Confluent and Apache Spark Streaming are competing products in the realm of real-time data processing. Confluent seems to have the upper hand in terms of commercial support and integration capabilities, while Apache Spark Streaming has an edge with its robust processing power and versatility.
Features: Confluent provides a sturdy distributed streaming platform with features like Kafka Connect and KSQL for seamless real-time SQL querying. Its integration capabilities enhance data management significantly. Apache Spark Streaming, on the other hand, offers extensive processing capabilities that include machine learning libraries and complex event processing ability, making it a potent tool for data analytics.
Room for Improvement: Confluent could benefit from more competitive pricing options and a simplified learning process for new users. Enhancing support for open-source contributions might also add value. Apache Spark Streaming could improve through better enterprise-level support and a more straightforward deployment process. Additional user-friendly interfaces would further enhance its accessibility.
Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Confluent is celebrated for its streamlined deployment model and superior enterprise-level support, which simplifies implementation in complex environments. Conversely, Apache Spark Streaming offers openness and flexibility but comes with a steeper learning curve and requires significant self-management during deployment.
Pricing and ROI: Confluent generally incurs higher upfront costs, justified by its support and integration services, promising significant ROI by diminishing operational complexities. Apache Spark Streaming is more cost-effective but may entail additional expenses for custom configurations and setups, delivering substantial ROI through its powerful processing capabilities.
Spark Streaming makes it easy to build scalable fault-tolerant streaming applications.
Confluent is an enterprise-ready, full-scale streaming platform that enhances Apache Kafka.
Confluent has integrated cutting-edge features that are designed to enhance these tasks:
Confluent is a more complete distribution of Kafka in that it enhances the integration possibilities of Kafka by introducing tools for managing and optimizing Kafka clusters while providing methods for making sure the streams are secure. Confluent supports publish-and-subscribe as well as the storing and processing of data within the streams. Kafka is easier to operate and build thanks to Confluent.
Confluent's software is available in three different varieties:
Confluent Advantage Features
Confluent has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:
Reviews from Real Users
Confluent stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its robust enterprise support and its open source option. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews:
Ravi B., a solutions architect at a tech services company, writes of the solution, “KSQL is a valuable feature, as is the Kafka Connect framework for connecting to the various source systems where you need not write the code. We get great support from Confluent because we're using the enterprise version and whenever there's a problem, they support us with fine-tuning and finding the root cause.”
Amit S., an IT consultant, notes, “The biggest benefit is that it is open source. You have the flexibility of opting or not opting for enterprise support, even though the tool itself is open source.” He adds, “The second benefit is it's very modern and built on Java and Scala. You can extend the features very well, and it doesn't take a lot of effort to do so.”
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