Apache Kafka - Default Choice For Large Scale Messaging
August 23, 2023

Apache Kafka - Default Choice For Large Scale Messaging

Victor Tay | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Overall Satisfaction with Apache Kafka

Apache Kafka is really the bedrock of all things streaming and data processing. I cannot imagine if there is any other product that does it better. My last 2 companies used it, and my current one does so as well. If you want your data stream to be organized and sent, Apache Kafka has become the tool of choice. I have dabbled in Azure EventHubs as well, if you are into opensource data streaming, Apache Kafka will take you where you need to be for data lakes and the amount of data that is streamed for the cybersecurity industry that my company is in. Without Apache Kafka, there is no way that my company products can handle the volume of data that we process for our customers.

Pros

  • Data streaming is really second to none.
  • Scaling, done right, Apache Kafka is a workhorse.
  • Ease of administration - Although you cannot really compare to Azure EventHubs, but that is comparing between Apples and Oranges.

Cons

  • The web UI has not really changed in years. UX has been refreshed, but a more streamlined UX instead of many 3rd party webUX tools, will be most welcome.
  • Webhooks can still be tricky to troubleshoot at times.
  • CLI monitoring is a learning curve to get it right.
  • Well known and known set of tools from setup to admin.
  • Scalability.
  • Fit for use in both onprem, and cloud-base use cases.
  • Being an open-source tool, Apache Kafka is invaluable to my company's product. I cannot imagine how much it is if we are using Amazon Kinesis or Azure EventHubs.
  • The negative part will be in the event of Apache Kafka failures, the trouble-shooting can really be a pain and bane. But given enough exposure to its inner workings, Apache Kafka still comes out OK.
  • Having used Apache Kafka for years in this company, I can only say without Apache Kafka, my company would not be cost-efficient and would be much more costlier to sell to customers if we were paying on top of Azure Event hubs or Amazon Kinesis.
Apache Kafka is built for scale. From high throughput and real-time data streaming, it has a strong advantage over RabbitMQ with its low latency. This put Apache Kafka at the forefront as the platform of choice for large datasets messaging and ensuring scalability when data scale up tremendously.

RabbitMQ however has its strengths in traditional messaging. Routing and message delivery reliability are the bedrock of RabbitMQ and this is where RabbitMQ excels. In my previous workplace, RabbitMQ was of choice as reliability matters more than scale.

In two words. Apache Kafka for scale, RabbitMQ for reliability. And for cloud deployment and large dataset messaging in what I am doing now, Apache Kafka is the default choice.

Do you think Apache Kafka delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Apache Kafka's feature set?

Yes

Did Apache Kafka live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Apache Kafka go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Apache Kafka again?

Yes

Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), Apache Spark, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2)
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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