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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Apache Kafka

    Score8.9 out of 10
    N/AApache Kafka is an open-source stream processing platform developed by the Apache Software Foundation written in Scala and Java. The Kafka event streaming platform is used by thousands of companies for high-performance data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission-critical applications.N/A

    Microsoft Power Automate

    Score8.5 out of 10
    N/AMicrosoft Power Automate is an advanced automation platform offering a range of features, including AI-powered automation, robotic process automation (RPA), business process automation (BPA), digital process automation (DPA), and process/task mining. The platform aims to empower organizations to securely automate their operations at scale by leveraging low-code and AI technologies.

    $15

    per month per user

    Pricing
    Apache KafkaMicrosoft Power Automate
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
    Power Automate Premium
    $15
    per month per user
    Power Automate Process
    $150
    per month per bot
    Hosted RPA add-on
    $215
    per month per bot
    Process Mining add-on
    $5,000
    per month per tenant
    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Apache KafkaMicrosoft Power Automate
    Free Trial
    NoYes
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoYes
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Apache KafkaMicrosoft Power Automate
    Considered Both Products
    Apache
    No answer on this topic
    Microsoft
    No answer on this topic
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    94%
    Would buy again
    16 Answers
    93%
    Would buy again
    78 Answers
    Delivers good value for the price
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    96%
    Delivers good value for the price
    75 Answers
    Happy with the feature set
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    16 Answers
    93%
    Happy with the feature set
    78 Answers
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    13 Answers
    94%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    51 Answers
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    17 Answers
    94%
    Implementation went as expected
    58 Answers
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    Apache KafkaMicrosoft Power Automate
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    User Ratings
    Apache KafkaMicrosoft Power Automate
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (19 ratings)
    8.6
    (89 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.3
    (9 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    9.0
    (7 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.4
    (4 ratings)
    7.9
    (12 ratings)
    In-Person Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Online Training
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.9
    (2 ratings)
    Implementation Rating
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.3
    (39 ratings)
    Configurability
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    Ease of integration
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.5
    (2 ratings)
    Professional Services
    -
    (0 ratings)
    8.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor post-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Vendor pre-sale
    -
    (0 ratings)
    10.0
    (1 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Apache KafkaMicrosoft Power Automate
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Apache
    Apache Kafka is well-suited for most data-streaming use cases. Amazon Kinesis and Azure EventHubs, unless you have a specific use case where using those cloud PaAS for your data lakes, once set up well, Apache Kafka will take care of everything else in the background. Azure EventHubs, is good for cross-cloud use cases, and Amazon Kinesis - I have no real-world experience. But I believe it is the same.
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Very useful RPA tools for automating processes with minimal coding and drag-and-drop functionality, with a wide variety of triggers, including scheduled time-based triggers and activity-based triggers, such as modifying a file/list in SharePoint to run a Power Automate flow. Very easy-to-use UI with native integration with every Microsoft product, and a very low automation failure rate for deployed workflows.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Pros
    Apache
    • Really easy to configure. I've used other message brokers such as RabbitMQ and compared to them, Kafka's configurations are very easy to understand and tweak.
    • Very scalable: easily configured to run on multiple nodes allowing for ease of parallelism (assuming your queues/topics don't have to be consumed in the exact same order the messages were delivered)
    • Not exactly a feature, but I trust Kafka will be around for at least another decade because active development has continued to be strong and there's a lot of financial backing from Confluent and LinkedIn, and probably many other companies who are using it (which, anecdotally, is many).
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Sending confirmation email to clients and user once the flow is triggered.
    • Fetching or Dumping files from one location to another if the flow is triggered.
    • Schedule flow helps to send alerts and triggers the flow at a specific interval of time to carry out the required task.
    • Power Automate also be used to convert any file format to a specific file format and save it to the required location
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Cons
    Apache
    • Sometimes it becomes difficult to monitor our Kafka deployments. We've been able to overcome it largely using AWS MSK, a managed service for Apache Kafka, but a separate monitoring dashboard would have been great.
    • Simplify the process for local deployment of Kafka and provide a user interface to get visibility into the different topics and the messages being processed.
    • Learning curve around creation of broker and topics could be simplified
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • Steep learning curve.
    • It can be slow to develop simple solutions compared to other automation platforms such as Smarsheet.
    • Troubleshooting and developing can be frustrating without proper access to edit the code directly.
    • Only able to edit through the GUI and with expressions.
    • Many ways to do the same thing can be frustrating when you need to rework your flow.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Likelihood to Renew
    Apache
    Kafka is quickly becoming core product of the organization, indeed it is replacing older messaging systems. No better alternatives found yet
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    The tool is very useful when used with its various native connectors, taking great advantage of the integration between the components and systems of the Office365 universe. However, its cost is still high, and automation using more advanced components containing AI resources becomes unfeasible for some companies. Due to the financial crisis that many companies are currently experiencing, investment in automation systems or tools is taking a back seat.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Usability
    Apache
    Apache Kafka is highly recommended to develop loosely coupled, real-time processing applications. Also, Apache Kafka provides property based configuration. Producer, Consumer and broker contain their own separate property file
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Power Automate features a clean and intuitive user interface that allows users to create, manage, and monitor workflows easily. The UI is designed to be accessible to both technical and non-technical users, with drag-and-drop functionality for building workflows. Power Automate supports integration with a wide range of Microsoft and third-party applications. This flexibility in integration allows users to automate workflows across various systems, enhancing overall productivity and efficiency.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Support Rating
    Apache
    Support for Apache Kafka (if willing to pay) is available from Confluent that includes the same time that created Kafka at Linkedin so they know this software in and out. Moreover, Apache Kafka is well known and best practices documents and deployment scenarios are easily available for download. For example, from eBay, Linkedin, Uber, and NYTimes.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    both Community support and Microsoft official support typically respond to (and resolve) reported issues in a VERY expedient manner, usually going above and beyond for education and bugfixing. I have been thoroughly impressed with the level of support I had been provided in the past.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    In-Person Training
    Apache
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    after reviewing the main features of Power Automate, the Microsoft trainer focused on some of our real life use cases implementation, from simple to more advanced.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Online Training
    Apache
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    although it was productive, it is more difficult to stay focused and in a 7 hours a day online training (including screen share issues and the fact that the trainer just can't precisely show the exact location of your mistake)
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Implementation Rating
    Apache
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Overall, our experience implementing Microsoft Power Automate has been positive, with a relatively low barrier to entry and a fast time-to-value—especially because it integrates natively with Microsoft 365, which we were already using extensively. With Respect to migration, I had a very good experience where existing workflows were reviewed and simplified. Unnecessary steps were removed. Business rules were reimplemented using Power Automate logic. We migrated Approval workflows, email-based notifications, SharePoint-centric processes, and simple integrations.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Alternatives Considered
    Apache
    I used other messaging/queue solutions that are a lot more basic than Confluent Kafka, as well as another solution that is no longer in the market called Xively, which was bought and "buried" by Google. In comparison, these solutions offer way fewer functionalities and respond to other needs.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    Microsoft Power Automate is worlds ahead of Zapier in so many ways. The looping, DOM access, and flow controls are much better. I feel that accessing different data within previous connectors used in a flow is much easier in Microsoft Power Automate as well. The custom connector creation process is a lot more pleasant in Microsoft Power Automate. The DateTime data type is handles MUCH better in Microsoft Power Automate, which is reason enough to use it.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Contract Terms and Pricing Model
    Apache
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    I have not done any participations
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Professional Services
    Apache
    No answers on this topic
    Microsoft
    Microsoft's professional services provide hands-on support throughout the implementation lifecycle of Power Automate.This includes initial setup, configuration, integration with existing systems, testing, and deployment. They ensure that workflows are correctly designed, optimized for performance, and aligned with security best practices.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Return on Investment
    Apache
    • Positive: Get a quick and reliable pub/sub model implemented - data across components flows easily.
    • Positive: it's scalable so we can develop small and scale for real-world scenarios
    • Negative: it's easy to get into a confusing situation if you are not experienced yet or something strange has happened (rare, but it does). Troubleshooting such situations can take time and effort.
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    Microsoft
    • You can automate a lot of process very easy like automatic mails for status updates and such. This will save a lot of time and is more accurate, faster and up-to-date than a user can be.
    • Task approval is centralized and automatic reminders save us a lot of time.
    • The ROI is good if you have a lot of use cases and things to automate
    Incentivized
    Read full review
    ScreenShots

    Microsoft Power Automate Screenshots

    Screenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Work Queues, Initial pageScreenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Signed-in web portal home pageScreenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Signed-in web portal create pageScreenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Desktop designerScreenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Hosted RPAScreenshot of Microsoft Power Automate (Interface Screenshot) - Display of DLP violations (on Run)