# Apache Kafka vs Google Cloud Pub/Sub

| Attribute | Apache Kafka | Google Cloud Pub/Sub |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 57.2 (49% (low)) | 53.7 (50% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 1 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 33,937 | - |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 3,890,048 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"Apache Kafka is a free system for capturing, storing, and processing data streams in real time. It enables organizations to reliably move large volumes of data between applications and systems, with support for transformations, aggregations, and stateful processing. It is indexed under Message Queues.","source":"https://kafka.apache.org","question":"What is Apache Kafka?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache Kafka is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://kafka.apache.org","question":"Is Apache Kafka free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache Kafka supports Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://kafka.apache.org","question":"What platforms does Apache Kafka support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache Kafka can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://kafka.apache.org","question":"Can Apache Kafka be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 4 integrations for Apache Kafka, including Postgres, JMS, Elasticsearch and AWS S3. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://kafka.apache.org","question":"What does Apache Kafka integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache Kafka is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/apache/kafka","question":"Is Apache Kafka open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"Google Cloud's managed messaging system that reliably routes messages between applications with support for real-time data processing and integration with analytics, log management, and data platforms. It is indexed under Message Queues.","source":"https://cloud.google.com/pubsub","question":"What is Google Cloud Pub/Sub?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Google Cloud Pub/Sub offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $0.27. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://cloud.google.com/pubsub","question":"Is Google Cloud Pub/Sub free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to Google Cloud Pub/Sub. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://cloud.google.com/pubsub","question":"What platforms does Google Cloud Pub/Sub support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Not fully, on what we have confirmed. Google Cloud Pub/Sub is offered as cloud / SaaS and hybrid, and a hybrid deployment usually means some components can run on your own infrastructure while the rest stays vendor-hosted. We have not confirmed a completely self-hosted option, so check with the vendor if that is a requirement.","source":"https://cloud.google.com/pubsub","question":"Can Google Cloud Pub/Sub be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 11 integrations for Google Cloud Pub/Sub, including BigQuery, Cloud Storage, Dataflow, Splunk, Datadog, Striim, Informatica and Confluent Cloud, plus 3 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://cloud.google.com/pubsub","question":"What does Google Cloud Pub/Sub integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Google Cloud Pub/Sub is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States.","source":"https://cloud.google.com/pubsub","question":"Where is Google Cloud Pub/Sub available?","confidence":0.5}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true}` |
| description.long | An open-source system for capturing, storing, and processing continuous data flows at scale. Used to build real-time analytics, data connectors, and mission-critical applications. | Google Cloud's publish-subscribe messaging platform that delivers events to multiple subscribers with at-least-once delivery guarantees, cross-zone replication, and optional per-key ordering. It integrates with popular data processing, analytics, and monitoring tools for end-to-end data streaming solutions. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"self","ordering":"per_partition","paradigm":"pubsub","protocol":"Binary over TCP (SSL/SASL for authentication/encryption)","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":true,"kafka_compatible":true,"managed_offering":false,"stream_processing":true,"delivery_guarantee":"exactly_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` | `{"hosting":"cloud","ordering":"per_key","paradigm":"pubsub","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":true,"managed_offering":true,"stream_processing":true,"delivery_guarantee":"at_least_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` |
| integrations.count | 4 | 9 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Postgres"},{"name":"JMS"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"AWS S3"}]` | `[{"name":"BigQuery"},{"name":"Cloud Storage"},{"name":"Dataflow"},{"name":"Splunk","category":"logs"},{"name":"Datadog","category":"logs"},{"name":"Striim","category":"data integration"},{"name":"Informatica","category":"data integration"},{"name":"Confluent Cloud"},{"name":"Apache Kafka"},{"name":"Knative Eventing","category":"serverless"},{"name":"Looker Studio","category":"visualization"},{"name":"Data Studio","category":"visualization"}]` |
| language.primary | Java | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"linux":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://kafka.apache.org","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T13:46:57.642Z"}` | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Standard Pub/Sub","summary":"$40/TiB throughput + $0.27/GiB-month storage (first 10 GiB throughput free)","features":["At-least-once message delivery","Per-key message ordering","Pull and push delivery modes","Cross-zone replication","Automatic scaling and provisioning","Message retention and snapshots"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":40,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GiB-month"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.27,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Pay-as-you-go pricing based on message throughput and retention","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"free_throughput":"10 GiB/month"}}],"addOns":[{"name":"BigQuery Subscription","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":50,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Cloud Storage Subscription","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":50,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Kinesis Data Streams Import","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":50,"currency":"USD"}]},{"name":"Other Source Imports (Azure Event Hubs, AWS MSK, Confluent Cloud)","components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TiB"},"kind":"metered","amount":80,"currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"Usage-based: $40/TiB throughput, $0.27/GiB-month storage. Free tier: 10 GiB/month throughput.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://cloud.google.com/pubsub","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T13:22:58.268Z","startingPrice":{"amount":0.27,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | - | no |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 6.1 | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fapache%2Fkafka&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (Message Queues)

| Capability | Apache Kafka | Google Cloud Pub/Sub |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Messaging paradigm | Pub/sub | Pub/sub |
| **Correctness** |  |  |
| Delivery guarantee | Exactly-once | At-least-once |
| Ordering guarantee | Per-partition | Per-key |
| **Durability** |  |  |
| Durable replayable log | ✓ | ✓ |
| Message replay / rewind | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | Binary over TCP (SSL/SASL for authentication/encryption) | - |
| Kafka-protocol compatible | ✓ | - |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Partitioned horizontal scaling | ✓ | ✓ |
| Geo / cross-region replication | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Consumption** |  |  |
| Consumer groups / competing consumers | ✓ | ✓ |
| Dead-letter queue | - | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Managed cloud offering exists | ✗ | ✓ |
| Hosting | Self-hosted only | Cloud only |
| **Processing** |  |  |
| Built-in stream processing | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:02:06.953Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*