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Confluent pros and cons

Vendor: Confluent
4.1 out of 5
Badge Leader

Pros & Cons summary

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Prominent pros & cons

PROS

Confluent provides exceptional technical support both on-site and off-site.
The Kafka Connect framework is valuable for connecting various source systems without needing additional code.
Confluent Cloud removes the need for handling infrastructure, providing shared data access across portfolios.
Confluent's implementation of the schema registry significantly enhances data quality assurance.
Confluent's messaging tasks with Kafka streamline processes effectively.

CONS

Confluent could benefit from eliminating Zookeeper due to security issues.
There is a recognized need for stronger server version improvements as most companies transition to the cloud.
Confluent faces challenges with governance and access control in Kafka topics, especially with a limit of 10,000 rules per cluster.
The absence of application-specific connectors is noted, which affects functionality.
Frequent issues exist, such as Kafka downtimes and slow responses from the support team.
 

Confluent Pros review quotes

JB
Sep 9, 2025
Some of the best features are that it's very quick to set up, very easy to have a centralized area that gives us a history of changes, and the ability to give feedback on any information placed onto the pages.
reviewer2254248 - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 25, 2023
The most valuable is its capability to enhance the documentation process, particularly when creating software documentation.
reviewer1752198 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 24, 2021
With Confluent Cloud we no longer need to handle the infrastructure and the plumbing, which is a concern for Confluent. The other advantage is that all portfolios have access to the data that is being shared.
Learn what your peers think about Confluent. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2025.
870,701 professionals have used our research since 2012.
AS
Nov 3, 2021
The design of the product is extremely well built and it is highly configurable.
PavanManepalli - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 26, 2025
The features I find most useful in Confluent are the Multi-Region Cluster, MRC, and the Cluster Linking for replication.
reviewer1712133 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 9, 2021
The most valuable feature that we are using is the data replication between the data centers allowing us to configure a disaster recovery or software. However, is it's not mandatory to use and because most of the features that we use are from Apache Kafka, such as end-to-end encryption. Internally, we can develop our own kind of product or service from Apache Kafka.
it_user1582965 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 21, 2021
A person with a good IT background and HTML will not have any trouble with Confluent.
Yantao Zhao - PeerSpot reviewer
May 9, 2024
The benefit is escaping email communication. Sometimes people ignore emails or put them into spam, but with Confluence, everyone sees the same text at the same time.
PM
Mar 15, 2024
I find Confluent's Kafka Connectors and Kafka Streams invaluable for my use cases because they simplify real-time data processing and ETL tasks by providing reliable, pre-packaged connectors and tools.
RB
Oct 29, 2021
Kafka Connect framework is valuable for connecting to the various source systems where code doesn't need to be written.
 

Confluent Cons review quotes

JB
Sep 9, 2025
Confluent has fallen behind in being the tool of the industry. It's taking second place to things such as Word and SharePoint and other office tools that are more dynamic and flexible than Confluent.
reviewer2254248 - PeerSpot reviewer
Oct 25, 2023
There is a limitation when it comes to seamlessly importing Microsoft documents into Confluent pages, which can be inconvenient for users who frequently work with Microsoft Office tools and need to transition their content to Confluent.
reviewer1752198 - PeerSpot reviewer
Dec 24, 2021
Currently, in the early stages, I see a gap on the security side. If you are using the SaaS version, we would like to get a fuller, more secure solution that can be adopted right out of the box. Confluence could do a better job sharing best practices or a reusable pattern that others have used, especially for companies that can not afford to hire professional services from Confluent.
Learn what your peers think about Confluent. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: October 2025.
870,701 professionals have used our research since 2012.
AS
Nov 3, 2021
It would help if the knowledge based documents in the support portal could be available for public use as well.
PavanManepalli - PeerSpot reviewer
Sep 26, 2025
Recently, there has been a lot of buzz about Confluent charging high fees while not offering features that match those of other tools.
reviewer1712133 - PeerSpot reviewer
Nov 9, 2021
They should remove Zookeeper because of security issues.
it_user1582965 - PeerSpot reviewer
May 21, 2021
In Confluent, there could be a few more VPN options.
Yantao Zhao - PeerSpot reviewer
May 9, 2024
It could be more user-friendly and centralized. A way to reduce redundancy would be helpful.
PM
Mar 15, 2024
Areas for improvement include implementing multi-storage support to differentiate between database stores based on data age and optimizing storage costs.
RB
Oct 29, 2021
there is room for improvement in the visualization.