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Confluent Cloud vs. Google Cloud Managed Service for Apache Kafka®

Managed services for Apache Kafka®, the industry standard for data streaming, now has a growing presence on Google Cloud, as more businesses seek to offload Kafka burdens.

This page provides a comparison between Confluent Cloud, built by Confluent - a 5-time Google Cloud Technology Partner of the Year winner - and Google’s new managed Kafka service.

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Confluent Cloud vs. Google Cloud Managed Service for Apache Kafka

What is Confluent Cloud?

Built in 2018 by the original creators of Kafka, Confluent Cloud offers a complete data streaming platform with fully managed Apache Kafka® and a comprehensive suite of enterprise security, governance and developer productivity features.

It is available through the Google Cloud Marketplace and is deeply integrated with Google Cloud’s ecosystem.

What is Google Could Managed Service for Apache Kafka?

Announced at Google Cloud Next and previewed in June 2024, Google Cloud Managed Service for Apache Kafka is Google Cloud’s native service analogous to CloudSQL for Postgres and Dataproc for Apache Spark.

It is an easily accessible first-party service that offers core Kafka features.

At a Glance: Confluent Cloud vs. Google Cloud Managed Service for Apache Kafka

Although Confluent Cloud and Google Cloud Managed Service for Apache Kafka both offer Kafka services on Google Cloud, there are key distinctions in their operational complexity, deployment flexibility and developer productivity features. What are the primary differences between Confluent Cloud and Google Could Managed Service for Apache Kafka?

		Google Cloud Managed Service for Apache Kafka
Operations	Fully-managed and Serverless Instant cluster provisioning and scaling without sizing needs. Automated capacity management, load balancing, and upgrades with 99.99% SLA.	User-managed provisioning Managed service that provisions and runs Kafka clusters in GCP; users are responsible for managing cluster capacity and configuration. No SLA at preview.
GCP Integration	Strategic Partner with Deep Integration Unified security, management and operations. Connector integrations to multiple Google Cloud services. Streamlined billing with Google Cloud Marketplace.	First-party solution Natively integrated with Google Cloud APIs, security and networking. Covered by Google Cloud terms of service.
Deployment	Flexible Deployment Methods Multi-cloud deployments across AWS, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure; On-premise deployments via Confluent Platform; Hybrid deployments offer high flexibility.	Google Cloud Only Currently only available on Google Cloud.
Support	Deep Kafka-focused Expertise Built and supported by the original creators and top contributors to Apache Kafka with 3 million+ hours of Kafka support expertise.	Integrated with Google Cloud Support Google Cloud offers broad support for 100+ first-party services including Apache Kafka for BigQuery.
Ecosystem	Complete Data Streaming Platform 80+ fully managed connectors (including 7 Google Cloud services), fully managed Apache Flink®, and industry's first Stream Governance suite.	Unified Data & AI Platform Unified Data and AI Analytics platform integrating GCP proprietary and open-source services.