Apache Kafka vs Solace PubSub+ Event Broker
Apache Kafka
kafka.apache.org
Solace PubSub+ Event Broker
solace.comSide by side
| Figure | Apache Kafka | Solace PubSub+ Event Broker |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 5 |
| Spec score · Event Streaming Platforms | 7.8 (#12) | 8.2 (#6) |
| Spec score · Message Broker Software | 7.8 (#21) | 8.2 (#13) |
| Spec score · Message Queue (MQ) Software | 7.8 (#16) | 8.2 (#11) |
| Deployment | Kafka can run on bare-metal hardware, virtual machines, or containers, on premises or in the cloud, with self-managed or vendor-managed service options. | The broker is available as a cloud service, software, or appliance and can run in clouds, data centers, and remote locations. |
| Founded | 1999 | 2001 |
| Integrations | Kafka Connect integrates with hundreds of event sources and sinks; the homepage names Postgres, JMS, Elasticsearch, and AWS S3 as examples. | Solace offers supported micro-integrations for applications, cloud services, and integration tools. |
| Security | The project describes Kafka as secure; the ASF directs vulnerability reports to its security page. | 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 Apache Software Foundation says it does not provide formal or commercial support for its software packages. | 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 | Apache Kafka is an open-source distributed event streaming platform for data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission-critical applications. | Solace Event Broker moves real-time information among applications, AI agents and devices across cloud, on-premises and edge environments. |
Plans
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
Apache Kafka
Apache Kafka is an open-source distributed event-streaming platform for data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission-critical applications. Applications can publish and subscribe to event streams, retain them durably, and process them either in real time or later. Kafka supports durable, fault-tolerant replication across availability zones, data centers, or geographic regions. Kafka Streams provides stateful operations, aggregations, windowing, joins, event-time processing, and exactly-once processing. Kafka Connect links hundreds of event sources and sinks, including Postgres, JMS, Elasticsearch, and AWS S3. Deployments can use bare metal, virtual machines, or containers, on premises or in the cloud, with self-managed or vendor-managed options. The project describes network-limited throughput, latency as low as 2 ms, and clusters of up to 1,000 brokers. Kafka is self-hosted, free, and open source under Apache License 2.0. A local quickstart requires Java 17 or later.
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.