Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka vs Pravega
Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka
aws.amazon.comPravega
pravega.ioSide by side
| Figure | Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka | Pravega |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $0.11/mo | — |
| Free plan | — | — |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 5 | 0 |
| Spec score · Event Streaming Platforms | 7.9 (#10) | 6.9 (#18) |
| Integrations | Listed integrations include Amazon S3, Amazon Redshift, Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink, AWS Lambda, AWS Glue Schema Registry, and AWS Database Migration Service. | The documented connectors include Apache Flink, Apache Spark, Apache Hadoop, Presto, Boomi, and Apache NiFi. |
| Security | MSK supports IAM access control, SASL/SCRAM or mutual TLS authentication for Provisioned clusters, and encryption at rest and in transit. | Pravega supports TLS encryption for communication channels and role-based access control through pluggable authentication and authorization implementations. |
Plans
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
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.
Pravega
Pravega is an open-source, self-hosted storage system built around durable append-only streams for continuous, unbounded data. Streams hold parallel byte sequences, can scale as ingestion changes, and use automatic tiering to scale-out storage. Data may be retained indefinitely, allowing applications to read current and historical events. Pravega describes exactly-once delivery and processing with ordering guarantees despite client, server, or network failures, and transactions can write event sets atomically. It targets streaming applications, IoT data, and batch or interactive analytics. Connectors are listed for Apache Flink, Spark, Hadoop, Presto, Boomi, and Apache NiFi; client languages include Java, Rust, and Python. Deployment options include a single-process standalone server or distributed mode with Docker Compose. Distributed production deployments list Java 11, supported long-term storage, ZooKeeper 3.6.3, and BookKeeper 4.14.1. TLS and role-based access control are configurable.