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Best Event Streaming Platforms in 2026

Event streaming platforms carry data produced as events between the systems that create, process, and consume it. The entries are ordered by rank, with RisingWave, Aiven for Apache Kafka, and Apache Pulsar among those near the top. Compared on deployment model and delivery guarantee, they also show connectors, supported client languages, and maximum retention. Check whether stream processing and a schema registry are listed for the workflows you have in mind. Free-plan availability and paid-from pricing add cost context; deployment preferences and retention needs can help narrow what to compare.

27 apps
Research read 23 Sept 2026
How the order is worked out

1

Aiven for Apache Kafka

Free plan Open source APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

Aiven for Apache Kafka combines managed operations with storage, monitoring, and integration features. Check the plan limits and cloud availability against your workload before choosing a tier.

9.3 Free plan · paid from $35/mo · 30-day trial Visit site
2

Apache RocketMQ

Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+2

Apache RocketMQ offers a broad set of messaging patterns and deployment options as self-hosted open-source middleware.

9.1 Open source Visit site
3

Apache Pulsar

Free plan APILinuxMac+2

Apache Pulsar combines messaging, streaming, connectors and serverless processing in a self-hosted platform.

7.5 Free plan Visit site
4

Apache Kafka

Free plan APISelf-hosted

Choose Apache Kafka if you need a free, open-source stream-processing system that supports stateful processing and event-time windows and can be self-hosted.

7.3 Open source Visit site
5

Confluent Cloud

Free plan APILinuxWeb

Confluent Cloud combines managed Kafka streaming with connectors, stream processing, and governance options.

7.3 Free plan · paid from $385/mo · 30-day trial Visit site
6

DataStax Astra Streaming

Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb

A free option and broad connector support make Astra Streaming relevant to teams building Pulsar-based streaming systems.

7.2 Free plan Visit site
7

Lightstreamer

Free plan AndroidAPIiPhone+5

Lightstreamer offers real-time delivery controls, a range of integration options, and both on-premises and cloud deployment.

7.2 Free plan · pricing on request Visit site
8

Redpanda

Free plan APILinuxMac+3

Choose Redpanda if your team needs replayable event streams through a Kafka-compatible API and wants managed or self-managed deployment choices.

7.1 30-day trial Visit site
9

RisingWave

Free plan APILinuxMac+2

RisingWave combines SQL access with incremental streaming views and an exactly-once processing guarantee.

7.1 From $0.23 · 7-day trial Visit site
10

Solace PubSub+ Event Broker

Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

PubSub+ Event Broker combines cross-environment routing with several messaging protocols and deployment forms.

7.0 Free plan · 30-day trial Visit site
11

Pravega

Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted

Pravega provides free, self-hosted stream storage with retention, scaling, and transaction capabilities.

6.7 Free plan Visit site
12

AutoMQ

Free trial APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

Consider AutoMQ if you need Kafka-compatible streaming with multiple deployment options and object-storage support.

6.4 From $300/mo · 30-day trial Visit site
13

IBM Event Streams

Free plan Web

6.0 Free plan Visit site
14

Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka

Paid APILinuxWeb

Choose Amazon MSK if you are building Kafka based streaming applications on AWS and want managed cluster operations with Provisioned or Serverless options.

5.9 Visit site
15

Amazon Kinesis Data Streams

Paid APIWeb

Kinesis Data Streams is designed for continuous ingestion and downstream processing, with consumer fan-out, extended retention, and AWS service integrations.

5.7 From $0.03 Visit site
16

StreamNative

Free trial APISelf-hostedWeb

StreamNative combines real-time data services with lakehouse writing, connectors, and agent context. Compare deployment choices and the Serverless throughput limit with your workload needs.

5.7 From $73/mo Visit site
17

Keen Product Analytics

Paid AndroidAPIiPhone+1

Keen offers event collection, inspection, querying, and embedded dashboards, with plan limits stated for Team and Business.

5.6 From $149/mo Visit site
18

Wisembly

Paid AndroidiPhoneWeb

Choose Wisembly if your event needs planning, attendee engagement, reporting, or in-person QR-code check-in in one platform.

5.2 From €79/mo Visit site
19

Hadron

Paid Self-hosted

Choose Hadron if you need self-hosted event storage with ordered, immutable Streams and multi-stage Pipelines in Kubernetes.

5.0 Open source Visit site
20

StreamHouse

Paid APISelf-hostedWeb

Choose StreamHouse if you want a self-hostable event streaming system with SQL pipelines that can continuously feed Postgres. Its schema management and monitoring are built into the same system.

4.9 Open source Visit site
21

Alibaba Cloud Message Queue for Apache Kafka

Paid Web

The service pairs stream processing and at-least-once delivery with several client-language options. Compare its billing structures carefully, since no plan prices are provided.

4.8 Visit site
22

Azure Event Hubs

Paid Web

Event Hubs offers several plan tiers and broad client-language support, with limits that vary by tier.

4.8 30-day trial Visit site
23

Google Cloud Managed Service for Apache Kafka

Paid Web

The service pairs managed Kafka capabilities with stream processing, schema registration and exactly-once delivery.

4.5 From $0.09 Visit site
24

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Streaming

Paid Web

Oracle Cloud Infrastructure Streaming offers web-based cloud stream processing with several supported client languages and at-least-once delivery.

4.3 30-day trial Visit site
25

Huawei Cloud Distributed Message Service for Kafka

Paid Web

4.2 Visit site

#1Places #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 on this list can be bought by the makers of the software on it. See the price

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