Aiven for Apache Kafka vs Solace PubSub+ Event Broker
Aiven for Apache Kafka
aiven.io
Solace PubSub+ Event Broker
solace.comSide by side
| Figure | Aiven for Apache Kafka | Solace PubSub+ Event Broker |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $35/mo | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | Yes | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 5 |
| Spec score · Message Queue (MQ) Software | 9.4 (#1) | 8.2 (#11) |
| Spec score · Event Streaming Platforms | 9.4 (#1) | 8.2 (#6) |
| Deployment models | Kafka services run on Aiven Cloud or through Bring Your Own Cloud; Standard Kafka is Aiven Cloud only, while Classic Kafka is available on BYOC. | The broker is offered as a managed cloud service, self-managed software and hardware appliance, with interoperable form factors. |
| Headquarters | Helsinki, Finland | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada |
| Integrations | Kafka Connect compatibility and a REST proxy are listed, and the service connects with other managed databases and streaming services. | Solace offers supported micro-integrations for applications, cloud services, and integration tools. |
| Rating on Capterra | 4.6 out of 5 from 69 reviews. | 0.0 out of 5 from 0 reviews |
| Rating on G2 | 4.3 out of 5 from 384 reviews for Aiven overall; the page lists 245 Aiven for Apache Kafka reviews. | 4.4 out of 5 from 7 reviews |
| Rating on Gartner Peer Insights | 4.5 out of 5 from 36 ratings. | 4.6 out of 5 from 336 ratings |
| Security | Kafka connections can use mTLS and/or SASL authentication with ACL authorization, and data at rest is encrypted on disk or object storage. | Solace Cloud states that its infrastructure for customer event broker services, Solace Home Cloud, and the Cloud Console complies with GDPR, SOC 2 Type 2, and ISO 27001. |
| Support | The plan comparison lists Basic support for Free and Developer plans and Advanced and Premium support for Professional. | The pricing page lists standard support with 24x7x365 product defect and outage resolution, while Advanced and Advanced+ list response times of 30 and 15 minutes respectively. |
| What it does | Aiven for Apache Kafka is a fully managed Kafka service for event-driven applications, data pipelines and stream processing. | Solace Event Broker moves real-time information among applications, AI agents and devices across cloud, on-premises and edge environments. |
Plans
Aiven for Apache Kafka
- FreeFree
- FreeFree
- Developer$35 a month
- Professional$180 a month
Solace PubSub+ Event Broker
- Event Broker Software StandardFree
- Solace Cloud Event Broker TrialFree
- Solace Cloud trialFree
- Solace Event Broker Software Free VersionFree
- Event Broker Software EnterprisePriced on request
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.
Solace PubSub+ Event Broker
Solace PubSub+ Event Broker streams information among applications, AI agents, and devices across cloud, on-premises, and edge environments. Multiple brokers can form an event mesh to route data across clouds, data centers, and geographies. It is offered as a cloud service, software, or appliance, for deployment in clouds, data centers, and remote locations. Messaging features include exchange patterns, qualities of service, caching, partitioned queues, and replay. Supported protocols include AMQP, Kafka, MQTT, REST, and WebSocket, alongside APIs for programming languages. Solace offers supported micro-integrations for applications, cloud services, and integration tools. Monitoring includes custom dashboards and alerts, and distributed tracing is broker-native and based on OpenTelemetry. Cloud services enable secure protocol ports by default and disable plain-text ports by default. Free options include a 30-day cloud trial and a free enterprise-grade software version. Solace was founded in 2001 and is headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.