Comparison

Confluent Cloud vs Redpanda

On the evidence we track, Confluent Cloud leads this comparison with a composite score of 93/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Confluent Cloud full profile →Redpanda full profile →

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.

★Confluent Cloud93

Redpanda66

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Confluent CloudLeader	Redpanda
vioscaleAI score	93 / 100medium · 73%	66 / 100medium · 58%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	freemium
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	low
Starting pricepricing.starting_price	$0.02	-
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✗
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	120	300
Security
Certificationssecurity.certifications	SOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, PCI DSS +1 more	SOC 2 Type II
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	✓	✓
Fedrampsecurity.fedramp	✓	-
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	✓
Hipaasecurity.hipaa	✓	-
Iso27001security.iso27001	✓	-
Pcisecurity.pci	✓	-
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	6.5
Soc2security.soc2	✓	✓
Trust centersecurity.trust_center	https://www.confluent.io/resources/topic/security/	https://www.redpanda.com/blog/soc-2-compliance-data-streaming-cloud
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	-	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fredpanda-data%2Fredpanda%2Fsrc%2Fgo%2Frpk&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Reliability
Sla pctreliability.sla_pct	99.99	99.99
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	25
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	12,610
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	-	100
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	-	6
Historyrelease.history	-	20 items
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	-	C++
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide · Popular in US, GB · HQ US	Available worldwide
Content
Faqcontent.faq	6 items	6 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

Confluent Cloud93 / 100medium · 73%

Redpanda66 / 100medium · 58%

Pricing

Free tier

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Model

Confluent Cloudfreemium

Redpandafreemium

Price level

Confluent Cloudlow

Redpandalow

Starting price

Confluent Cloud$0.02

Redpanda–

Transparent

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✗

Integrations

Count

Confluent Cloud120

Redpanda300

Security

Certifications

Confluent CloudSOC 1, SOC 2, SOC 3, ISO 27001, ISO 27701, PCI DSS +1 more

RedpandaSOC 2 Type II

Disclosure policy

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Fedramp

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda–

Gdpr

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Hipaa

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda–

Iso27001

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda–

Pci

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda–

Scorecard

Confluent Cloud–

Redpanda6.5

Soc2

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Trust center

Confluent Cloudhttps://www.confluent.io/resources/topic/security/

Redpandahttps://www.redpanda.com/blog/soc-2-compliance-data-streaming-cloud

Vulnerabilities

Confluent Cloud–

RedpandaCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fredpanda-data%2Fredpanda%2Fsrc%2Fgo%2Frpk&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Reliability

Sla pct

Confluent Cloud99.99

Redpanda99.99

Status page

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

Confluent Cloud–

Redpanda25

Github stars

Confluent Cloud–

Redpanda12,610

Activity

Commits last 30d

Confluent Cloud–

Redpanda100

Release

Cadence days

Confluent Cloud–

Redpanda6

History

Confluent Cloud–

Redpanda20 items

Language

Primary

Confluent Cloud–

RedpandaC++

Market

Availability

Confluent CloudAvailable worldwide · Popular in US, GB · HQ US

RedpandaAvailable worldwide

Content

Faq

Confluent Cloud6 items

Redpanda6 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for message queues. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Message Queues
Capability	Confluent Cloud	Redpanda
Core
Messaging paradigm	Pub/sub	Log / streaming
Correctness
Delivery guarantee	Exactly-once	At-least-once
Ordering guarantee	Per-partition	Per-partition
Durability
Durable replayable log	✓	✓
Message replay / rewind	✓	✓
Interop
Wire protocol	Kafka protocol, REST API	Kafka protocol
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 only	Cloud + self-hosted
Processing
Built-in stream processing	✓	✓

Core

Messaging paradigm

Confluent CloudPub/sub

RedpandaLog / streaming

Correctness

Delivery guarantee

Confluent CloudExactly-once

RedpandaAt-least-once

Ordering guarantee

Confluent CloudPer-partition

RedpandaPer-partition

Durability

Durable replayable log

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Message replay / rewind

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Interop

Wire protocol

Confluent CloudKafka protocol, REST API

RedpandaKafka protocol

Kafka-protocol compatible

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Scale

Partitioned horizontal scaling

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Geo / cross-region replication

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Consumption

Consumer groups / competing consumers

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Dead-letter queue

Confluent Cloud-

Redpanda-

Deployment

Managed cloud offering exists

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Hosting

Confluent CloudCloud only

RedpandaCloud + self-hosted

Processing

Built-in stream processing

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Confluent Cloud

Leader

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.

Independently observed

Redpanda

A data streaming platform optimized for high performance and developer productivity, offering Kafka-compatible APIs with lower operational overhead. Available as a managed cloud service or self-hosted deployment.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Confluent Cloud

Leader

from $0.02/GBUsage-basedFree tier120-day trial

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.

FreeFree
- Autoscaling
- Kafka ACLs
- Data encryption
- Audit logs
- RBAC
- +1 more
Standard~$385/month typical. $0.75/eCKU-hour, $0.035-0.050/GB networking, $0.03/GB/month storage
- Autoscaling at scale
- Advanced governance
- Audit logs
- SAML/SSO
- RBAC
- +1 more
Enterprise~$895/month typical. $1.75-2.25/eCKU-hour (min 2), $0.020-0.050/GB networking, tiered storage
- GBps+ autoscaling
- Private networking
- Client-side field-level encryption
- Advanced monitoring
- All security features

as of 2026-09-18verify ↗

Redpanda

HybridFree tier

Free tier (Community Edition). Cloud and Enterprise plans available via quote.

Community EditionFree
Enterprise EditionContact sales
Redpanda CloudContact sales

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	Confluent Cloud	Redpanda
WebPlatforms	✓	✗
macOSPlatforms	✗	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✗	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✗	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✗	✓
HybridDeployment	✗	✓

Platforms

Web

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✗

macOS

Confluent Cloud✗

Redpanda✓

Windows

Confluent Cloud✗

Redpanda✓

Linux

Confluent Cloud✗

Redpanda✓

CLI

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Confluent Cloud✓

Redpanda✓

Self-hosted

Confluent Cloud✗

Redpanda✓

Hybrid

Confluent Cloud✗

Redpanda✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (5)

MySQL
Schema Registry
Apache Iceberg
Amazon S3
Google Cloud Storage

Confluent Cloud

Leader

16 total - 11 not shared

Salesforce
Google Ads
Google Analytics
Hotjar
Quickbooks
Apache Flink
Delta Lake
Slack
Elasticsearch
AWS S3
Azure Blob Storage

Independently observed

Redpanda

23 total - 18 not shared

Kafka
PostgreSQL
Snowflake
BigQuery
AWS
Google Cloud Platform
Azure
Databricks Unity Catalog
AWS Glue Data Catalog
Kerberos
Debezium
Apache Spark
Grafana
Prometheus
Kubernetes
ClickHouse
ScyllaDB
Benthos

Independently observed

Still deciding?

Confluent Cloud or Redpanda: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.