Report

Should I Use Confluent?

confluent.io·Analyzed 53 minutes ago·Based on 12 sources

Stream, connect, process, and govern your data with a unified Data Streaming Platform built on the heritage of Apache Kafka and Apache Flink.

Depends

Buy only if you run serious real-time data pipelines and have platform engineers to operate them.

Enterprise Kafka streaming: powerful at scale, pricey and complex — small teams should not touch it.

Confidence: Medium

5,720

Companies using it

tracked deployments worldwide

Yes

Free option

self-managed open-source core

$125M

Series D funding

announced round

113+

G2 reviews

product and seller reviews

Value for money

Opaque pricing, hidden cloud costs cited widely

Ease of use

Setup described as not straightforward

Feature depth

Complete streaming stack: Kafka, Flink, connectors, governance

Security posture

Active CVE advisories, trust center, compliance certifications

Pros

Named top event stream processing platform on G2
Full platform: Kafka, Flink, connectors, and governance in one product
Enterprise-grade security, compliance certifications, and a public trust center^⁸
Kafka used by thousands of companies — proven at scale
Well-funded, established vendor with deep Kafka expertise

Cons

Pricing widely called opaque, with hidden cloud costs^³
No easy way to estimate total cost upfront
Setup not straightforward for newcomers^¹
Hourly usage billing makes monthly spend unpredictable^⁵
Teams actively shop for alternatives over cost and complexity¹²

Gotchas

highCloud bills hide costs: egress, connectors, and cluster sizing inflate invoices fast.^³
mediumSelf-managed Platform is 'technically free' but ops overhead and support contracts cost real money.
mediumUsage-based hourly billing; easy to overspend before you notice.^⁵
mediumDeep Kafka coupling creates migration pain if pricing outgrows your budget.¹²

Best for

Real-time data streaming at enterprise scale
Event-driven microservices architectures
Teams standardizing on Kafka and Flink
Organizations needing data stream governance

Not for

Small teams needing a simple message queue
Companies without dedicated data-platform engineers
Budget-sensitive startups fearing unpredictable usage bills
Simple batch ETL jobs — cheaper tools exist

Companies that use it

Audacy
Glean

Pricing

Confluent Platform

'Technically free' open-source components; paid enterprise licensing

Self-managed Kafka distribution
Enterprise security and support add-ons

Confluent Cloud

Usage-based, billed hourly

Fully managed Kafka and Flink
Pay-per-use, no upfront commitment

Security

Mature enterprise security program: publishes CVE advisories, maintains a trust center, holds compliance certifications.

CVE-2024-56128 — Kafka SCRAM authentication flawIncorrect authentication algorithm implementation in Kafka's SCRAM; remediated by upgrading Confluent Platform.^⁶
CVE-2021-38153 — Timing attacksKafka vulnerability enabling timing attacks, addressed via Confluent security bulletin.^⁷