Aiven for Apache Kafka vs Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka
Aiven for Apache Kafka
aiven.io
Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka
aws.amazon.comSide by side
| Figure | Aiven for Apache Kafka | Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $35/mo | $0.11/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | — |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 4 | 5 |
| Spec score · Message Queue (MQ) Software | 9.4 (#1) | 7.9 (#15) |
| Spec score · Event Streaming Platforms | 9.4 (#1) | 7.9 (#10) |
| Compliance | Aiven states compliance with ISO 27000-series standards, GDPR, CCPA, HIPAA and PCI DSS, and provides an ISAE 3000/SOC 2 Type II report. | AWS states that it supports 143 security standards and compliance certifications, including PCI-DSS, HIPAA/HITECH, FedRAMP, GDPR, FIPS 140-3, and NIST 800-171. |
| Integrations | Kafka Connect compatibility and a REST proxy are listed, and the service connects with other managed databases and streaming services. | Listed integrations include Amazon S3, Amazon Redshift, Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink, AWS Lambda, AWS Glue Schema Registry, and AWS Database Migration Service. |
| Monitoring | The platform provides predictive consumer-lag monitoring to help identify bottlenecks early. | CloudWatch provides a default set of over 50 metrics at no additional cost; enhanced broker and topic metrics are billed at standard CloudWatch rates. |
| Security | Kafka connections can use mTLS and/or SASL authentication with ACL authorization, and data at rest is encrypted on disk or object storage. | MSK supports IAM access control, SASL/SCRAM or mutual TLS authentication for Provisioned clusters, and encryption at rest and in transit. |
Plans
Aiven for Apache Kafka
- FreeFree
- FreeFree
- Developer$35 a month
- Professional$180 a month
Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka
- MSK Connect$0.11 a month
- MSK Provisioned — Standard brokers$0.20 a month
- MSK Replicator$0.30 a month
- MSK Provisioned — Express brokers$0.41 a month
- MSK Serverless$0.75 a month
In their own words
Aiven for Apache Kafka
Aiven for Apache Kafka is a managed Kafka service that handles provisioning, patching, backups, security, and high availability. It runs on AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, DigitalOcean, OVH, and UpCloud, with cloud availability varying by plan. Tiered storage and diskless topics can keep topic data in cloud object storage so storage and compute scale independently. A managed Schema Registry powered by the open-source Karapace project is included, alongside predictive consumer-lag monitoring, Kafka Connect compatibility, and a REST proxy. Aiven describes clusters with automatic node recovery and multi-node deployment across availability zones, and lists a 99.99% uptime SLA for Professional. Connections can use mTLS and/or SASL authentication with ACL authorization; stored data is encrypted. The Free plan costs nothing and is capped at 250 KiB/s throughput, three days of retention, and five topics with two partitions each. Developer costs $35 a month, while Professional costs $180 a month. A free 30-day trial is listed for more memory or advanced features.
Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka
Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (MSK) manages Apache Kafka infrastructure on AWS for developers and platform engineers. It provisions and configures clusters, replaces failed servers, coordinates patches and upgrades, and handles monitoring and scaling. Provisioned clusters let customers choose broker and storage options, while Serverless clusters adjust resources to workload needs. MSK keeps compatibility with the Apache Kafka client protocol, so existing Kafka applications and tools can work without application code changes. Integrations include Amazon S3, Redshift, Managed Service for Apache Flink, Lambda, Glue Schema Registry, and Database Migration Service. Clusters span multiple Availability Zones, with three as the default, and the service-level agreement specifies three 9s of availability. Security includes IAM, SASL/SCRAM or mutual TLS for Provisioned clusters, and encryption in transit and at rest. CloudWatch supplies over 50 default metrics at no additional cost. MSK is paid, with separate charges possible for storage, processing, connectivity, and enhanced metrics.