Comparison

Google Cloud Pub/Sub vs Redpanda

On the evidence we track, Redpanda leads this comparison with a composite score of 69/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Google Cloud Pub/Sub full profile →Redpanda full profile →

Machine formatsJSON Markdown GraphQLor send Accept: application/json

Google Cloud Pub/Sub53

★Redpanda69

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	Google Cloud Pub/Sub	RedpandaLeader
Vioscale score	53 / 100low · 49%	69 / 100medium · 59%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	commercial
Price levelpricing.price_level	low	low
Transparentpricing.transparent	✗	✗
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	3	300
Security
Disclosure policysecurity.disclosure_policy	-	✓
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	-	✓
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	6.5
Soc2security.soc2	-	✓
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
Status pagereliability.status_page	✓	✓
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	-	25
Github starsadoption.github_stars	-	12,485
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 · HQ US	Available worldwide

Score

Vioscale score

Google Cloud Pub/Sub53 / 100low · 49%

Redpanda69 / 100medium · 59%

Pricing

Free tier

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

Model

Google Cloud Pub/Subfreemium

Redpandacommercial

Price level

Google Cloud Pub/Sublow

Redpandalow

Transparent

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✗

Redpanda✗

Integrations

Count

Google Cloud Pub/Sub3

Redpanda300

Security

Disclosure policy

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

Redpanda✓

Gdpr

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

Redpanda✓

Scorecard

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

Redpanda6.5

Soc2

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

Redpanda✓

Vulnerabilities

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

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

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

Redpanda99.99

Status page

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

Adoption

Dependent repos

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

Redpanda25

Github stars

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

Redpanda12,485

Activity

Commits last 30d

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

Redpanda100

Release

Cadence days

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

Redpanda6

History

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

Redpanda20 items

Language

Primary

Google Cloud Pub/Sub–

RedpandaC++

Market

Availability

Google Cloud Pub/SubAvailable worldwide · Popular in US · HQ US

RedpandaAvailable worldwide

Capabilities

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

Capability comparison for Message Queues
Capability	Google Cloud Pub/Sub	Redpanda
Core
Messaging paradigm	Pub/sub	Log / streaming
Correctness
Delivery guarantee	At-least-once	At-least-once
Ordering guarantee	Per-key	Per-partition
Durability
Durable replayable log	✓	✓
Message replay / rewind	✓	✓
Interop
Wire protocol	-	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

Google Cloud Pub/SubPub/sub

RedpandaLog / streaming

Correctness

Delivery guarantee

Google Cloud Pub/SubAt-least-once

RedpandaAt-least-once

Ordering guarantee

Google Cloud Pub/SubPer-key

RedpandaPer-partition

Durability

Durable replayable log

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

Message replay / rewind

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

Interop

Wire protocol

Google Cloud Pub/Sub-

RedpandaKafka protocol

Kafka-protocol compatible

Google Cloud Pub/Sub-

Redpanda✓

Scale

Partitioned horizontal scaling

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

Geo / cross-region replication

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

Consumption

Consumer groups / competing consumers

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

Dead-letter queue

Google Cloud Pub/Sub-

Redpanda-

Deployment

Managed cloud offering exists

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

Hosting

Google Cloud Pub/SubCloud only

RedpandaCloud + self-hosted

Processing

Built-in stream processing

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

What each one is

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

Google Cloud Pub/Sub

A cloud-based publish/subscribe messaging system that enables applications to ingest and stream event data at scale with guaranteed delivery, automatic scaling, and built-in replay capabilities. Integrates with data warehouses and stream processing pipelines for real-time analytics.

Independently observed

Redpanda

Leader

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.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

Google Cloud Pub/Sub

from $0.27/moUsage-basedFree tier

Usage-based: $40/TiB throughput, $0.27/GiB-month storage. Free tier: 10 GiB/month throughput.

Standard Pub/Sub$40/TiB throughput + $0.27/GiB-month storage (first 10 GiB throughput free)
- At-least-once message delivery
- Per-key message ordering
- Pull and push delivery modes
- Cross-zone replication
- Automatic scaling and provisioning
- +1 more

as of 2026-08-05verify ↗

Redpanda

Leader

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	Google Cloud Pub/Sub	Redpanda
WebPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✓
Self-hostedDeployment	✗	✓
On-premiseDeployment	✗	✓
HybridDeployment	✗	✓

Platforms

Web

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

CLI

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✓

Redpanda✓

Self-hosted

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✗

Redpanda✓

On-premise

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✗

Redpanda✓

Hybrid

Google Cloud Pub/Sub✗

Redpanda✓

Integrations

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

In common (1)

BigQuery

Google Cloud Pub/Sub

3 total - 2 not shared

Cloud Storage
Dataflow

Independently observed

Redpanda

Leader

9 total - 8 not shared

Kafka
PostgreSQL
Apache Iceberg
Snowflake
Google Cloud Storage
AWS
Google Cloud Platform
Azure

Independently observed

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