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    Overview
    ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price

    Apache Kafka

    Score7.7 out of 10
    N/AApache Kafka is an open-source stream processing platform developed by the Apache Software Foundation written in Scala and Java. The Kafka event streaming platform is used by thousands of companies for high-performance data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission-critical applications.N/A

    IBM StreamSets

    Score8.2 out of 10
    N/AIBM® StreamSets enables users to create and manage smart streaming data pipelines through a graphical interface, facilitating data integration across hybrid and multicloud environments. IBM StreamSets can support millions of data pipelines for analytics, applications and hybrid integration.N/A
    Pricing
    Apache KafkaIBM StreamSets
    Editions & Modules
    No answers on this topic
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    Offerings
    Pricing Offerings
    Apache KafkaIBM StreamSets
    Free Trial
    NoNo
    Free/Freemium Version
    NoNo
    Premium Consulting/Integration Services
    NoNo
    Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
    Additional Details——
    More Pricing Information
    Community Pulse
    Apache KafkaIBM StreamSets
    Considered Both Products
    Apache
    No answer on this topic
    IBM
    Chose IBM StreamSets
    StreamSets is a one-stop solution to design Data engineering Pipelines and doesn't require deep Programming knowledge, It's so user-friendly that anyone in Team can contribute to the Idea of pipeline design. In Hadoop One has to be programming proficient to use its various …
    Incentivized
    Key User Insights
    Would buy again
    94%
    Would buy again
    16 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Delivers good value for the price
    94%
    Delivers good value for the price
    16 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Happy with the feature set
    94%
    Happy with the feature set
    16 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    100%
    Lived up to sales and marketing promises
    13 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Implementation went as expected
    100%
    Implementation went as expected
    17 Answers
    No answers on this topic
    Best Alternatives
    Apache KafkaIBM StreamSets
    Small Businesses
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    Medium-sized Companies
    IBM MQ
    Score9.6 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    Enterprises
    TIBCO Messaging
    Score7.7 out of 10
    No answers on this topic
    All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
    User Ratings
    Apache KafkaIBM StreamSets
    Likelihood to Recommend
    8.0
    (19 ratings)
    9.0
    (1 ratings)
    Likelihood to Renew
    9.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Usability
    8.0
    (2 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    Support Rating
    8.4
    (4 ratings)
    -
    (0 ratings)
    User Testimonials
    Apache KafkaIBM StreamSets
    Likelihood to Recommend
    Apache
    Apache Kafka is well-suited for most data-streaming use cases. Amazon Kinesis and Azure EventHubs, unless you have a specific use case where using those cloud PaAS for your data lakes, once set up well, Apache Kafka will take care of everything else in the background. Azure EventHubs, is good for cross-cloud use cases, and Amazon Kinesis - I have no real-world experience. But I believe it is the same.
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    IBM
    When you are dealing with a data warehouse and want to find an easy way to integrate applications and expose data in real-time, then IBM StreamSets is the best tool to go for. I'm using it for the same purpose in my applications. This tool will be well-suited for someone with a proper technical background. Though IBM StreamSets UI is mostly drag and drop, advanced configurations require technical expertise or support to do the initial setup.
    Incentivized
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    Pros
    Apache
    • Really easy to configure. I've used other message brokers such as RabbitMQ and compared to them, Kafka's configurations are very easy to understand and tweak.
    • Very scalable: easily configured to run on multiple nodes allowing for ease of parallelism (assuming your queues/topics don't have to be consumed in the exact same order the messages were delivered)
    • Not exactly a feature, but I trust Kafka will be around for at least another decade because active development has continued to be strong and there's a lot of financial backing from Confluent and LinkedIn, and probably many other companies who are using it (which, anecdotally, is many).
    Incentivized
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    IBM
    • It makes building data pipelines quite super intuitive even for non coders.
    • Ir also handles real time data ingestion effortlessly so I always have up to date information for my reports.
    • It's great at monitoring data quality as well.
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    Cons
    Apache
    • Sometimes it becomes difficult to monitor our Kafka deployments. We've been able to overcome it largely using AWS MSK, a managed service for Apache Kafka, but a separate monitoring dashboard would have been great.
    • Simplify the process for local deployment of Kafka and provide a user interface to get visibility into the different topics and the messages being processed.
    • Learning curve around creation of broker and topics could be simplified
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    IBM
    • Where the person's skillsets in data analysis is not of an expert.
    • Data monitoring and analysis.
    • Customer data for better customer acquisition
    Incentivized
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    Likelihood to Renew
    Apache
    Kafka is quickly becoming core product of the organization, indeed it is replacing older messaging systems. No better alternatives found yet
    Incentivized
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    IBM
    IBM Stream sets has been a wonderful addition to our technology stack. It has helped in some of our initiatives such as data engineering, data integration for not only external customers but also for internal purposes. The tool has also helped on our use cases related to streaming data. Moving to another tool would require significant amount of work and time.
    Incentivized
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    Usability
    Apache
    Apache Kafka is highly recommended to develop loosely coupled, real-time processing applications. Also, Apache Kafka provides property based configuration. Producer, Consumer and broker contain their own separate property file
    Incentivized
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    IBM
    The StreamSets platform is very easy to use and the interface is extremely intuitive. The drag-and-drop, low-code design makes it accessible for teams with varying technical skills, allowing us to quickly connect sources, define transformations, and deploy pipelines without heavy coding. StreamSets allows us to get started quickly and not have to worry about our pipelines breaking once they're built.
    Incentivized
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    Support Rating
    Apache
    Support for Apache Kafka (if willing to pay) is available from Confluent that includes the same time that created Kafka at Linkedin so they know this software in and out. Moreover, Apache Kafka is well known and best practices documents and deployment scenarios are easily available for download. For example, from eBay, Linkedin, Uber, and NYTimes.
    Incentivized
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    IBM
    Streamsets support has improved a lot in the last couple of years. We had some challenges in the beginning with support, but now the quality of the support and the responsiveness to tickets are better. We have contacted support multiple times when it came to scenarios where the system was slow or the output as not as we expected
    Incentivized
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    Implementation Rating
    Apache
    No answers on this topic
    IBM
    I was not involved in the implementation
    Incentivized
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    Alternatives Considered
    Apache
    I used other messaging/queue solutions that are a lot more basic than Confluent Kafka, as well as another solution that is no longer in the market called Xively, which was bought and "buried" by Google. In comparison, these solutions offer way fewer functionalities and respond to other needs.
    Incentivized
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    IBM
    the IBM solution can be considered a good player in the specific perimeter of application because its main functionalities are working well, are easy to use, and complete. it allows also a good degree of freedom when it comes to personalization of pipelines and streams, and customization of data ingestion methodologies.
    Incentivized
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    Return on Investment
    Apache
    • Positive: Get a quick and reliable pub/sub model implemented - data across components flows easily.
    • Positive: it's scalable so we can develop small and scale for real-world scenarios
    • Negative: it's easy to get into a confusing situation if you are not experienced yet or something strange has happened (rare, but it does). Troubleshooting such situations can take time and effort.
    Incentivized
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    IBM
    • it reduced the time I spent managing and updating pipelines when data formats changed
    • it saved us from building everything from scratch by making data movement between systems easier
    • it helps scale workflows as data volume grows, without much extra effort
    Incentivized
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