Apache Kafka vs. MuleSoft Anypoint Platform

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Apache Kafka
Score 8.4 out of 10
N/A
Apache 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
Anypoint Platform
Score 8.2 out of 10
N/A
The Anypoint Platform developed by MuleSoft and acquired by Salesforce in early 2018 is designed to connect apps, data, and devices anywhere, on-premises or in the cloud. This platform was built to offer out-of-the-box connectors as well as tools that architects and developers can adopt quickly to design, build and manage the entire lifecycle of their APIs, applications, and products.N/A
Pricing
Apache KafkaMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Apache KafkaAnypoint Platform
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 KafkaMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Top Pros
Top Cons
Features
Apache KafkaMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Cloud Data Integration
Comparison of Cloud Data Integration features of Product A and Product B
Apache Kafka
-
Ratings
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform
8.6
10 Ratings
5% above category average
Pre-built connectors00 Ratings8.810 Ratings
Connector modification00 Ratings8.510 Ratings
Support for real-time and batch integration00 Ratings8.510 Ratings
Data quality services00 Ratings8.310 Ratings
Data security features00 Ratings8.610 Ratings
Monitoring console00 Ratings9.010 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Apache KafkaMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Small Businesses

No answers on this topic

Make
Make
Score 9.2 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
IBM MQ
IBM MQ
Score 9.0 out of 10
Zapier
Zapier
Score 8.9 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM MQ
IBM MQ
Score 9.0 out of 10
SAP Integration Suite
SAP Integration Suite
Score 8.7 out of 10
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User Ratings
Apache KafkaMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
Likelihood to Recommend
8.3
(18 ratings)
9.1
(20 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
9.0
(2 ratings)
9.0
(1 ratings)
Usability
10.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
8.4
(4 ratings)
6.8
(4 ratings)
User Testimonials
Apache KafkaMuleSoft Anypoint Platform
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.
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Salesforce
MuleSoft Anypoint Platform is best tool in the market for developing APIs with complex structures communicating with various different types of applications including web applications as well as legacy applications. Also applications including database connectivity for fetching and updating data in the DB tables. I cant think of any scenario which MuleSoft Anypoint Platform could not be used for developing the integrations.
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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).
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Salesforce
  • API Manager provides easy API Policy Governance. You do not have to manage multiple platforms for managing the policies.
  • Supports hybrid Mule EBS environments. You can configure both CouldHub-based and on-premise-based API using Mulesoft API manager in a similar manner.
  • It's very easy to implement API proxy.
  • User friendly UI.
  • Single platform to manage all.
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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
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Salesforce
  • Has more features than what we really need so we're paying for more than we use. Sort of like paying for an Abrams tank when all we really need is a Toyota Corolla.
  • Not a value product, tends to be expensive.
  • Takes a while for developers to learn to use Mulesoft Anypoint.
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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
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Salesforce
No answers on this topic
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
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Salesforce
simple and easy graphics and containers helps developers to write complex flows
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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.
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Salesforce
Anypoint Platform support is very responsive. There is also a huge knowledge base and an active online forum where answers to most questions can be found. When needed support engages the engineering group so adequate solutions or workarounds are always provided.
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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.
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Salesforce
Once we have moved all of our system integration APIs to the MuleSoft Anypoint Platform, we will need to communicate with a wide variety of external systems. All of our business and service logic is stored in the aforementioned core systems. Anypoint Platform (and all of our APIs) makes it easy to connect to various other platforms. In order to link to these many other systems, connectors and/or components are utilized, and they are simple to configure and integrate.
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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.
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Salesforce
  • Mulesoft can be used to provide an integration platform to a large number of systems like Salesforce, ODBC, JDBC, SAP, Mongo DB, etc.
  • An excellent option to develop microservices and real-time integrations.
  • Not as robust in handling large data volumes, Informatica is better in that respect.
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ScreenShots

Anypoint Platform Screenshots

Screenshot of Connect any endpoints using out-of-the-box connectors, dynamic connectivity to API specifications, or by building reusable connectors with Anypoint DevKit™.Screenshot of A reporting suite that provides a real-time view of API consumption trends and operational performance. Analytics provides insight into how your API is being used and informs forward-looking design decisions.Screenshot of A platform to engage with API developers and drive adoption. Share documentation, examples and manage developer access from a single platform.