Best Kafka Streams Alternatives in 2026

Updated October 2026

20 platforms from stream processing software ranked against Kafka Streams on the same published basis.

1
Confluent Cloud Free plan apiLinuxWeb $385/mo7.8
Kafka Streams vs Confluent Cloud
2
Materialize Free plan apiLinuxself-hostedWeb $0.13/mo7.8
Kafka Streams vs Materialize
3
Timeplus Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb $199/mo7.8
Kafka Streams vs Timeplus
4
AFL++ Free plan AndroidLinuxMacself-hostedWin €1666.67/mo7.3
Kafka Streams vs AFL++
5
Apache Storm Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb Free7.3
Kafka Streams vs Apache Storm
6
Feldera Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb Free7.3
Kafka Streams vs Feldera
7
Apache Beam Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb Free7.2
Kafka Streams vs Apache Beam
8
Apache NiFi Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb Free7.2
Kafka Streams vs Apache NiFi
9
Arroyo Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb Free7.2
Kafka Streams vs Arroyo
10
Esper Free plan apiLinuxself-hostedWin Free7.2
Kafka Streams vs Esper
12
RisingWave Free trial apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb $0.23/mo7.2
Kafka Streams vs RisingWave
13
Hazelcast Platform Free trial apiLinuxMacself-hostedWin 7.1
Kafka Streams vs Hazelcast Platform
14
Apache Samza Free plan apiLinuxself-hosted Free7.0
Kafka Streams vs Apache Samza
15
Pathway Live Data Framework Free plan apiself-hosted Free7.0
Kafka Streams vs Pathway Live Data Framework
16
Apache Spark Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWin Free6.9
Kafka Streams vs Apache Spark
17
Apache Flink Free plan apiLinuxself-hosted Free6.8
Kafka Streams vs Apache Flink
18
Siddhi apiLinuxMacself-hostedWin 6.7
Kafka Streams vs Siddhi
19
Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink apiWeb 6.1
Kafka Streams vs Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink
20
Timely Dataflow self-hosted 6.1
Kafka Streams vs Timely Dataflow
21
Apache Heron Linuxself-hosted 5.9
Kafka Streams vs Apache Heron

Kafka Streams alternatives compared

#	Platform	Score	Free plan	From	Runs on
1	Confluent Cloud	7.8	Free plan	$385/mo	API, Linux, Web
2	Materialize	7.8	Free plan	$0.13/mo	API, Linux, self-hosted, Web
3	Timeplus	7.8	Free plan	$199/mo	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows
4	AFL++	7.3	Free plan	€1666.67/mo	Android, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows
5	Apache Storm	7.3	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows
6	Feldera	7.3	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows
7	Apache Beam	7.2	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows
8	Apache NiFi	7.2	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows
9	Arroyo	7.2	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web
10	Esper	7.2	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, self-hosted, Windows
12	RisingWave	7.2	No	$0.23/mo	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web
13	Hazelcast Platform	7.1	No	—	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows
14	Apache Samza	7.0	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, self-hosted
15	Pathway Live Data Framework	7.0	Free plan	Free	API, self-hosted
16	Apache Spark	6.9	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows
17	Apache Flink	6.8	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, self-hosted
18	Siddhi	6.7	No	—	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows
19	Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink	6.1	No	—	API, Web
20	Timely Dataflow	6.1	No	—	self-hosted
21	Apache Heron	5.9	No	—	Linux, self-hosted

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Questions about Kafka Streams alternatives

What is the best alternative to Kafka Streams?

Confluent Cloud, number 1 in stream processing software with a score of 7.8 out of 10. The others here: Materialize, Timeplus, AFL++ and 16 more.

What is the best free alternative to Kafka Streams?

Confluent Cloud is the best-ranked alternative with a free plan. 14 of the 20 alternatives here publish a free plan on their own pricing pages.

How are these alternatives ranked?

Ranked on how quickly a newcomer can get going: documentation depth, a free tier or trial, and the platforms it runs on.