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Compare Ably Realtime and Apache Kafka 
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At a Glance
Market Segments
Small-Business (44.8% of reviews)
Enterprise (47.5% of reviews)
Entry-Level Pricing
Free Per Month
No pricing available
Ably Realtime
Star Rating
(67)4.8 out of 5
Market Segments
Small-Business (44.8% of reviews)
Entry-Level Pricing
Free Per Month
Browse all 4 pricing plansApache Kafka
Star Rating
(125)4.5 out of 5
Market Segments
Enterprise (47.5% of reviews)
Entry-Level Pricing
No pricing available
Learn more about Apache KafkaSummary
AI Generated Summary
AI-generated. Powered by real user reviews.
- Users report that Apache Kafka excels in asynchronous messaging with a score of 9.0, while Ably Realtime shines with a perfect score of 10.0, indicating its superior capabilities in handling real-time messaging scenarios.
- Reviewers mention that Ably Realtime offers exceptional cloud-based messaging features, scoring 9.6 compared to Kafka's 8.4, making it a more attractive option for businesses looking for reliable cloud integration.
- G2 users highlight that Ably Realtime has a significantly better ease of setup score of 9.0 versus Kafka's 7.8, suggesting that users find it easier to get started with Ably's platform.
- Users on G2 emphasize the quality of support provided by Ably Realtime, which received a remarkable score of 9.7, while Kafka's support quality is rated at 7.7, indicating a more responsive and helpful support system with Ably.
- Reviewers mention that Ably Realtime's integration capabilities are rated at 9.5, outperforming Kafka's 8.9, which suggests that users find it easier to connect Ably with other applications and services.
- Users say that the performance and reliability of Ably Realtime is rated at 9.8, significantly higher than Kafka's 8.9, indicating that Ably is perceived as a more dependable choice for real-time data processing.
Pricing
Entry-Level Pricing
Ably Realtime
Free
Free
Per Month
Create your first PoC hassle free. Simply upgrade when you need to ramp up usage.
- 200 concurrent channels
- 200 concurrent connections
- 500 messages / second
Apache Kafka
No pricing availableFree Trial
Ably Realtime
Free Trial is available
Apache Kafka
No trial information availableRatings
Meets Requirements
9.3
60
8.9
90
Ease of Use
9.0
60
8.6
90
Ease of Setup
8.9
39
8.0
28
Ease of Admin
8.5
28
7.8
24
Quality of Support
9.6
59
7.8
81
Has the product been a good partner in doing business?
9.4
29
8.3
20
Product Direction (% positive)
9.6
56
8.8
87
Features by Category
Data
9.0
16
8.8
33
8.1
15
8.7
35
9.3
16
8.9
35
9.2
19
9.0
35
Analytics
8.1
18
8.3
31
Campaigns
8.8
13
Not enough data
8.5
10
Not enough data
8.2
11
Not enough data
8.2
11
Not enough data
8.9
11
Not enough data
Analytics
7.9
7
Not enough data
7.9
7
Not enough data
Optimization
8.3
8
Not enough data
8.6
7
Not enough data
8.1
8
Not enough data
8.3
8
Not enough data
Agentic AI - Push Notification
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Functionality
9.7
13
8.9
52
8.8
10
8.5
49
9.4
12
8.3
45
9.6
13
8.1
49
Integration
9.4
13
8.8
51
9.4
11
8.4
47
8.5
11
8.1
46
Management
8.7
9
8.2
42
8.5
10
8.0
42
8.5
11
8.3
43
Agentic AI - Message Queue (MQ)
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Functionality
8.8
29
Not enough data
9.6
28
Not enough data
8.7
21
Not enough data
Support
8.7
29
Not enough data
7.9
22
Not enough data
9.5
29
Not enough data
Building Reports
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Platform
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Not enough data
Categories
Categories
Shared Categories
Ably Realtime and Apache Kafka are categorized as Message Queue (MQ), Event Stream Processing, and Stream Analytics
Unique Categories
Ably Realtime is categorized as Push Notification and Communication Platform as a Service (CPaaS)
Apache Kafka has no unique categories
Reviews
Reviewers' Company Size
Ably Realtime
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
Apache Kafka
Small-Business(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise(> 1000 emp.)
Small-Business
(50 or fewer emp.)
Mid-Market
(51-1000 emp.)
Enterprise
(> 1000 emp.)
Reviewers' Industry
Information Technology and Services
22.4%
Entertainment
7.5%
Computer Software
7.5%
Financial Services
6.0%
Sports
4.5%
Other
52.2%
Computer Software
25.0%
Information Technology and Services
18.3%
Financial Services
8.3%
Banking
5.8%
Retail
4.2%
Other
38.3%
Alternatives
Discussions
What does ably realtime do?
1 Comment
JC
Ably is the leader in serverless WebSockets for message delivery at the edge. Developers are mostly building their own WebSocket and last-mile event...Read more
What is ably com?
1 Comment
JC
Ably is a serverless WebSocket PaaS operating at the edge to power applications that depend on realtime data streaming. There’s no infrastructure to...Read more
Ably Realtime has no more discussions with answers
What is Apache Kafka used for?
2 Comments
RS
I am using Apache Kafka for event Processing. We use it to capture the new events generated by our application in our database. Currently, Kafka streams is...Read more
What is the maximum limit of the number of partitions in a Kafka topic?
1 Comment
CT
The answer is closely related to the version of the Kafka broker that you are running. A reasonably up to date cluster can hold up to 4,000 partitions per...Read more
What is Apache Kafka used for?
1 Comment
DV
It used this Mnemonic to remember what kafka is and what it is used for -
S - Stream Data in Real-Time:
Handles and processes live data (e.g., Uber car...Read more
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