
"The deployment time could also be reduced."
"I would like Google Cloud Dataflow to be integrated with IT data flow and other related services to make it easier to use as it is a complex tool."
"There are certain challenges regarding the Google Cloud Composer which can be improved."
"Promoting the technology more broadly would help increase its adoption."
"Google Cloud Data Flow can improve by having full simple integration with Kafka topics. It's not that complicated, but it could improve a bit. The UI is easy to use but the experience could be better. There are other tools available that do a better job."
"Compared to other support systems, such as those in Braze, Tealium, Google, and others like Adobe, Google Cloud takes more time because it is a bigger company."
"The technical support is very hard to reach."
"The system could function in an automated fashion and provide suggestions based on past transactions to achieve better scalability."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate Google Cloud Dataflow's pricing a four out of ten."
"The tool is cheap."
"The price of the solution depends on many factors, such as how they pay for tools in the company and its size."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"Google Cloud Dataflow is a cheap solution."
"The solution is cost-effective."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."
"Google Cloud is slightly cheaper than AWS."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
17%
Comms Service Provider
10%
Insurance Company
7%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Retailer
10%
Insurance Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Dataflow?
Pricing is normal. It is part of a package received from Google, and they are not charging us too high.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Dataflow?
I feel there could be something that they can introduce, such as when we have data in the tables, a feature that creates a unique persona of the user automatically, so we do not have to do that man...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Dataflow?
The primary use case for Google Cloud Dataflow is when a brand has a lot of data and wants to store it in their warehouse. They can use BigQuery to store their data or use big data solutions to sto...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Google Dataflow
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Information Not Available
Absolutdata, Backflip Studios, Bluecore, Claritics, Crystalloids, Energyworx, GenieConnect, Leanplum, Nomanini, Redbus, Streak, TabTale
Find out what your peers are saying about Databricks, Microsoft, Apache and others in Streaming Analytics. Updated: May 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.