If Confluent is not the right choice for you and you are looking for the perfect Confluent alternative, then you are in the right place. We have compiled a list of the top 10 best alternatives to Confluent to help you find a suitable alternative for you.
Striim – End-to-End Streaming with Visual SQL
Why is Striim a good Confluent alternative?
I choose Striim when I want an all-in-one platform that covers change data capture, real-time SQL processing, and live dashboards without stitching together multiple tools. Its visual pipeline builder and prebuilt connectors get me from data source to insight in record time.
Amazon MSK – Native AWS-Managed Kafka Service
Why is Amazon MSK a good Confluent alternative?
When my workloads live on AWS, MSK gives me fully managed Apache Kafka with seamless integration into S3, Lambda, CloudWatch, and more. I save hours on cluster operations and scale transparently using the familiar Kafka APIs I already know.
Azure Event Hubs – Serverless Big Data Ingestion
Why is Azure Event Hubs a good Confluent alternative?
In Microsoft-centric environments, Event Hubs shines with its serverless ingestion, auto-scale throughput units, and built-in Stream Analytics. I can use Kafka clients against it while tapping into Azure’s global footprint and predictable pricing model.
Redpanda – Kafka-Compatible, Single-Binary High Performance
Why is Redpanda a good Confluent alternative?
I turn to Redpanda when I need sub-millisecond latencies and no JVM overhead. It speaks the Kafka protocol so I keep existing tooling, but its single C++ binary and built-in tiered storage simplify operations and boost throughput dramatically.
Apache Kafka (OSS) – Open-Source Streaming Standard
Why is Apache Kafka a good Confluent alternative?
Sometimes the pure open-source stack is enough: self-hosting Kafka brokers with Kafka Connect and ksqlDB gives me full control over my streaming architecture without commercial licensing, and I weave in community ecosystems at will.
Aiven for Apache Kafka – Multi-Cloud Managed Kafka
Why is Aiven for Apache Kafka a good Confluent alternative?
Aiven lets me spin up managed Kafka clusters on AWS, GCP, or Azure from one console. I get automated backups, integrated Grafana metrics, and cross-region replication without worrying about cloud-specific quirks or vendor lock-in.
Apache Pulsar – Unified Streaming & Messaging
Why is Apache Pulsar a good Confluent alternative?
I choose Pulsar for use cases needing geo-replication, multi-tenant isolation, or unified queue/stream semantics. Its separation of storage and compute via BookKeeper means I can scale each independently for optimal resource usage.
Cloudera DataFlow – Enterprise-Grade Streaming Management
Why is Cloudera DataFlow a good Confluent alternative?
For hybrid or on-premises needs, CDF bundles Kafka, NiFi, and ksqlDB under one management plane. I get end-to-end governance, security, and schema control alongside my data lake and analytics workloads in a single ecosystem.
Lenses.io – SQL-Powered Streaming Insights
Why is Lenses.io a good Confluent alternative?
When I need self-service analytics on streaming pipelines, Lenses gives me ANSI-SQL across Kafka or Pulsar topics, real-time dashboards, and alerting. Its policy engine and data masking let me expose streams safely to broader teams.
Strimzi – Kubernetes-Native Kafka Operator
Why is Strimzi a good Confluent alternative?
On Kubernetes, Strimzi automates Kafka cluster deployment via Custom Resources and Operators. I enjoy declarative management, rolling upgrades, and scalability without installing proprietary control planes—just pure cloud-native Kafka.
