Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Apache Kafka vs Redis comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary
 

Categories and Ranking

Apache Kafka
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
Streaming Analytics (7th)
Redis
Average Rating
8.8
Number of Reviews
19
Ranking in other categories
NoSQL Databases (8th), In-Memory Data Store Services (1st), Vector Databases (4th)
 

Mindshare comparison

Apache Kafka and Redis aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. Apache Kafka is designed for Streaming Analytics and holds a mindshare of 0.2%, up 0.0% compared to last year.
Redis, on the other hand, focuses on In-Memory Data Store Services, holds 10.6% mindshare, down 15.8% since last year.
Streaming Analytics
In-Memory Data Store Services
 

Featured Reviews

Eyob Alemu - PeerSpot reviewer
Significant cost savings with real-time processing and fast recovery
We use Kafka for a stage event-driven process from a process perspective. Our platform is an ID platform, so after registration data is received, it has to be stored from various registration locations. The process includes stages like quality checking, consistency, format, biometric data checking…
Chethan Rao S - PeerSpot reviewer
Performs much better than traditional databases, integrates well and lot of learning resources available
It improved the performance. For example, data structures like hashmaps in Redis make it a very fast database – much faster than traditional SQL databases. It can perform at significantly higher speeds. Latencies are very low. Our primary focus wasn't on saving money but on improving performance for that specific feature. So, performance has been the key improvement. Every calculation happened in real time. It improved the performance 10X. In our company, we have limited resources, so we can't manage the database ourselves. We use services from Azure for that. So, Redis integrates well with those services. We use Azure Cache for Redis.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"It seemed pretty stable and didn't have any issues at all."
"There are numerous possibilities that can be explored. While it may be challenging to fully comprehend the potential advantages, one key aspect is the ability to establish a proper sequence of events rather than simply dealing with a jumbled group of occurrences. These events possess their own timestamps, even if they were not initially provided with one, and are arranged in a chronological order that allows for a clear understanding of the progression of the events."
"Kafka makes data streaming asynchronous and decouples the reliance of events on consumers."
"Apache Kafka's most valuable features include clustering and sharding...It is a pretty stable solution."
"I have seen a return on investment with this solution."
"Good horizontal scaling and design."
"The publisher-subscriber pattern and low latency are also essential features that greatly piqued my interest."
"I like Kafka's flexibility, stability, reliability, and robustness."
"It makes operations more efficient. The information processing is very fast, and very responsive. It's all about the technology."
"Redis is a simple service that does what it promises."
"The ability to fetch and save data quickly is valuable."
"What I like best about Redis is its fast and easy use. It has interesting algorithms like HyperLogLog and provides useful features. It's also good for implementing scalable rate limiting."
"Redis is good for distributed caching management."
"The most valuable features of Redis are its ease of use and speed. It does not have access to the disc and it is fast."
"The solution's technical support team is good...The solution's initial setup process was straightforward."
"Redis is better tested and is used by large companies. I haven't found a direct alternative to what Redis offers. Plus, there are a lot of support and learning resources available, which help you use Redis efficiently."
 

Cons

"The manageability should be improved. There are lots of things we need to manage and it should have a function that enables us to manage them all cohesively."
"Lacks elasticity and the ability to scale down."
"Kafka requires non-trivial expertise with DevOps to deploy in production at scale. The organization needs to understand ZooKeeper and Kafka and should consider using additional tools, such as MirrorMaker, so that the organization can survive an availability zone or a region going down."
"We cannot apply all of our security requirements because it is hard to upload them."
"Apache Kafka can improve by making the documentation more user-friendly. It would be beneficial if we could explain to customers in more detail how the solution operates but the documentation get highly technical quickly. For example, if they had a simple page where we can show the customers how it works without the need for the customer to have a computer science background."
"Too much dependency on the zookeeper and leader selection is still the bottleneck for Kafka implementation."
"Confluent has improved aspects like documentation and cloud support, yet Kafka's reliance on older architectures like ZooKeeper in previous versions is a limitation."
"While the solution scales well and easily, you need to understand your future needs and prep for the peaks."
"I would prefer it if there was more information available about Redis. That would make it easier for new beginners. Currently, there is a lack of resources."
"Redis should have an option to operate without Docker on a local PC."
"The only thing is the lack of a GUI application. There was a time when we needed to resolve an issue in production. If we had a GUI, it would have been easier."
"The initial setup took some time as our technical team needed to familiarize themselves with Redis."
"In future releases, I would like Redis to provide its users with an option like schema validation. Currently, the solution lacks to offer such functionality."
"Redis presents a single point of failure and lacks fault tolerance."
"The development of clusters could improve. Additionally, it would be helpful if it was integrated with Amazon AWS or Google Cloud."
"If we use a lot of data, it will eventually cost us a lot."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We are using the free version of Apache Kafka."
"It is open source software."
"The solution is free, it is open-source."
"This is an open-source solution and is free to use."
"I rate Apache Kafka's pricing a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is cheap and ten is expensive. There are no additional costs apart from the licensing fees for Apache Kafka."
"Licensing issues are not applicable. Apache licensing makes it simple with almost zero cost for the software itself."
"Apache Kafka is free."
"The price for the enterprise version is quite high. For on-premise, there is an annual fee, which starts at 60,000 euros, but it is usually higher than 100,000 euros. The cost for a project including the subscription is usually between 100,000 to 200,000 euros. The cost also depends on the level of support. There are two different levels of support."
"Redis is an open-source solution. There are not any hidden fees."
"Redis is not an overpriced solution."
"The tool is open-source. There are no additional costs."
"We saw an ROI. It made the processing of our transactions faster."
"Redis is an open-source product."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Streaming Analytics solutions are best for your needs.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
31%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Retailer
5%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
16%
Educational Organization
7%
Manufacturing Company
7%
 

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 used for analytics. Apache Kafka is very good if you have a high number of user...
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?
I would rate the overall cost of using Kafka as a three out of ten, indicating that it is rather affordable, considering the benefits and savings it provides.
What do you like most about Redis?
Redis is better tested and is used by large companies. I haven't found a direct alternative to what Redis offers. Plus, there are a lot of support and learning resources available, which help you u...
What needs improvement with Redis?
Redis could improve its efficiency in handling locally stored data, not just Amazon Cloud or Google Cloud. It would be helpful if Redis could provide a one-stop solution for all data varieties, whi...
What is your primary use case for Redis?
I used Redis for a one-time implementation while working on a college project. I implemented it locally on a machine and used it for a vector search.
 

Comparisons

 

Also Known As

No data available
Redis Enterprise
 

Learn More

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Uber, Netflix, Activision, Spotify, Slack, Pinterest
1. Twitter 2. GitHub 3. StackOverflow 4. Pinterest 5. Snapchat 6. Craigslist 7. Digg 8. Weibo 9. Airbnb 10. Uber 11. Slack 12. Trello 13. Shopify 14. Coursera 15. Medium 16. Twitch 17. Foursquare 18. Meetup 19. Kickstarter 20. Docker 21. Heroku 22. Bitbucket 23. Groupon 24. Flipboard 25. SoundCloud 26. BuzzFeed 27. Disqus 28. The New York Times 29. Walmart 30. Nike 31. Sony 32. Philips
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Kafka vs. Redis and other solutions. Updated: May 2024.
816,406 professionals have used our research since 2012.