• Kafka

  • Differnece between Confluent Kafka and AWS MSK

Differnece between Confluent Kafka and AWS MSK

🚀 Confluent Kafka vs AWS MSK (Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka)

Both Confluent Kafka and AWS MSK (Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka) are managed Kafka solutions, but they differ in features, pricing, deployment flexibility, and enterprise capabilities.

📌 High-Level Comparison

| Feature | Confluent Kafka | AWS MSK |
|---------|--------------------|-------------|
| Provider | Confluent (Founded by original Kafka creators) | Amazon Web Services (AWS) |
| Deployment | Available as Confluent Cloud (fully managed) or self-hosted Confluent Platform. | Fully managed Kafka only on AWS. |
| Ease of Use | Fully managed service with UI & automation. | Requires more configuration but integrates deeply with AWS services. |
| Pricing | Pay-as-you-go or self-hosted (enterprise pricing). | Pay for instances, storage, and data transfer (AWS billing model). |
| Security | Advanced RBAC, ACLs, PrivateLink, IAM authentication. | Uses AWS IAM, VPC-based security but lacks RBAC. |
| Kafka Connect & Connectors | 100+ pre-built connectors (DBs, cloud, analytics tools). | Supports Kafka Connect but lacks built-in connectors. |
| Stream Processing | ksqlDB (SQL for Kafka Streams), Kafka Streams. | No built-in ksqlDB support (requires Kafka Streams). |
| Monitoring & Management | Confluent Control Center (Web UI for monitoring Kafka). | Uses CloudWatch & OpenSearch (manual setup required). |
| Schema Registry | Built-in Schema Registry for Avro, JSON, Protobuf. | No built-in Schema Registry (requires external setup). |
| Multi-Cloud & Hybrid | Works across AWS, GCP, Azure, and on-prem. | Limited to AWS only. |
| Replication & Disaster Recovery | Cluster Linking, Replicator for multi-region DR. | AWS MSK Replicator (limited regions). |
| Performance | Optimized with Tiered Storage, infinite retention. | Depends on EC2 instance types used. |
| Support & SLAs | Enterprise SLA-backed support available. | AWS support (standard AWS support plans). |

📌 Detailed Differences

1️⃣ Deployment & Management

  • Confluent Kafka:

    • Available as Confluent Cloud (fully managed) or Confluent Platform (self-managed).
    • Supports multi-cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure) and on-premise.
    • UI-based cluster management via Confluent Control Center.
    • Comes with built-in tools like Schema Registry, Connectors, ksqlDB.

  • AWS MSK:

    • Fully managed only on AWS.
    • Requires AWS services like CloudFormation, IAM, VPCs, and CloudWatch for monitoring.
    • Lacks a built-in UI; management is via AWS CLI & Console.

✅ Choose Confluent if you want multi-cloud, on-prem, or hybrid flexibility.
✅ Choose AWS MSK if you are fully committed to AWS services.

2️⃣ Kafka Connect & Integrations

  • Confluent Kafka:

    • 100+ pre-built connectors (AWS S3, Google BigQuery, MongoDB, Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL, etc.).
    • Easy data ingestion & sink setups.

  • AWS MSK:

    • Supports Kafka Connect, but you must manually deploy connectors on EC2/ECS.
    • No built-in connectors (extra effort required).

✅ Choose Confluent if you need out-of-the-box connectors.
✅ Choose AWS MSK if you're okay with manual connector deployment.

3️⃣ Stream Processing (ksqlDB vs Kafka Streams)

  • Confluent Kafka:

    • ksqlDB for SQL-based real-time transformations.
    • Supports Kafka Streams (Java-based stream processing).

  • AWS MSK:

    • No ksqlDB support.
    • You must use Kafka Streams, Apache Flink, or AWS Lambda.

✅ Choose Confluent for built-in ksqlDB (SQL-based processing).
✅ Choose AWS MSK if you're okay using Flink or AWS Lambda for processing.

4️⃣ Monitoring & Security

  • Confluent Kafka:

    • Confluent Control Center (GUI for monitoring).
    • RBAC (Role-Based Access Control), Schema Registry, PrivateLink.

  • AWS MSK:

    • AWS CloudWatch & OpenSearch for monitoring (manual setup required).
    • Uses IAM authentication but lacks RBAC.

✅ Choose Confluent for better monitoring tools & RBAC.
✅ Choose AWS MSK if you rely on AWS CloudWatch & IAM security.

5️⃣ Multi-Cloud, Disaster Recovery & Replication

  • Confluent Kafka:

    • Cluster Linking for seamless cross-region and cross-cloud replication.
    • Confluent Replicator for multi-region failover.

  • AWS MSK:

    • AWS MSK Replicator (Only works within AWS regions).

✅ Choose Confluent for cross-cloud replication.
✅ Choose AWS MSK if your replication needs are AWS-only.

📌 Which One Should You Choose?

✅ Choose Confluent Kafka If:

✔️ You need multi-cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure, on-premise) support.
✔️ You want fully managed Kafka with built-in monitoring & connectors.
✔️ You need ksqlDB for SQL-based stream processing.
✔️ You require better disaster recovery & cross-region replication.

✅ Choose AWS MSK If:

✔️ You are fully committed to AWS infrastructure.
✔️ You prefer tight integration with AWS services (Lambda, S3, CloudWatch).
✔️ You don't need built-in monitoring or connectors and can set them up manually.
✔️ You want a lower-cost managed Kafka option within AWS.

📊 Final Summary Table

| Feature | Confluent Kafka | AWS MSK |
|---------|----------------|---------|
| Deployment | Multi-cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure, On-Prem) | AWS-only |
| Ease of Setup | Fully managed (Confluent Cloud) or self-managed | Requires AWS CLI, CloudFormation setup |
| Monitoring | Confluent Control Center (UI) | CloudWatch (no UI) |
| Security | RBAC, ACLs, Schema Registry | AWS IAM, VPC |
| Connectors | 100+ pre-built Kafka connectors | Manual Kafka Connect setup |
| Stream Processing | ksqlDB (SQL on Kafka), Kafka Streams | Kafka Streams, AWS Flink |
| Disaster Recovery | Cross-region, multi-cloud replication | AWS-region replication only |
| Pricing | Based on throughput, connectors, & features | Pay-as-you-go (EC2-based pricing) |

🚀 Final Recommendation

  • If you're looking for enterprise-grade features, cross-cloud capabilities, better monitoring, and built-in connectors → Go with Confluent Kafka.
  • If you’re an AWS-centric company needing a cost-effective, AWS-native Kafka service → Go with AWS MSK.