# Confluent Cloud vs Redpanda

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Confluent Cloud

| Attribute | Confluent Cloud | Redpanda |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 93.1 (73% (medium)) | 66.2 (58% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | - | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | - | 25 |
| adoption.github_stars | - | 12,610 |
| content.faq | `[{"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}]` | `[{"answer":"A data streaming platform designed to reduce operational costs while maintaining high throughput. Kafka-compatible with support for both managed cloud deployments (Dedicated, BYOC, Serverless) and self-hosted options, featuring tiered storage, built-in data transforms, and governance capabilities for AI agents. It is indexed under Message Queues.","source":"https://www.redpanda.com","question":"What is Redpanda?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Redpanda does not publish its prices. Pricing is quoted on request, across 3 plans (Community Edition, Enterprise Edition and Redpanda Cloud), so the figure depends on your seat count and requirements. We record this as a pricing-transparency signal rather than guessing a number. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://www.redpanda.com","question":"How much does Redpanda cost?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Redpanda 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.redpanda.com","question":"What platforms does Redpanda support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Redpanda can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://www.redpanda.com","question":"Can Redpanda be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 9 integrations for Redpanda, including Kafka, PostgreSQL, Apache Iceberg, Snowflake, BigQuery, Google Cloud Storage, AWS and Google Cloud Platform, plus 1 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://www.redpanda.com","question":"What does Redpanda integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2 and GDPR for Redpanda. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Redpanda not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://www.redpanda.com/legal/security","question":"What security certifications does Redpanda have?","confidence":0.7}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"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}` | `{"hosting":"both","ordering":"per_partition","paradigm":"log_stream","protocol":"Kafka protocol","message_replay":true,"persistent_log":true,"consumer_groups":true,"geo_replication":true,"kafka_compatible":true,"managed_offering":true,"stream_processing":true,"delivery_guarantee":"at_least_once","horizontal_scaling":true}` |
| integrations.count | 120 | 300 |
| integrations.list | `[{"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"}]` | `[{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"Apache Iceberg"},{"name":"Snowflake"},{"name":"BigQuery"},{"name":"Google Cloud Storage"},{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Google Cloud Platform"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"MySQL","native":true,"category":"database","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Amazon S3","native":true,"category":"storage","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Databricks Unity Catalog","native":true,"category":"analytics","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"AWS Glue Data Catalog","native":true,"category":"analytics","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Kerberos","native":true,"category":"authentication","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Debezium","category":"data_integration"},{"name":"Schema Registry","category":"schema_management"},{"name":"Apache Spark","category":"data_processing"},{"name":"Grafana","native":true,"category":"monitoring"},{"name":"Prometheus","native":true,"category":"monitoring"},{"name":"Kubernetes","category":"orchestration"},{"name":"ClickHouse","category":"analytics"},{"name":"ScyllaDB","category":"database"},{"name":"Benthos","category":"data_integration"}]` |
| language.primary | - | C++ |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US","GB"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"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"]}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Community Edition","summary":"Free, BSL license","description":"Free, source-available under BSL","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise Edition","summary":"Contact for pricing","description":"Commercially supported self-managed deployment","contactSales":true},{"free":false,"name":"Redpanda Cloud","summary":"Contact for pricing","description":"Fully-managed cloud service with Dedicated, BYOC, and Serverless options","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free tier (Community Edition). Cloud and Enterprise plans available via quote.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.redpanda.com","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T12:13:12.076Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | low | low |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":0.02,"currency":"USD"}` | - |
| pricing.transparent | yes | no |
| release.cadence_days | - | 6 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.2.2","date":"2026-08-22T00:45:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.17","date":"2026-08-20T00:03:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v25.3.17","date":"2026-08-20T00:04:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v25.3.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.16","date":"2026-08-13T19:25:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v25.3.16","date":"2026-08-13T19:13:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v25.3.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.15","date":"2026-08-07T03:37:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.2.1","date":"2026-07-28T17:59:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.14","date":"2026-07-24T11:39:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.13","date":"2026-07-17T02:23:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.12","date":"2026-06-28T05:05:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.11","date":"2026-06-25T23:58:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.10","date":"2026-06-12T15:46:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v25.3.15","date":"2026-06-04T21:12:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v25.3.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.9","date":"2026-05-22T12:40:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.9"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.8","date":"2026-05-14T12:16:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.7","date":"2026-05-08T12:48:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.6","date":"2026-04-22T01:35:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v25.3.14","date":"2026-04-16T14:42:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v25.3.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.5","date":"2026-04-15T14:20:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/redpanda-data/redpanda/releases/tag/v26.1.4","date":"2026-04-11T15:29:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.1.4"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | 99.99 | 99.99 |
| reliability.status_page | yes | 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"}]` | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","status":"active","auditor":"Barr Advisory","evidenceUrl":"https://www.redpanda.com/blog/soc-2-compliance-data-streaming-cloud"}]` |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.fedramp | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | yes |
| security.hipaa | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 6.5 |
| security.soc2 | yes | yes |
| security.trust_center | https://www.confluent.io/resources/topic/security/ | https://www.redpanda.com/blog/soc-2-compliance-data-streaming-cloud |
| security.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,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (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 | ✓ | ✓ |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T22:27:09.965Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*