Aiven for Apache Kafka vs Apache ActiveMQ
Aiven for Apache Kafka
aiven.io
Apache ActiveMQ
activemq.apache.orgSide by side
| Figure | Aiven for Apache Kafka | Apache ActiveMQ |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $35/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 1 |
| Spec score · Message Queue (MQ) Software | 9.4 (#1) | 9.0 (#3) |
| Integrations | Kafka Connect compatibility and a REST proxy are listed, and the service connects with other managed databases and streaming services. | The site lists Spring support, JCA 1.5 resource adaptors, and testing in TomEE, Geronimo, JBoss, GlassFish, and WebLogic. |
| Product | Aiven for Kafka is a managed version of Apache Kafka that handles provisioning, patching, high availability, backups, and security. | Apache ActiveMQ is an open source messaging and Integration Patterns server. |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.6 out of 5 from 69 reviews. | 5.0 out of 5 from 3 reviews |
| Rating on G2 | 4.3 out of 5 from 384 reviews for Aiven overall; the page lists 245 Aiven for Apache Kafka reviews. | 4.3 out of 5 from 16 reviews |
| Security | Kafka connections can use mTLS and/or SASL authentication with ACL authorization, and data at rest is encrypted on disk or object storage. | The security documentation describes pluggable providers, JAAS authentication, and XML-configured authorization. |
| Security controls | Aiven states that services use dedicated virtual machines, encryption in transit and at rest, firewalls, IP allowlists, SAML SSO, automated security updates and annual external testing. | Security supports JAAS authentication, XML authorization rules, LDAP-related modules, Shiro, SSL transports and message-level authorization plugins. |
| What it does | Aiven for Apache Kafka is a fully managed Kafka service for event-driven applications, data pipelines and stream processing. | Apache ActiveMQ is a Java-based, open-source message broker for asynchronous application communication. |
Plans
Aiven for Apache Kafka
- FreeFree
- FreeFree
- Developer$35 a month
- Professional$180 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.
Apache ActiveMQ
Apache ActiveMQ is an open-source messaging and Integration Patterns server for applications that exchange messages. It is self-hosted and supports OpenWire, STOMP, AMQP 1.0, MQTT 3.1, and REST. Listed client languages include Java, C, C++, C#, Ruby, Perl, Python, and PHP. Messaging features include message groups, virtual and composite destinations, wildcards, and enterprise integration patterns. ActiveMQ fully supports JMS 1.1 and J2EE 1.4+ messaging, including transient, persistent, transactional, and XA modes; support for Jakarta Messaging 3.1 and JMS 2.0 is partial. Transport options include in-VM, TCP, SSL, NIO, UDP, multicast, JGroups, and JXTA, with JDBC persistence and a high-performance journal. Browser access is available through a REST API and Ajax web streaming. Security options include pluggable providers, JAAS authentication, XML-configured authorization, and user, group, and destination permissions. ActiveMQ Classic costs nothing under the Apache License 2.0.