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Apache Kafka VS Dapr

Compare Apache Kafka VS Dapr and see what are their differences

Apache Kafka logo Apache Kafka

Apache Kafka is an open-source message broker project developed by the Apache Software Foundation written in Scala.

Dapr logo Dapr

Application and Data, Build, Test, Deploy, and Microservices Tools
  • Apache Kafka Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-10-01
  • Dapr Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-22

Apache Kafka features and specs

  • High Throughput
    Kafka is capable of handling thousands of messages per second due to its distributed architecture, making it suitable for applications that require high throughput.
  • Scalability
    Kafka can easily scale horizontally by adding more brokers to a cluster, making it highly scalable to serve increased loads.
  • Fault Tolerance
    Kafka has built-in replication, ensuring that data is replicated across multiple brokers, providing fault tolerance and high availability.
  • Durability
    Kafka ensures data durability by writing data to disk, which can be replicated to other nodes, ensuring data is not lost even if a broker fails.
  • Real-time Processing
    Kafka supports real-time data streaming, enabling applications to process and react to data as it arrives.
  • Decoupling of Systems
    Kafka acts as a buffer and decouples the production and consumption of messages, allowing independent scaling and management of producers and consumers.
  • Wide Ecosystem
    The Kafka ecosystem includes various tools and connectors such as Kafka Streams, Kafka Connect, and KSQL, which enrich the functionality of Kafka.
  • Strong Community Support
    Kafka has strong community support and extensive documentation, making it easier for developers to find help and resources.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Kafka

  • Complex Setup and Management
    Kafka's distributed nature can make initial setup and ongoing management complex, requiring expert knowledge and significant administrative effort.
  • Operational Overhead
    Running Kafka clusters involves additional operational overhead, including hardware provisioning, monitoring, tuning, and scaling.
  • Latency Sensitivity
    Despite its high throughput, Kafka may experience increased latency in certain scenarios, especially when configured for high durability and consistency.
  • Learning Curve
    The concepts and architecture of Kafka can be difficult for new users to grasp, leading to a steep learning curve.
  • Hardware Intensive
    Kafka's performance characteristics often require dedicated and powerful hardware, which can be costly to procure and maintain.
  • Dependency Management
    Managing Kafka's dependencies and ensuring compatibility between versions of Kafka, Zookeeper, and other ecosystem tools can be challenging.
  • Limited Support for Small Messages
    Kafka is optimized for large throughput and can be inefficient for applications that require handling a lot of small messages, where overhead can become significant.
  • Operational Complexity for Small Teams
    Smaller teams might find the operational complexity and maintenance burden of Kafka difficult to manage without a dedicated operations or DevOps team.

Dapr features and specs

  • Platform Agnostic
    Dapr is platform agnostic, which means it can run on any cloud or on-premise environment, allowing developers to build applications without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
  • Language Neutral
    Developers can build applications using any programming language that supports HTTP/gRPC, providing flexibility in choosing technologies that match their expertise or the project's requirements.
  • Microservices Ready
    Dapr is designed to support the microservices architecture, providing building blocks like service invocation, state management, and publish/subscribe messaging, which simplify managing microservices at scale.
  • Extensible
    Dapr supports extensible components and can be easily integrated with multiple services and custom extensions, enhancing functionality and adaptability in various environments and use cases.
  • Built-in Best Practices
    Dapr encapsulates best practices for cloud-native application development, enabling developers to focus more on business logic than infrastructure concerns.

Possible disadvantages of Dapr

  • Learning Curve
    For developers new to distributed systems or Dapr, there can be a significant learning curve to understand how to effectively use Dapr’s features and deploy it in production environments.
  • Dependency on External System
    Using Dapr introduces an additional dependency, which means applications are tightly coupled with the Dapr runtime. This can add complexity to debugging and require consideration during system upgrades and maintenance.
  • Performance Overhead
    Because Dapr abstracts many aspects of application development, it can introduce performance overhead, particularly in high-performance applications where every microsecond counts.
  • Community and Ecosystem Maturity
    As a relatively young project, Dapr’s community and ecosystem might not be as mature or extensive as other established frameworks, which could lead to limited support resources or third-party integrations.
  • Operational Complexity
    Deploying and managing multiple Dapr services could lead to increased operational complexity, requiring dedicated effort in DevOps setup and automated monitoring and logging.

Apache Kafka videos

Apache Kafka Tutorial | What is Apache Kafka? | Kafka Tutorial for Beginners | Edureka

More videos:

  • Review - Apache Kafka - Getting Started - Kafka Multi-node Cluster - Review Properties
  • Review - 4. Apache Kafka Fundamentals | Confluent Fundamentals for Apache Kafka®
  • Review - Apache Kafka in 6 minutes
  • Review - Apache Kafka Explained (Comprehensive Overview)
  • Review - 2. Motivations and Customer Use Cases | Apache Kafka Fundamentals

Dapr videos

Dapr. Hair Pomade - Overview

More videos:

  • Review - Outstanding Indian Hair Products Episode 2 - DAPR | GIVEAWAY
  • Review - REVIEW OF DAPR HAIR POMADE || UNBOXING DAPR || USING DAPR HAIR POMADE | WOW FRAGRANCE | MISTER BAGGA

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Apache Kafka and Dapr)
Stream Processing
92 92%
8% 8
Monitoring Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Data Integration
90 90%
10% 10
Web Service Automation
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Apache Kafka and Dapr

Apache Kafka Reviews

Best ETL Tools: A Curated List
Debezium is an open-source Change Data Capture (CDC) tool that originated from RedHat. It leverages Apache Kafka and Kafka Connect to enable real-time data replication from databases. Debezium was partly inspired by Martin Kleppmann’s "Turning the Database Inside Out" concept, which emphasized the power of the CDC for modern data pipelines.
Source: estuary.dev
Best message queue for cloud-native apps
If you take the time to sort out the history of message queues, you will find a very interesting phenomenon. Most of the currently popular message queues were born around 2010. For example, Apache Kafka was born at LinkedIn in 2010, Derek Collison developed Nats in 2010, and Apache Pulsar was born at Yahoo in 2012. What is the reason for this?
Source: docs.vanus.ai
Are Free, Open-Source Message Queues Right For You?
Apache Kafka is a highly scalable and robust messaging queue system designed by LinkedIn and donated to the Apache Software Foundation. It's ideal for real-time data streaming and processing, providing high throughput for publishing and subscribing to records or messages. Kafka is typically used in scenarios that require real-time analytics and monitoring, IoT applications,...
Source: blog.iron.io
10 Best Open Source ETL Tools for Data Integration
It is difficult to anticipate the exact demand for open-source tools in 2023 because it depends on various factors and emerging trends. However, open-source solutions such as Kubernetes for container orchestration, TensorFlow for machine learning, Apache Kafka for real-time data streaming, and Prometheus for monitoring and observability are expected to grow in prominence in...
Source: testsigma.com
11 Best FREE Open-Source ETL Tools in 2024
Apache Kafka is an Open-Source Data Streaming Tool written in Scala and Java. It publishes and subscribes to a stream of records in a fault-tolerant manner and provides a unified, high-throughput, and low-latency platform to manage data.
Source: hevodata.com

Dapr Reviews

We have no reviews of Dapr yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Apache Kafka should be more popular than Dapr. It has been mentiond 144 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Apache Kafka mentions (144)

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Dapr mentions (51)

  • Building immutable collection dynamically in Kotlin
    We decided to use Azure Container Apps as a managed Kubernetes platform because it offers everything we need for our project, with acceptable limitations. During the process, we realised that Microsoft includes managed Dapr as part of the service—and we decided to use it. Why? I explain below—and I still don't regret it. - Source: dev.to / 20 days ago
  • Speed Up Microservices Development with Dapr on AWS EK
    In this blog, we will explore how the open-source Dapr (Distributed Application Runtime) can assist us in building reliable and secure distributed applications. Dapr provides a set of building blocks for common microservice patterns, such as service invocation (calling services), state management (handling data), and pub/sub messaging (publish/subscribe communication), which can significantly reduce the... - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Dapr in the cloud with Catalyst public beta
    I've been playing with this thing recently called Dapr (you can blame @marcduiker for me finding out about the project). - Source: dev.to / 8 months ago
  • Microservices Architecture Using Azure Container APPS & DAPR & KEDA
    In the demo application architecture deployed into Azure Container Apps, we leverage Dapr for its distributed application runtime capabilities. Before diving into Dapr, let's refresh one of the design patterns called the Sidecar pattern, as Dapr is deployed as a sidecar. For more details, you can visit the Dapr website. - Source: dev.to / 9 months ago
  • Scaling Sidecars to Zero in Kubernetes
    The sidecar pattern in Kubernetes describes a single pod containing a container in which a main app sits. A helper container (the sidecar) is deployed alongside a main app container within the same pod. This pattern allows each container to focus on a single aspect of the overall functionality, improving the maintainability and scalability of apps deployed in Kubernetes environments. From gathering metrics to... - Source: dev.to / 12 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Apache Kafka and Dapr, you can also consider the following products

RabbitMQ - RabbitMQ is an open source message broker software.

Akka - Build powerful reactive, concurrent, and distributed applications in Java and Scala

Histats - Start tracking your visitors in 1 minute!

StatCounter - StatCounter is a simple but powerful real-time web analytics service that helps you track, analyse and understand your visitors so you can make good decisions to become more successful online.

MassTransit - A free, open-source distributed application framework for .NET.

Apache ActiveMQ - Apache ActiveMQ is an open source messaging and integration patterns server.