Apache Spark Streaming vs Confluent comparison

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Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Apache Spark Streaming and Confluent based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Streaming Analytics solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Apache Spark Streaming vs. Confluent Report (Updated: March 2024).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"The solution is better than average and some of the valuable features include efficiency and stability.""Apache Spark Streaming has features like checkpointing and Streaming API that are useful.""Apache Spark Streaming's most valuable feature is near real-time analytics. The developers can build APIs easily for a code-steaming pipeline. The solutions have an ecosystem of integration with other stock services.""The solution is very stable and reliable.""Apache Spark Streaming was straightforward in terms of maintenance. It was actively developed, and migrating from an older to a newer version was quite simple.""As an open-source solution, using it is basically free.""It's the fastest solution on the market with low latency data on data transformations.""Apache Spark Streaming is versatile. You can use it for competitive intelligence, gathering data from competitors, or for internal tasks like monitoring workflows."

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"The design of the product is extremely well built and it is highly configurable.""Kafka Connect framework is valuable for connecting to the various source systems where code doesn't need to be written.""I would rate the scalability of the solution at eight out of ten. We have 20 people who use Confluent in our organization now, and we hope to increase usage in the future.""One of the best features of Confluent is that it's very easy to search and have a live status with Jira.""The documentation process is fast with the tool.""It is also good for knowledge base management.""The most valuable feature of Confluent is the wide range of features provided. They're leading the market in this category.""With Confluent Cloud we no longer need to handle the infrastructure and the plumbing, which is a concern for Confluent. The other advantage is that all portfolios have access to the data that is being shared."

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Cons
"The service structure of Apache Spark Streaming can improve. There are a lot of issues with memory management and latency. There is no real-time analytics. We recommend it for the use cases where there is a five-second latency, but not for a millisecond, an IOT-based, or the detection anomaly-based. Flink as a service is much better.""There could be an improvement in the area of the user configuration section, it should be less developer-focused and more business user-focused.""In terms of improvement, the UI could be better.""The solution itself could be easier to use.""It was resource-intensive, even for small-scale applications.""The initial setup is quite complex.""We would like to have the ability to do arbitrary stateful functions in Python.""The cost and load-related optimizations are areas where the tool lacks and needs improvement."

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"The pricing model should include the ability to pick features and be charged for them only.""It would help if the knowledge based documents in the support portal could be available for public use as well.""It could be improved by including a feature that automatically creates a new topic and puts failed messages.""There is no local support team in Saudi Arabia.""Confluence could improve the server version of the solution. However, most companies are going to the cloud.""Areas for improvement include implementing multi-storage support to differentiate between database stores based on data age and optimizing storage costs.""There is a limitation when it comes to seamlessly importing Microsoft documents into Confluent pages, which can be inconvenient for users who frequently work with Microsoft Office tools and need to transition their content to Confluent.""Confluent's price needs improvement."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "People pay for Apache Spark Streaming as a service."
  • "I was using the open-source community version, which was self-hosted."
  • "On a scale from one to ten, where one is expensive, or not cost-effective, and ten is cheap, I rate the price a seven."
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  • "Confluent is expensive, I would prefer, Apache Kafka over Confluent because of the high cost of maintenance."
  • "You have to pay additional for one or two features."
  • "The pricing model of Confluent could improve because if you have a classic use case where you're going to use all the features there is no plan to reduce the features. You should be able to pick and choose basic services at a reduced price. The pricing was high for our needs. We should not have to pay for features we do not use."
  • "On a scale from one to ten, where one is low pricing and ten is high pricing, I would rate Confluent's pricing at five. I have not encountered any additional costs."
  • "Confluence's pricing is quite reasonable, with a cost of around $10 per user that decreases as the number of users increases. Additionally, it's worth noting that for teams of up to 10 users, the solution is completely free."
  • "Confluent has a yearly license, which is a bit high because it's on a per-user basis."
  • "It comes with a high cost."
  • "Confluent is highly priced."
  • More Confluent Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Apache Spark Streaming is versatile. You can use it for competitive intelligence, gathering data from competitors, or for internal tasks like monitoring workflows.
    Top Answer:In terms of improvement, the UI could be better. Additionally, Spark Streaming works well for various use cases, but improvements could be made for ultra-fast scenarios where seconds matter. While… more »
    Top Answer:As a data engineer, I use Apache Spark Streaming to process real-time data for web page analytics and integrate diverse data sources into centralized data warehouses.
    Top Answer:Implementing Confluent's schema registry has significantly enhanced our organization's data quality assurance.
    Top Answer:Confluent has a higher price than MSK. However, it delivers better features for tech stack requirements. For instance, its superior integration capabilities have proven essential, particularly in… more »
    Top Answer:Confluent's price needs improvement.
    Ranking
    8th
    out of 38 in Streaming Analytics
    Views
    4,523
    Comparisons
    3,689
    Reviews
    6
    Average Words per Review
    473
    Rating
    8.2
    3rd
    out of 38 in Streaming Analytics
    Views
    10,449
    Comparisons
    8,119
    Reviews
    10
    Average Words per Review
    396
    Rating
    8.5
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    Spark Streaming
    Learn More
    Overview

    Spark Streaming makes it easy to build scalable fault-tolerant streaming applications.

    Confluent is an enterprise-ready, full-scale streaming platform that enhances Apache Kafka. 

    Confluent has integrated cutting-edge features that are designed to enhance these tasks: 

    • Speed up application development and connectivity
    • Enable transformations through stream processing
    • Streamline business operations at scale
    • Adhere to strict architectural standards

    Confluent is a more complete distribution of Kafka in that it enhances the integration possibilities of Kafka by introducing tools for managing and optimizing Kafka clusters while providing methods for making sure the streams are secure. Confluent supports publish-and-subscribe as well as the storing and processing of data within the streams. Kafka is easier to operate and build thanks to Confluent.

    Confluent's software is available in three different varieties: 

    1. A free, open-source streaming platform that makes it simple to start using real-time data streams
    2. An enterprise-grade version of the product with more administrative, ops, and monitoring tools
    3. A premium cloud-based version.

    Confluent Advantage Features

    Confluent has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Multi-language

      • Clients: C++, Python, Go, and .NET
      • REST proxy: Can connect to Kafka from any connected network device
      • Admin REST APIs: RESTful interface for performing administrator operations
    • Pre-built ecosystem

      • Connectors: More than 100 supported connectors, including S3, Elastic, HDFS, JDBC
      • MQTT proxy: Gain access to Kafka from MQTT gateways and devices
      • Schema registry: Centralized database to guarantee data compatibility
    • Streaming database

      • ksqlDB: Materialized views and real-time stream processing
    • GUI management 

      • Control panel: GUI for scalable Kafka management and monitoring
      • Health+: Smart alerts and cloud-based control centers
    • DevOps automation that is flexible

      • Confluent for Kubernetes: Complete API to deploy on Kubernetes
      • Automated Ansible deployment on non-containerized environments
    • Dynamic performance 

      • Self-balancing clusters: Automated partition re-balancing across brokers in the cluster
      • Tiered storage: Older Kafka data offloading to object storage with transparent access
    • Security that is enterprise-grade 

      • Role-based access control: Granular user/group access authorization
      • Audit logs that are structured: Logs of user actions kept in dedicated Kafka topics
      • Secret protection: Sensitive information is encrypted
    • Global resilience

      • Linking clusters: A real-time, highly reliable, and consistent bridge across on-premises and cloud environments
      • Multiple-region clusters: Single Kafka cluster with automated client failover distributed across multiple data centers
      • Replicator: Asynchronous replication that is based on the Kafka Connect framework
    • Support

      • Round the clock enterprise support from Kafka experts

    Reviews from Real Users

    Confluent stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its robust enterprise support and its open source option. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews: 

    Ravi B., a solutions architect at a tech services company, writes of the solution, “KSQL is a valuable feature, as is the Kafka Connect framework for connecting to the various source systems where you need not write the code. We get great support from Confluent because we're using the enterprise version and whenever there's a problem, they support us with fine-tuning and finding the root cause.”

    Amit S., an IT consultant, notes, “The biggest benefit is that it is open source. You have the flexibility of opting or not opting for enterprise support, even though the tool itself is open source.” He adds, “The second benefit is it's very modern and built on Java and Scala. You can extend the features very well, and it doesn't take a lot of effort to do so.”

    Sample Customers
    UC Berkeley AMPLab, Amazon, Alibaba Taobao, Kenshoo, eBay Inc.
    ING, Priceline.com, Nordea, Target, RBC, Tivo, Capital One, Chartboost
    Top Industries
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Computer Software Company19%
    Comms Service Provider7%
    Manufacturing Company6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company31%
    Retailer15%
    Non Tech Company8%
    Government8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Computer Software Company17%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Retailer6%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business56%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise33%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business22%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise67%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise53%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise70%
    Buyer's Guide
    Apache Spark Streaming vs. Confluent
    March 2024
    Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Spark Streaming vs. Confluent and other solutions. Updated: March 2024.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Apache Spark Streaming is ranked 8th in Streaming Analytics with 8 reviews while Confluent is ranked 3rd in Streaming Analytics with 18 reviews. Apache Spark Streaming is rated 8.0, while Confluent is rated 8.4. The top reviewer of Apache Spark Streaming writes "Easy integration, beneficial auto-scaling, and good open-sourced support community". On the other hand, the top reviewer of Confluent writes "Has good technical support services and a valuable feature for real-time data streaming ". Apache Spark Streaming is most compared with Amazon Kinesis, Azure Stream Analytics, Spring Cloud Data Flow, Apache Pulsar and Starburst Enterprise, whereas Confluent is most compared with Amazon MSK, Amazon Kinesis, AWS Glue, Databricks and Oracle GoldenGate. See our Apache Spark Streaming vs. Confluent report.

    See our list of best Streaming Analytics vendors.

    We monitor all Streaming Analytics reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.