Kafka Alternatives Debate

This cluster centers on comparisons between Apache Kafka and alternative messaging/streaming technologies like Redis Streams, RabbitMQ, NATS, and MQTT, debating operational overhead, scalability, suitability for low-volume high-reliability use cases, and when to choose one over Kafka.

➡️ Stable 0.6x DevOps & Infrastructure
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#6024
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Keywords

ZK S3 EBS AWS KIP UI MQTT JVM FFI PROTOBUF kafka rabbitmq s3 redis broker data parquet apache message aws

Sample Comments

jsjohnst • Dec 12, 2016 • View on HN

Apologies, but what does this provide that Kafka doesn't already?

hkeide • May 24, 2020 • View on HN

Why doesn't Kafka do this?

asasidh • Sep 17, 2016 • View on HN

So you used Kafka for something that should have been handled by a MQTT or ZeroMQ in the first place ?

alephu5 • Oct 18, 2021 • View on HN

Why Postgres? Why not redis, rabbitMQ or even Kafka itself?

k__ • Aug 9, 2015 • View on HN

Someone told me to use Apache Kafka instead, because it scales better. What do you think?

ttymck • Jun 13, 2024 • View on HN

What Kafka is well-suited for and how difficult it is to operate.

kvakerok • Jul 17, 2024 • View on HN

Kafka is a stream processor. If you want a messaging queue, use something like RabbitMQ.

kafkaisthatyou • Nov 1, 2017 • View on HN

What are the alternatives people are using instead of kafka in these situations. Low volume but high reliability.

hkt • Mar 14, 2023 • View on HN

A better comparison with Kafka is redis streams. Similar semantics, a fraction of the operational overhead.

politelemon • Dec 8, 2025 • View on HN

What is the reason for using Kafka then, sorry if I'm missing something fundamental.