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Apache Kafka vs IBM MQ vs PubSub+ Platform 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:
 

ROI

Sentiment score
7.0
Apache Kafka's ROI benefits include cost savings, quick data insights, increased productivity, and efficient high-traffic data management.
Sentiment score
7.2
Organizations benefit from IBM MQ's data protection, cost efficiency, reliability, and low error frequency, achieving investment recovery within two years.
Sentiment score
7.0
PubSub+ Platform aids digital transformation with increased productivity and cost savings, though some report higher operational costs.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
5.8
Apache Kafka's support stems largely from an open-source community, with varied satisfaction in third-party and enterprise assistance.
Sentiment score
7.0
IBM MQ support receives both praise for efficiency and criticism for slow responses and initial information demands, prompting mixed feedback.
Sentiment score
7.5
Users praise PubSub+ Platform's responsive and knowledgeable support, with senior leadership involvement and prompt technical resolutions.
The Apache community provides support for the open-source version.
There is plenty of community support available online.
With containerized flavors of these products, we are having a tough time dealing with PMRs because the versions are new to IBM.
I would rate technical support as an eight.
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.8
Apache Kafka's scalability is a major strength, allowing easy horizontal and vertical scaling to meet diverse use case demands.
Sentiment score
7.5
IBM MQ is praised for scalability and adaptability, despite some challenges with legacy dependencies and skills availability.
Sentiment score
6.9
PubSub+ Platform efficiently scales and integrates across clouds, handling enterprise messaging; improvements needed in topic management and operations.
Customers have not faced issues with user growth or data streaming needs.
IBM MQ handles many thousands of messages in a second, indicating good scalability.
In our environment, we do not have horizontal scaling for IBM MQ, but as demand increases, we would just vertically scale it.
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
Apache Kafka is praised for its resilience and reliability, despite minor configuration challenges and performance under high data volumes.
Sentiment score
8.1
IBM MQ is praised for its stability, reliability, and performance, despite occasional configuration challenges in specific environments.
Sentiment score
8.2
Users praise PubSub+ for its stability, reliability, and performance under increased loads, citing minimal maintenance and high availability.
Apache Kafka is stable.
We have never had any downtime or crashes since it's been running.
The transaction is always guaranteed with IBM MQ, which is the main reason I have been working with it for fifteen years while dealing with financial transactions or messages.
 

Room For Improvement

Apache Kafka needs UI improvements, simplified deployment, reduce ZooKeeper dependency, enhance documentation, client libraries, performance, and advanced features.
IBM MQ needs improved security, a modern interface, better monitoring, seamless cloud integration, competitive pricing, and enhanced message support.
PubSub+ Platform needs better integration, observability, open-source options, and cost reduction to improve usability and adoption.
The performance angle is critical, and while it works in milliseconds, the goal is to move towards microseconds.
A more user-friendly interface and better management consoles with improved documentation could be beneficial.
We are always trying to find the best configs, which is a challenge.
Having a graphical user interface would improve usability.
We are dealing with IBM MQ client applications mostly.
 

Setup Cost

Apache Kafka is open-source, but additional provider services can be costly, varying by needs and exceeding 100,000 euros annually.
IBM MQ is expensive but valued for performance and support, justifying costs for large enterprises despite cheaper alternatives.
Enterprise buyers value PubSub+ Platform for its transparent, flexible pricing and licensing, with adjustable costs based on usage projections.
The open-source version of Apache Kafka results in minimal costs, mainly linked to accessing documentation and limited support.
Its pricing is reasonable.
I am not exactly sure about the licensing cost compared to similar products, but I assume it is affordable since we continue to use it, and it is also used by our customers.
IBM MQ is pretty reasonable when compared to IBM ESB.
 

Valuable Features

Apache Kafka excels in real-time data streaming, scalability, integration, resilience, and handling large volumes with robust message retention.
IBM MQ ensures reliable, secure message delivery with cross-platform compatibility, scalability, and strong integration, favored for banking and enterprise use.
PubSub+ Platform offers seamless message routing and real-time event distribution with flexible management, supporting various protocols and networks.
Apache Kafka is effective when dealing with large volumes of data flowing at high speeds, requiring real-time processing.
It allows the use of data in motion, allowing data to propagate from one source to another while it is in motion.
These are financial transactions, so we do not want to lose the message at any cost.
IBM MQ processes many thousands of messages in a second, which is efficient for handling high transaction volumes.
 

Featured Reviews

Snehasish Das - PeerSpot reviewer
Data streaming transforms real-time data movement with impressive scalability
I worked with Apache Kafka for customers in the financial industry and OTT platforms. They use Kafka particularly for data streaming. Companies offering movie and entertainment as a service, similar to Netflix, use Kafka Apache Kafka offers unique data streaming. It allows the use of data in…
SelvaKumar4 - PeerSpot reviewer
Offers the ability to batch metadata transfers between systems that support MQ as the communication method
We find it scalable for internal applications, but not so much for external integrations. It should support a wider range of protocols, not just a few specific ones. Many other products have broader protocol support, and IBM MQ is lagging in that area. IBM MQ needs to improve the UI for quicker logging. Users should also have a lot more control over logging, with a dashboard-like interface. That's something they should definitely work on.
BhanuChidigam - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs well, high availability, and helpful support
We use approximately four people for the maintenance of the solution. My advice to others is this solution has high throughput and is used for many stock exchanges. For business critical use cases, such as processing financial transactions at a quick speed, I would recommend this solution. I rate PubSub+ Event Broker an eight out of ten.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Retailer
6%
Financial Services Firm
38%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Government
4%
Financial Services Firm
35%
Computer Software Company
12%
Retailer
8%
Manufacturing Company
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What are the differences between Apache Kafka and IBM MQ?
Apache Kafka is open source and can be used for free. It has very good log management and has a way to store the data...
What do you like most about Apache Kafka?
Apache Kafka is an open-source solution that can be used for messaging or event processing.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache Kafka?
Its pricing is reasonable. It's not always about cost, but about meeting specific needs.
What is MQ software?
Hi As someone with 45+ years of experience in the Transaction and Message Processing world, I have seen many "MQ" sol...
How does IBM MQ compare with VMware RabbitMQ?
IBM MQ has a great reputation behind it, and this solution is very robust with great stability. It is easy to use, si...
What do you like most about IBM MQ?
The feature I find most effective for ensuring message delivery without loss is the backup threshold. This feature al...
What do you like most about PubSub+ Event Broker?
The most valuable feature of PubSub+ Event Broker is the scaling integration. Prior to using the solution, it was don...
What needs improvement with PubSub+ Event Broker?
The solution could be improved by enhancing the message pooling size for persistent messages to handle both small and...
 

Also Known As

No data available
WebSphere MQ
PubSub+ Event Broker, PubSub+ Event Portal
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Uber, Netflix, Activision, Spotify, Slack, Pinterest
Deutsche Bahn, Bon-Ton, WestJet, ARBURG, Northern Territory Government, Tata Steel Europe, Sharp Corporation
FxPro, TP ICAP, Barclays, Airtel, American Express, Cobalt, Legal & General, LSE Group, Akuna Capital, Azure Information Technology, Brand.net, Canadian Securities Exchange, Core Transport Technologies, Crédit Agricole, Fluent Trade Technologies, Harris Corporation, Korea Exchange, Live E!, Mercuria Energy, Myspace, NYSE Technologies, Pico, RBC Capital Markets, Standard Chartered Bank, Unibet 
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