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A Cloud Guru vs Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud 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

A Cloud Guru
Ranking in AWS Marketplace
12th
Average Rating
8.6
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Virtual Training (1st), eLearning (2nd)
Apache Kafka on Confluent C...
Ranking in AWS Marketplace
11th
Average Rating
8.2
Number of Reviews
9
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the AWS Marketplace category, the mindshare of A Cloud Guru is 0.2%, down from 0.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is 0.8%, down from 3.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
AWS Marketplace
 

Featured Reviews

Justin Wheeler - PeerSpot reviewer
Provides high-quality course content to study different tools and technologies
The certification courses are typically divided into multiple sections. At the end of each section, there are exam tips for that section. I would like to go through all the different exam tips the day before my exam. It'd be nice if there were a way to go through all the different exam tips more easily. Right now, I have to find every video, play it for however long it is, skip ahead until I find the next one, and then play that one. The solution could include a playlist-type feature where I can select the ones I want to play. Having an exam tips section for the certification courses would be helpful. It would be good if there were a way to subscribe to new content when it comes out. Right now, I have to check the tool daily to see if they upload new content. It does not have a newsletter I could subscribe to and get updates on when new courses drop. I've also seen that A Cloud Guru is not as fast at dropping new courses and making updates as some competitors like Udemy. Cloud Academy normally updates for new exams faster than A Cloud Guru. However, A Cloud Guru's quality is higher. After acquiring A Cloud Guru, Pluralsight has imported all the A Cloud Guru courses into the Pluralsight mobile app. When I click on the A Cloud Guru videos on the Pluralsight mobile app, I'm not authorized to view them even though I have subscriptions to Pluralsight and A Cloud Guru. I'm not sure if that's an A Cloud Guru bug or something from Pluralsight's side. I haven't dug too much into it because I normally go on my computer and navigate to the A Cloud Guru website, which works fine. Pluralsight and A Cloud Guru offer many similar courses and overlapping content. It can be hard for a user to tell whether to go to Pluralsight or A Cloud Guru for a particular course or content. The acquisition also introduced some confusion.
Anantharaman Ganesan - PeerSpot reviewer
Can be easily installed and is reliable
Maybe in terms of Apache Kafka's integration with other Microsoft tools, our company faced some challenges. With other products, specifically non-Apache ones or Microsoft, our company had created some wrapper classes around them. The integration issues of Apache Kafka revolve around other products like Tomcat, other web servers, or Node.js and .NET Core-related areas. After creating some wrapper classes around them, we were able to get the information we wanted. My company has not used any AI features in the product, but I would like to see AI features in the product because they currently help generate real-time content. AI can help our company slowly create some LLM. My company is not currently implementing any AI features, but I see that there will be a lot of opportunities to use such functionalities. I have experience with Databricks, for which I have used AI.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The most valuable feature is practical learning."
"The solution has labs that help to learn different technologies. The main value of using it is learning new technologies."
"A Cloud Guru's courses are of really high quality."
"A Cloud Guru offers courses for any industry. It is a user-friendly platform that offers courses in Excel, Python, C#, and more."
"The solution's most valuable feature is the hands-on experience it provides through very good labs."
"The content is very easy to understand because they break it down in a way that anyone can understand."
"The content is engaging."
"It has streamlined my knowledge of cloud migration strategies, particularly in managing public and private cloud environments and hybrid setups."
"The product's installation phase is pretty straightforward for us since we know how to use it."
"The state-saving feature is very much appreciated. It allows me to rewind a certain process if I see an error and then reprocess it."
"Confluent Cloud handles data volume pretty well."
"In case of huge transactions on the web or mobile apps, it helps you capture real-time data and analyze it."
"Kafka provides handy properties that allow us to directly configure the data, whether to keep it or discard it after use."
"Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is more reliable and frequent to use compared to Apache Kafka."
"Overall, I think it's a good experience. Apache Kafka can be quite complex and difficult to maintain on your own, so using Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud makes it much easier to use it without worrying about setup and maintenance."
"Kafka and Confluent Cloud have proven to be cost-effective, especially when compared to other tools. In a recent BI integration program over the past year, we assessed multiple use cases spanning ship-to-shore and various Azure integrations. Our findings revealed that Confluent Kafka performed exceptionally well, standing out alongside Genesys and Azure Event Hubs. While these three are top contenders, the choice among other tools depends on the specific use case and project requirements. The customer initially used tools like SMQs, FITRA, and Stream for real-time data processing. However, after our recommendation, Confluent Cloud proved to be a superior choice, capable of replacing these three tools and simplifying their data infrastructure. This shift to a single tool, Confluent Cloud, streamlined their operations, making maintenance and management more efficient for their internal projects."
 

Cons

"Instead of covering a broad section of the exam and then offering labs, it would be better to provide targeted exercises right after the relevant lecture, such as creating an EC2 instance."
"I would appreciate more interactive features where users can receive immediate feedback on their actions."
"A Cloud Guru needs to offer more practical quizzes."
"It'd be nice if there were a way to go through all the different exam tips more easily."
"As people's maturity increases, there are areas that can be improved in terms of the learning paths."
"Most of the tutorial contents in A Cloud Guru are very lengthy."
"A Cloud Guru's videos are not effective for knowledge transfer."
"There could be some performance improvements."
"There's one thing that's a common use case, but I don't know why it's not covered in Kafka. When a message comes in, and another message with the same key arrives, the first version should be deleted automatically."
"Regarding real-time data usage, there were challenges with CDC (Change Data Capture) integrations. Specifically, with PyTRAN, we encountered difficulties. We recommended using our on-premises Kaspersky as an alternative to PyTRAN for that specific use case due to issues with CDC store configuration and log reading challenges with the iton components."
"There are some premium connectors, for example, available in Confluent, which you cannot access in the marketplace, so there are some limitations."
"There could be an in-built feature for data analysis."
"The administration port could be more extensive."
"Some areas for improvement in Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud include issues faced during migration with Kubernetes pods."
"The solution is expensive."
"Maybe in terms of Apache Kafka's integration with other Microsoft tools, our company faced some challenges."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution's cloud content is expensive. Compared to other vendors, it is expensive."
"A Cloud Guru is more expensive than other options on the market."
"The pricing is good compared to other premium e-learning platforms."
"I rate the solution's pricing a seven out of ten."
"You need an annual license to use the platform. Its pricing is fine—good knowledge comes at a price—and doesn't include any extra costs."
"It is not expensive."
"The solution’s pricing is moderate."
"I think the pricing is fair, but Confluent requires a little bit more thinking because the price can go up really quickly when it comes to premium connectors."
"I consider that the product's price falls under the middle range category."
"Regarding pricing, Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud is not a cheap tool. The right use case would justify the cost. It might make sense if you have a high volume of data that you can leverage to generate value for the business. But if you don't have those requirements, there are likely cheaper solutions you could use instead."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
15%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Comms Service Provider
8%
Financial Services Firm
12%
Computer Software Company
9%
Transportation Company
7%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are A Cloud Guru's certification options?
Here's how you can publish an A Cloud Guru certificate on your LinkedIn profile: Log in to your A Cloud Guru account. Go to the Certificates page. Click the Export button next to the certificate ...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for A Cloud Guru?
Since I'm interested in training certification, the solution is valuable for my career development. A Cloud Guru is more expensive than other options on the market. Whizlabs is a substantially chea...
What needs improvement with A Cloud Guru?
It would be better if the product provided one-on-one tutoring or office hours for certain products. I haven't seen that in A Cloud Guru. The only thing that really annoys me is that I have to log ...
What do you like most about Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
Kafka and Confluent Cloud have proven to be cost-effective, especially when compared to other tools. In a recent BI integration program over the past year, we assessed multiple use cases spanning s...
What needs improvement with Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
Some areas for improvement in Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud include issues faced during migration with Kubernetes pods. This aspect could be smoother to better support migration processes.
What is your primary use case for Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud?
We use Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud for streaming large volumes of data in real-time. It's employed in scenarios such as handling events from various countries and streaming them efficiently for...
 

Overview

Find out what your peers are saying about A Cloud Guru vs. Apache Kafka on Confluent Cloud and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
832,723 professionals have used our research since 2012.