--- title: Apache Kafka Reviews meta_title: 'Apache Kafka Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2' meta_description: Filter 131 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: 131 scale: '5' date_modified: '2026-09-23' parent_category: name: Big Data url: https://www.g2.com/categories/big-data ---

Apache Kafka Reviews & Product Details

Value at a Glance

Averages based on real user reviews.

Time to Implement

2 months

Return on Investment

4 months

User Insights

Average based on 131 real user reviews.

Implementation Time

2 months

Perceived Cost

$$$$$
Alka D.
AD
Alka D.
Data Engineer
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Real-Time High-Volume Data Handling That Resumes Seamlessly After Restarts"
5/5
What do you like best about Apache Kafka?

it handle high volume of data in real time.

if this application crashes and down becouse some reason then if we use it again after 2-3 hrs also then it just picks up right where it left off when it restarts. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Apache Kafka?

it reqyires serios hardware and it need strong network bandwith.

it is costly . Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Retail
UR
Verified User in Retail
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Reliable Real-Time Data Streaming at Scale with Kafka"
4/5
What do you like best about Apache Kafka?

What I like most is how well it handles real-time data streaming at scale. As a data engineer, we’ve used Kafka to move and process streaming data between different systems, and it’s been very reliable. It’s great for decoupling producers and consumers, so different services can operate independently without breaking the pipeline. Once it’s set up properly, it can handle high volumes of data without much issue. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Apache Kafka?

The setup and maintenance can be quite heavy, especially if you’re managing it yourself. There’s a steep learning curve around topics, partitions, consumer groups, and tuning performance. Debugging issues or lag in consumers can also take time, and it’s not always obvious where the bottleneck is. It’s powerful, but definitely not the simplest tool to work with. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Verified User in Information Technology and Services
AI
Verified User in Information Technology and Services
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Durable, High-Throughput Event Streaming with Replayable Logs"
4.5/5
What do you like best about Apache Kafka?

Kafka gives a durable, partitioned commit-log that can handle massive throughput and lets you replay events at will, perfect for building resilient, real-time pipelines and stream processing with minimal latency.

Deployment using docker is easy.

Connector ecosystem is good for sink and source. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Apache Kafka?

Since Kafka is JVM-based, it can feel heavier compared to some of the newer messaging systems written in Rust or C++. Those tend to have lower memory overhead and sometimes better raw performance. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Pawan M.
PM
Pawan M.
Senior Software Engineer
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Highly Scalable, Flexible Apache Kafka for Any Size Application"
5/5
What do you like best about Apache Kafka?

Apache Kafka is the best open source highly scalable Message Queue with flexible configuration and high modularity. Its perfect for smaller Proof of concept to large enterprise grade applications without the need to drastically change the tech stack Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Apache Kafka?

I feel the documentation could be improved so that developers who start to work in Apache Kafka would have smoother learning curve. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Keerthi Kumar S.
KS
Keerthi Kumar S.
SDET
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Apache kafka Streamlines Messaging with Reliable Data Queuing"
4.5/5
What do you like best about Apache Kafka?

Apache kafka is one of the best tools that I use almost daily to streamline messages. Queing of data messages makes it easier to read and execute things in order. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Apache Kafka?

Sometimes the sorting functionality doesnt work which could be improved. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Priyanka R.
PR
Priyanka R.
Deputy Manager
Enterprise (> 1000 emp.)
"Apache Kafka: Real-Time Data Streaming"
4.5/5
What do you like best about Apache Kafka?

High throughput and low latency, scalability ,Durability & Fault Tolerance ,replay ability & Retention Kafka retains messages for a configurable period, allowing consumers to reprocess data or recover from failures without losing information Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Apache Kafka?

Operational complexity, High resource consumption, limited Message Queuing Features Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Akshat J.
AJ
Akshat J.
Infrastructure / DevOps Engineer - 2
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"A strong and reliable tool for real-time data streaming"
4.5/5
What do you like best 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 parts of our system. It's fast, fault-tolerant, and can scale easily when traffic grows. The publish-subscribe model makes it simple to connect producers and consumers across different services. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

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 complex. Also, monitoring and debugging issues sometimes takes extra effort unless you have good tooling in place. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Dakalo M.
DM
Dakalo M.
Software Developer
Small-Business (50 or fewer emp.)
"Unmatched Scalability and Performance for Enterprise Data Growth"
5/5
What do you like best about Apache Kafka?

High scalability and performance making it ideal for growing data volumes in enterprises. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Apache Kafka?

It requires dedicated expertise for monitoring, scaling, and maintenance. Smaller teams often find this overwhelming. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Abdullah H.
AH
Abdullah H.
Senior Software Engineer
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Impressive High Performance"
4.5/5
What do you like best about Apache Kafka?

High Performance and easy to use as event driven in Microservices Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Apache Kafka?

need more supporting AI in applications Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Mohit G.
MG
Mohit G.
Senior Software Engineer
Mid-Market (51-1000 emp.)
"Great tool for event processing"
4.5/5
What do you like best about Apache Kafka?

Kafka is highly scalable and easy to manage.

Its distributed architecture makes it handy for big organizations like ours.

Easy to integrate with our Java-based applications.

Very happy with the product. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

What do you dislike about Apache Kafka?

We have not encountered anything so far in our use. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com.

Questions about Apache Kafka? Ask real users or explore answers from the community

Get practical answers, real workflows, and honest pros and cons from the G2 community or share your insights.

GU
Guest User

What is your primary use case for Apache Kafka, and how has it impacted your data streaming processes?

0 Upvotes
0
Join the conversation
Swapnil G.
SG
Swapnil Gupta
•
Last activity over 4 years ago

What is the maximum limit of the number of partitions in a Kafka topic?

Pricing Insights

Averages based on real user reviews.

Time to Implement

2 months

Return on Investment

4 months

Perceived Cost

$$$$$
Apache Kafka Comparisons
Apache Kafka Features
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Integration
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