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Best Stream Analytics Software in 2026

• 26 apps
• Research read 28 Sept 2026
• How the order is worked out

1. 1

   Arroyo

   Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+2

   Arroyo combines SQL-based streaming, recovery features, and a broad connector list in a self-hostable engine. Plan for a distributed cluster for production use.

   9.0 Open source Visit site
2. 2 E

   Esper

   Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+2

   Choose Esper if you are building Java or .NET software that needs complex event processing with SQL-derived event queries and an embeddable runtime.

   8.9 Free plan Visit site
3. 3 A

   Apache Druid

   Free plan APILinuxMac+2

   Apache Druid is a self-hosted option for real-time analytics across streaming and batch data, with SQL access, a web console, and broad extension support.

   7.6 Open source Visit site
4. 4

   Apache Flink

   Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted

   Apache Flink offers stream and batch processing APIs with operational capabilities for self-hosted deployments.

   7.5 Free plan Visit site
5. 5

   Apache Spark

   Free plan APILinuxMac+2

   Apache Spark combines distributed analytics, SQL, machine learning and multiple deployment options in a free engine.

   7.5 Free plan Visit site
6. 6 A

   Apache Storm

   Free plan APILinuxMac+3

   Apache Storm provides a free, open-source approach to multi-stage stream processing with a range of integrations and deployment modes.

   7.5 Free plan Visit site
7. 7

   Apache Pinot

   by Apache Pinot

   Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb

   Apache Pinot combines multiple ingestion paths with SQL access, client libraries, BI connections, and security controls.

   7.4 Open source Visit site
8. 8

   Apache Samza

   Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted

   Choose Apache Samza if you need a free, self-hosted framework for real-time stream processing with state stores, multiple APIs, and built-in integrations.

   7.4 Free plan Visit site
9. 9 E

   Estuary

   Free plan APILinuxMac+3

   Estuary combines several data integration methods with a large connector catalog and multiple deployment choices. The free tier has clear usage and connector limits, while paid plans start at $100/mo.

   7.3 Free plan · paid from $100/mo · 30-day trial Visit site
10. 10

    Confluent Cloud

    Free plan APILinuxWeb

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

    7.2 Free plan · paid from $385/mo · 30-day trial Visit site
11. 11

    Decodable

    Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb

    Decodable offers real-time pipeline development with multiple languages, management interfaces, and deployment choices.

    7.2 Free plan · paid from $0.12 Visit site
12. 12 K

    Kafka Streams

    Free plan LinuxMacSelf-hosted+1

    Kafka Streams provides stateful processing tools for applications built around Kafka, with deployment options from one machine to distributed workloads.

    7.2 Free plan Visit site
13. 13 L

    Lenses

    Free plan APILinuxMac+3

    Lenses combines Kafka application operations with SQL data exploration, stream preparation, and deployment.

    7.2 Free plan · paid from $4,000/yr Visit site
14. 14

    Materialize

    Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted+1

    Materialize combines incremental SQL processing with managed and self-managed deployment options. Review the Community Edition limits and separate Cloud usage charges before choosing a plan.

    7.2 Free plan · paid from $1.50 · 7-day trial Visit site
15. 15

    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
16. 16 T

    Timeplus

    Free plan APILinuxMac+3

    Timeplus brings streaming SQL, historical data processing, integrations, dashboards, and alerts into a platform with several deployment options.

    7.0 From $199/mo · 14-day trial Visit site
17. 17 P

    Pathway Live Data Framework

    Free plan APISelf-hosted

    Choose Pathway if you need Python or SQL pipelines that combine live data processing with analytics or AI tooling.

    6.8 Free plan Visit site
18. 18 Q

    Quix Streams

    Free plan LinuxSelf-hosted

    Choose Quix Streams if you are building Kafka-based real-time applications in Python and want stateful processing, windowed aggregations or exactly-once guarantees.

    6.8 Open source Visit site
19. 19

    Ververica Platform

    Free plan APISelf-hostedWeb

    Choose Ververica Platform if your enterprise needs stream and batch processing with Flink compatibility and a choice of deployment models.

    6.8 Pricing on request Visit site
20. 20 S

    Siddhi

    Free plan APILinuxMac+2

    Siddhi provides a broad set of event-processing operations, integrations, and deployment options for self-hosted use.

    6.7 Open source Visit site
21. 21

    Tinybird Cloud

    Free plan APIWeb

    Choose Tinybird Cloud if you need managed ClickHouse for real-time analytics or API-served data, and its ingestion and developer tools fit your workflow.

    6.6 Free plan · paid from $25/mo Visit site
22. 22

    Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink

    Paid APIWeb

    Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink combines managed operations with broad language and connector support for streaming workloads.

    5.8 From $0.11 Visit site
23. 23 A

    Alibaba Cloud Realtime Compute for Apache Flink

    Paid Web

    Alibaba Cloud Realtime Compute for Apache Flink combines a SQL interface with several supported programming languages and stream-processing capabilities.

    5.1 Visit site
24. 24

    Azure Stream Analytics

    Paid Web

    Azure Stream Analytics combines streaming, stateful, and SQL processing with event-time windows.

    4.6 Visit site
25. 25 G

    Google Cloud Dataflow

    Paid Web

    Google Cloud Dataflow combines cloud deployment with mixed transformations and support for custom transforms, incremental loading, and change data capture.

    4.3 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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