--- title: Apache Kafka Reviews meta\_title: 'Apache Kafka Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta\_description: Filter 132 reviews by the users' company size, role or industry to find out how Apache Kafka works for a business like yours. aggregate\_rating: rating\_value: 4.5 review\_count: 132 scale: '5' date\_modified: '2026-08-09' parent\_category: name: Big Data url: https://www.g2.com/categories/big-data --- ### Apache Kafka Pros and Cons: Top 5 Advantages and Disadvantages #### Quick AI Summary Based on G2 Reviews Generated from real user reviews Users highlight the **high scalability** of Apache Kafka, making it perfect for growing data volumes in enterprises. [(5 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607356&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users value the **real-time data processing** of Apache Kafka, appreciating its speed, scalability, and reliability across systems. [(3 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607701&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users appreciate the **easy integrations** of Apache Kafka, enjoying seamless connections with their Java applications. [(2 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607769&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users praise the **high scalability and performance** of Apache Kafka, making it perfect for handling large data volumes. [(2 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607741&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users value the **high scalability and performance** of Apache Kafka, making it perfect for handling growing data volumes. [(2 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607949&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users struggle with the **operational complexity** of Apache Kafka, which increases resource consumption and limits message queuing capabilities. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2314620&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users find the **data management issues** overwhelming, especially smaller teams needing dedicated expertise for maintenance and scaling. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2446024&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users find that **debugging issues** in Apache Kafka can be challenging and requires significant effort to resolve. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607592&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users find the **difficult learning curve** of Apache Kafka overwhelming, especially for smaller teams needing dedicated expertise. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2446055&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) Users find the **limited customization** in Apache Kafka challenging, particularly during initial setup and management tasks. [(1 mentions)](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2184783&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) ### 5 Pros or Advantages of Apache Kafka ##### 1. Scalability Users highlight the **high scalability** of Apache Kafka, making it perfect for growing data volumes in enterprises. [ See 5 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607356&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Dakalo M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Dakalo M.") DM Dakalo M. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5.0/5 "Unmatched Scalability and Performance for Enterprise Data Growth" What do you like about Apache Kafka? High scalability and performance making it ideal for growing data volumes in enterprises. ![Priyanka R.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Priyanka R.") PR Priyanka R. Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "Apache Kafka: Real-Time Data Streaming" What do you like about Apache Kafka? High throughput and low latency, scalability ,Durability & Fault Tolerance ,replay ability & Retention Kafka retains messages for a configu ##### 2. Real-time Data Users value the **real-time data processing** of Apache Kafka, appreciating its speed, scalability, and reliability across systems. [ See 3 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607701&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Priyanka R.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Priyanka R.") PR Priyanka R. Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "Apache Kafka: Real-Time Data Streaming" What do you like about Apache Kafka? High throughput and low latency, scalability ,Durability & Fault Tolerance ,replay ability & Retention Kafka retains messages for a configu ![Akshat J.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Akshat J.") AJ Akshat J. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "A strong and reliable tool for real-time data streaming" What do you like about Apache Kafka? Kafka handles large volumes of data really well and is very reliable once set up properly. We use it for real-time data processing between different p ##### 3. Easy Integrations Users appreciate the **easy integrations** of Apache Kafka, enjoying seamless connections with their Java applications. [ See 2 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607769&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Akshat J.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Akshat J.") AJ Akshat J. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "A strong and reliable tool for real-time data streaming" What do you like about Apache Kafka? Kafka handles large volumes of data really well and is very reliable once set up properly. We use it for real-time data processing between different p ![Mohit G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Mohit G.") MG Mohit G. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "Great tool for event processing" What do you like about Apache Kafka? Kafka is highly scalable and easy to manage. Its disctributed architecture makes it handy for big organisation like ours. Easy to integrate with our ##### 4. Performance Users praise the **high scalability and performance** of Apache Kafka, making it perfect for handling large data volumes. [ See 2 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607741&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Dakalo M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Dakalo M.") DM Dakalo M. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5.0/5 "Unmatched Scalability and Performance for Enterprise Data Growth" What do you like about Apache Kafka? High scalability and performance making it ideal for growing data volumes in enterprises. ![Abdullah H.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Abdullah H.") AH Abdullah H. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "Impressive High Performance" What do you like about Apache Kafka? High Performance and easy to use as event driven in Microservices ##### 5. Performance Efficiency Users value the **high scalability and performance** of Apache Kafka, making it perfect for handling growing data volumes. [ See 2 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607949&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Dakalo M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Dakalo M.") DM Dakalo M. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5.0/5 "Unmatched Scalability and Performance for Enterprise Data Growth" What do you like about Apache Kafka? High scalability and performance making it ideal for growing data volumes in enterprises. ![Abdullah H.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Abdullah H.") AH Abdullah H. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "Impressive High Performance" What do you like about Apache Kafka? High Performance and easy to use as event driven in Microservices ### 5 Cons or Disadvantages of Apache Kafka ##### 1. Complexity Users struggle with the **operational complexity** of Apache Kafka, which increases resource consumption and limits message queuing capabilities. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2314620&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Priyanka R.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Priyanka R.") PR Priyanka R. Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "Apache Kafka: Real-Time Data Streaming" What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? Operational complexity, High resource consumption, limited Message Queuing Features ##### 2. Data Management Issues Users find the **data management issues** overwhelming, especially smaller teams needing dedicated expertise for maintenance and scaling. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2446024&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Dakalo M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Dakalo M.") DM Dakalo M. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5.0/5 "Unmatched Scalability and Performance for Enterprise Data Growth" What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? It requires dedicated expertise for monitoring, scaling, and maintenance. Smaller teams often find this overwhelming. ##### 3. Debugging Issues Users find that **debugging issues** in Apache Kafka can be challenging and requires significant effort to resolve. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=1607592&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Akshat J.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Akshat J.") AJ Akshat J. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "A strong and reliable tool for real-time data streaming" What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? Initial setup and configuration can be a bit tricky, especially if you’re new to distributed systems. Managing brokers and zookeepers manually can get ##### 4. Difficult Learning Users find the **difficult learning curve** of Apache Kafka overwhelming, especially for smaller teams needing dedicated expertise. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2446055&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Dakalo M.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Dakalo M.") DM Dakalo M. Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 5.0/5 "Unmatched Scalability and Performance for Enterprise Data Growth" What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? It requires dedicated expertise for monitoring, scaling, and maintenance. Smaller teams often find this overwhelming. ##### 5. Limited Customization Users find the **limited customization** in Apache Kafka challenging, particularly during initial setup and management tasks. [ See 1 mentions ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/reviews?filters%5Bsentiment_snippet%5D=2184783&qs=pros-and-cons#reviews) See Related User Reviews ![Akshat J.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Akshat J.") AJ Akshat J. Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 4.5/5 "A strong and reliable tool for real-time data streaming" What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? Initial setup and configuration can be a bit tricky, especially if you’re new to distributed systems. Managing brokers and zookeepers manually can get ## Top-Rated Alternatives [ ![Confluent](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/large_detail/large_detail_b087379a1153e7d513f37c83481c8ced/confluent.png "Confluent") Confluent 4.4/5(114) ](https://www.g2.com/products/confluent/reviews) [ ![Google Cloud Pub/Sub](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/image/large_detail/large_detail_aeae116c52945fdecd7ed16d621cb315/google-cloud-pub-sub.png "Google Cloud Pub/Sub") Google Cloud Pub/Sub 4.5/5(39) ](https://www.g2.com/products/google-cloud-pub-sub/reviews) [ ![MuleSoft Anypoint Platform](https://images.g2crowd.com/uploads/product/hd_favicon/d763ac0221fcc0848182458b48016e06/mulesoft-anypoint-platform%282%29.svg "MuleSoft Anypoint Platform") MuleSoft Anypoint Platform 4.5/5(775) ](https://www.g2.com/products/mulesoft-anypoint-platform/reviews) [ View All Alternatives ](https://www.g2.com/products/apache-kafka/competitors/alternatives) ![Varun K.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Varun K.") VK Varun K. Senior Technical Manager Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.) 4/30/2020 "Review Kafka" 5/5 What do you like best about Apache Kafka? Low Latency , High Through put and replication Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? Apache Kafka does not support wildcard topic selection. Instead, it matches only the exact topic name. It is because selecting wildcard topics make it incapable to address certain use cases. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Apache Kafka: For making progress async Kafka is good tool. In message queue, Kafka is popular in industry. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Apache Kafka solving and how is that benefiting you? Queue system for sms. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad") UT Verified User in Transportation/Trucking/Railroad Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 3/20/2020 "Apache kafka for Real time data" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Apache Kafka? It supports a new era of real time architecture and reducing the wait time in data availability. Also, its a very trending hot topic now a days so definitely it's easier to get helpful documents that may help during integration with our application. With above it is distributed, consumer friendly, batch handling capability etc. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? I dislike most about it is lack of complete set of monitoring and management tools. Also message tweakings may reduce its performance. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Apache Kafka solving and how is that benefiting you? We use to store all booked information over queue with payment information that are baically consumed through overnight jobs by different system. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Shivam A.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Shivam A.") SA Shivam A. Software Developer Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 3/25/2020 "Great tool to build event based systems" 3.5/5 What do you like best about Apache Kafka? Scalability and reliability of the product is impressive Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? Dynamically changing of partition is feature that i am expecting and it is not there . This is a thing that i dislike . Moreover documentation can be improved Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Apache Kafka solving and how is that benefiting you? I am ising kafka a s an event based stream queue to trigger my workes to start Ml based predictions Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Sibaprasad T.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Sibaprasad T.") ST Sibaprasad T. Senior Engineer Devops Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 3/25/2020 "A powerful tool for message brokerage!!!" 4/5 What do you like best about Apache Kafka? Firstly being used old age solutions like IBM MQ nand Message Broker I must say it's mush easier to use plus it's dynamic with vast ecosystem of connectors. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? The product support can be slightly better. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Apache Kafka solving and how is that benefiting you? We are streaming data real time from a transaction system to various back end systems that needed that data. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Swapnil G.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "Swapnil G.") SG Swapnil G. Technical Specialist Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 4/23/2020 Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores. "Kafka : A high capacity component" 5/5 What do you like best about Apache Kafka? High throughput, Multi-instance, Kafka Connect API Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? Confluent's version of Kafka because the UI is too bad. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Apache Kafka: Use only HDP's version of Kafka. The confluent one is a bit messy. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Apache Kafka solving and how is that benefiting you? Performing Spark streaming using Apache Kafka Connect API. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Information Technology and Services](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Information Technology and Services") AI Verified User in Information Technology and Services Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 4/23/2020 Business partner of the seller or seller's competitor, not included in G2 scores. "I used apache kafka in our queuing engine for sending messages in microservices architecture." 5/5 What do you like best about Apache Kafka? The best thing about apache kafka is its index maintainable structure. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? I didn’t find any within my requirement. Just that if I could get 247 support for best installation and runtime problems. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Apache Kafka solving and how is that benefiting you? Reducing all my cpu tasks to queue workers which makes my application lite. Also many workers can use the same message which is best. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Computer Software](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Computer Software") AC Verified User in Computer Software Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 4/21/2020 "Backend software engineer" 5/5 What do you like best about Apache Kafka? The most fastest message broker and stable solution. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? If you have monitoring tool for topic, it would be better. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Apache Kafka solving and how is that benefiting you? Every data is in Kafka and make the data pipeline with Spark. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Logistics and Supply Chain](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Logistics and Supply Chain") UL Verified User in Logistics and Supply Chain Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 3/20/2020 "Java developer, work with microservices and kafka" 5/5 What do you like best about Apache Kafka? Kafka keep the messages for a period time Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? Some minor errors that hard to understand Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Apache Kafka: It's easy to use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Apache Kafka solving and how is that benefiting you? Kafka help to keep track the history of events, when the service down and don't lost any events. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![Verified User in Computer & Network Security](/assets/icons/anonymous-avatar-purple-4ae1032bdb50ee5682003170c8184aee790d25958bd397abbd384ba52c596a7b.svg "Verified User in Computer & Network Security") UC Verified User in Computer & Network Security Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.) 3/28/2020 "You first and last message queue" 5/5 What do you like best about Apache Kafka? Clean design and doc, big open source community Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? Hard to debug problems sometimes and performance issue Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Apache Kafka solving and how is that benefiting you? Distribute log collector, message queue Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More Validated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ![vivek s.](/assets/transparent-ad5be28fbcd25b7b08d2cebe1d957125437fb5407d75ee717965ad22c8808791.gif "vivek s.") VS vivek s. Principal Application Developer Computer Software Enterprise (\> 1000 emp.) 10/19/2018 "Great product must for modern integrations" 4.5/5 What do you like best about Apache Kafka? Fast , redundancy Scalable Publisher subscriber based Replaces ETL Support in industry Industry standard Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about Apache Kafka? Learning curve is high Concept needs deep understanding Debug capability’s Error handling is obscure Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering Apache Kafka: Great product Scalable Kafka streams rocks Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is Apache Kafka solving and how is that benefiting you? Replacing ETL and batch processing Log aggregation Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Show More 1/23/2019 Current UserValidated ReviewerIncentivizedSource: G2 invite ## Work at The Apache Software Foundation? Claim this profile to respond to reviews, update product info, and reach in-market buyers. 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