# Apache Pulsar vs Confluent Cloud

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Confluent Cloud

| Attribute | Apache Pulsar | Confluent Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 60.2 (38% (low)) | 93.1 (73% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | - |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 316 | - |
| adoption.github_stars | 15,343 | - |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A distributed messaging system built for cloud deployments that enables applications to reliably publish and consume messages—either individually or as continuous streams—with sub-10-millisecond latency, supporting millions of independent topics and large-scale streaming workloads. It is indexed under Message Queues.","source":"https://pulsar.apache.org","question":"What is Apache Pulsar?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache Pulsar 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://pulsar.apache.org","question":"Is Apache Pulsar free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Apache Pulsar supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://pulsar.apache.org","question":"What platforms does Apache Pulsar support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache Pulsar can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://pulsar.apache.org","question":"Can Apache Pulsar be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 27 integrations for Apache Pulsar, including Kafka, RabbitMQ, MongoDB, Cassandra, Elasticsearch, HBase, HDFS and InfluxDB, plus 19 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://pulsar.apache.org","question":"What does Apache Pulsar integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Apache Pulsar 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/pulsar","question":"Is Apache Pulsar open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"A managed cloud service for real-time data streaming built on Apache Kafka, offering automatic scaling, security controls, and pre-built connectors without requiring manual cluster management. It is indexed under Message Queues.","source":"https://www.confluent.io/pricing/","question":"What is Confluent Cloud?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Confluent Cloud offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $0.75. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.confluent.io/pricing/","question":"Is Confluent Cloud free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Confluent Cloud supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://www.confluent.io/pricing/","question":"What platforms does Confluent Cloud support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have only confirmed a cloud / SaaS deployment for Confluent Cloud, so it appears to be vendor-hosted. If a self-hosted option exists we have not found it documented publicly.","source":"https://www.confluent.io/pricing/","question":"Can Confluent Cloud be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 12 integrations for Confluent Cloud, including Salesforce, Google Ads, Google Analytics, Hotjar, Quickbooks, MySQL, Apache Flink and Schema Registry, plus 4 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.confluent.io/pricing/","question":"What does Confluent Cloud integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR for Confluent Cloud. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Confluent Cloud not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.confluent.io/de-de/compliance/uk-tax-strategy/","question":"What security certifications does Confluent Cloud have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true}` |
| description.long | A message broker supporting both pub-sub and queue-based messaging patterns. It provides durable storage with strong ordering guarantees, horizontally scales to millions of topics and messages per second, and supports geo-replication for distributed deployments. | Confluent Cloud is a managed Kafka service that automates infrastructure management and scaling across multiple cloud providers. It combines Kafka for streaming data with integrated Apache Flink for stream processing, providing enterprise-grade security, hundreds of pre-built connectors, and usage-based pricing with no upfront capacity provisioning required. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","ordering":"per_partition","paradigm":"pubsub","protocol":"pulsar://","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":true,"kafka_compatible":true,"stream_processing":true,"delivery_guarantee":"exactly_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` | `{"hosting":"cloud","ordering":"per_partition","paradigm":"pubsub","protocol":"Kafka protocol, REST API","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":true,"kafka_compatible":true,"managed_offering":true,"stream_processing":true,"delivery_guarantee":"exactly_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` |
| integrations.count | 35 | 120 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"RabbitMQ"},{"name":"MongoDB"},{"name":"Cassandra"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"HBase"},{"name":"HDFS"},{"name":"InfluxDB"},{"name":"Redis"},{"name":"Solr"},{"name":"DynamoDB"},{"name":"Kinesis"},{"name":"Azure Data Explorer"},{"name":"ClickHouse"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"MariaDB"},{"name":"SQLite"},{"name":"Debezium MySQL"},{"name":"Debezium PostgreSQL"},{"name":"Debezium MongoDB"},{"name":"Debezium Oracle"},{"name":"Debezium Microsoft SQL Server"},{"name":"Canal"},{"name":"Aerospike"},{"name":"Alluxio"},{"name":"NSQ"},{"name":"Netty"},{"name":"HTTP"},{"name":"File"},{"name":"Kafka Connect Adaptor","native":true,"direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"MySQL","native":true}]` | `[{"name":"Salesforce"},{"name":"Google Ads"},{"name":"Google Analytics"},{"name":"Hotjar"},{"name":"Quickbooks"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"Apache Flink"},{"name":"Schema Registry"},{"name":"Apache Iceberg"},{"name":"Delta Lake"},{"name":"Slack","native":true,"category":"communication"},{"name":"Amazon S3","native":true,"category":"cloud_storage","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Elasticsearch","native":true,"category":"search","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"AWS S3","native":true,"category":"cloud_storage","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Google Cloud Storage","native":true,"category":"cloud_storage","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Azure Blob Storage","native":true,"category":"cloud_storage","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Java | - |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | - | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US","GB"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"web":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://pulsar.apache.org","retrievedAt":"2026-10-14T22:35:49.214Z"}` | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Free","summary":"Free tier. $0.14/eCKU-hour for additional eCKUs, $0.05/GB networking, $0.08/GB/month storage","features":["Autoscaling","Kafka ACLs","Data encryption","Audit logs","RBAC","Multicloud (AWS, Azure, GCP)"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":0,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"eCKU-hour"},"kind":"metered","note":"after first eCKU free","amount":0.14,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.05,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB-month"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.08,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Serverless, fully managed clusters with zero ops","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"connectors":"80+ fully managed","uptime_sla":"99.9% (1 eCKU), 99.99% (2+ eCKUs)"}},{"free":false,"name":"Standard","summary":"~$385/month typical. $0.75/eCKU-hour, $0.035-0.050/GB networking, $0.03/GB/month storage","features":["Autoscaling at scale","Advanced governance","Audit logs","SAML/SSO","RBAC","Self-managed encryption keys"],"components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"eCKU-hour"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.75,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB"},"kind":"metered","note":"range $0.035-0.050","amount":0.035,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB-month"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.03,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"High availability with 99.99% uptime SLA and audit logging","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"uptime_sla":"99.99%"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"~$895/month typical. $1.75-2.25/eCKU-hour (min 2), $0.020-0.050/GB networking, tiered storage","features":["GBps+ autoscaling","Private networking","Client-side field-level encryption","Advanced monitoring","All security features"],"minSeats":2,"components":[{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"eCKU-hour"},"kind":"metered","note":"range $1.75-2.25","amount":1.75,"currency":"USD"},{"kind":"fixed","note":"minimum 2 eCKUs","amount":2.25,"period":"eCKU-hour","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB"},"kind":"metered","note":"range $0.020-0.050","amount":0.02,"currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"GB-month"},"kind":"metered","note":"range $0.020-0.050","amount":0.03,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Mission-critical use cases with GBps+ scale and advanced security","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"scale":"GBps+","uptime_sla":"99.99%"}}],"addOns":[{"name":"Premium Support","components":[{"of":"first_50k_usage","kind":"percentage","rate":10},{"of":"next_50k_usage","kind":"percentage","rate":8},{"of":"next_900k_usage","kind":"percentage","rate":6},{"of":"usage_over_1m","kind":"percentage","rate":3}]},{"name":"Business Support","components":[{"kind":"fixed","note":"greater of $1000 or percentage","amount":1000,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}]}],"summary":"Free tier available. Pay-as-you-go usage pricing ($0.14-2.25/eCKU-hour depending on tier, $0.035-0.050/GB networking, $0.03-0.08/GB-month storage). Annual commitments available with tiered discounts. $400 free credits for new users over 4 months.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.confluent.io/pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-09-18T15:55:20.212Z","freeTrialDays":120,"startingPrice":{"unit":"GB","amount":0.02,"currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.starting_price | - | `{"amount":0.02,"currency":"USD"}` |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 3 | - |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v5.0.0","date":"2026-10-05T19:22:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v5.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.5","date":"2026-10-05T19:23:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.14","date":"2026-10-05T19:23:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v5.0.0-M2","date":"2026-09-16T23:33:14Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v5.0.0-M2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.4","date":"2026-08-03T09:19:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.13","date":"2026-08-03T09:19:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.3","date":"2026-07-06T08:46:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.12","date":"2026-07-06T08:46:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v5.0.0-M1","date":"2026-06-23T14:11:26Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v5.0.0-M1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.2","date":"2026-06-08T18:16:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.11","date":"2026-06-08T18:16:01Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.1","date":"2026-04-27T13:04:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.10","date":"2026-04-27T13:04:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v3.0.17","date":"2026-04-27T13:03:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.2.0","date":"2026-03-31T21:12:26Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.1.3","date":"2026-02-19T19:48:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.9","date":"2026-02-19T19:48:13Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v3.0.16","date":"2026-02-16T09:24:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.1.2","date":"2025-11-17T07:58:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/apache/pulsar/releases/tag/v4.0.8","date":"2025-11-17T07:58:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v4.0.8"}]` | - |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.certifications | - | `[{"name":"SOC 1","status":"active"},{"name":"SOC 2","status":"active"},{"name":"SOC 3","status":"active"},{"name":"ISO 27001","status":"active"},{"name":"ISO 27701","status":"active"},{"name":"PCI DSS","status":"active"},{"name":"HITRUST CSF","status":"active"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.fedramp | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.iso27001 | - | yes |
| security.pci | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 7.1 | - |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.trust_center | https://pulsar.apache.org/docs/5.0.x/security-athenz/ | https://www.confluent.io/resources/topic/security/ |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=org.apache.pulsar%3Apulsar-client-admin&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | - |

## Capabilities (Message Queues)

| Capability | Apache Pulsar | Confluent Cloud |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Messaging paradigm | Pub/sub | Pub/sub |
| **Correctness** |  |  |
| Delivery guarantee | Exactly-once | Exactly-once |
| Ordering guarantee | Per-partition | Per-partition |
| **Durability** |  |  |
| Durable replayable log | ✓ | ✓ |
| Message replay / rewind | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| Wire protocol | pulsar:// | Kafka protocol, REST API |
| 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 | Cloud + self-hosted | Cloud only |
| **Processing** |  |  |
| Built-in stream processing | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:15:29.417Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*