Best Kafka Streams Alternatives in 2026

Updated October 2026

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

1
AFL++ Free plan AndroidLinuxMacself-hostedWin €1666.67/mo6.6
Kafka Streams vs AFL++
2
Apache Beam Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb Free6.6
Kafka Streams vs Apache Beam
3
Apache NiFi Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb Free6.6
Kafka Streams vs Apache NiFi
4
Apache Storm Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb Free6.6
Kafka Streams vs Apache Storm
5
Feldera Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb Free6.6
Kafka Streams vs Feldera
7
Timeplus Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb $199/mo6.6
Kafka Streams vs Timeplus
8
Apache Spark Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWin Free6.5
Kafka Streams vs Apache Spark
9
Arroyo Free plan apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb Free6.5
Kafka Streams vs Arroyo
10
Confluent Cloud Free plan apiLinuxWeb $385/mo6.5
Kafka Streams vs Confluent Cloud
11
Esper Free plan apiLinuxself-hostedWin Free6.5
Kafka Streams vs Esper
12
Materialize Free plan apiLinuxself-hostedWeb $0.13/mo6.5
Kafka Streams vs Materialize
13
Apache Flink Free plan apiLinuxself-hosted Free6.4
Kafka Streams vs Apache Flink
14
Apache Samza Free plan apiLinuxself-hosted Free6.4
Kafka Streams vs Apache Samza
15
Pathway Live Data Framework Free plan apiself-hosted Free6.3
Kafka Streams vs Pathway Live Data Framework
16
RisingWave Free trial apiLinuxMacself-hostedWeb $0.23/mo5.6
Kafka Streams vs RisingWave
17
Siddhi apiLinuxMacself-hostedWin 5.6
Kafka Streams vs Siddhi
18
Hazelcast Platform Free trial apiLinuxMacself-hostedWin 5.5
Kafka Streams vs Hazelcast Platform
19
Apache Heron Linuxself-hosted 5.3
Kafka Streams vs Apache Heron
20
Apache Kafka 5.2
Kafka Streams vs Apache Kafka
21
Timely Dataflow self-hosted 5.2
Kafka Streams vs Timely Dataflow

Kafka Streams alternatives compared

#	App	Score	Free plan	From	Runs on
1	AFL++	6.6	Free plan	€1666.67/mo	Android, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows
2	Apache Beam	6.6	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows
3	Apache NiFi	6.6	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows
4	Apache Storm	6.6	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows
5	Feldera	6.6	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows
7	Timeplus	6.6	Free plan	$199/mo	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows
8	Apache Spark	6.5	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows
9	Arroyo	6.5	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web
10	Confluent Cloud	6.5	Free plan	$385/mo	API, Linux, Web
11	Esper	6.5	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, self-hosted, Windows
12	Materialize	6.5	Free plan	$0.13/mo	API, Linux, self-hosted, Web
13	Apache Flink	6.4	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, self-hosted
14	Apache Samza	6.4	Free plan	Free	API, Linux, self-hosted
15	Pathway Live Data Framework	6.3	Free plan	Free	API, self-hosted
16	RisingWave	5.6	No	$0.23/mo	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web
17	Siddhi	5.6	No	—	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows
18	Hazelcast Platform	5.5	No	—	API, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Windows
19	Apache Heron	5.3	No	—	Linux, self-hosted
20	Apache Kafka	5.2	No	—	—
21	Timely Dataflow	5.2	No	—	self-hosted

Make your app an alternative to Kafka Streams

The sponsored alternative slot on this page is labelled Sponsored.

See the price

Questions about Kafka Streams alternatives

What is the best alternative to Kafka Streams?

AFL++, number 1 in stream processing software with a score of 6.6 out of 10. The others here: Apache Beam, Apache NiFi, Apache Storm and 16 more.

What is the best free alternative to Kafka Streams?

AFL++ 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 free-and-open first: a usable free tier and open-source code, then the platforms it runs on and its documentation.