Confluent vs SAP Data Services comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide
Executive Summary

We performed a comparison between Confluent and SAP Data Services based on real PeerSpot user reviews.

Find out in this report how the two Streaming Analytics solutions compare in terms of features, pricing, service and support, easy of deployment, and ROI.
To learn more, read our detailed Confluent vs. SAP Data Services Report (Updated: July 2023).
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Featured Review
Quotes From Members
We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use.
Here are some excerpts of what they said:
Pros
"One of the best features of Confluent is that it's very easy to search and have a live status with Jira.""Confluence's greatest asset is its user-friendly interface, coupled with its remarkable ability to seamlessly integrate with a vast range of other solutions.""I would rate the scalability of the solution at eight out of ten. We have 20 people who use Confluent in our organization now, and we hope to increase usage in the future.""The most valuable is its capability to enhance the documentation process, particularly when creating software documentation.""The monitoring module is impressive.""A person with a good IT background and HTML will not have any trouble with Confluent.""The design of the product is extremely well built and it is highly configurable.""The documentation process is fast with the tool."

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"You can always manipulate a lot of things as long as you have the skill level.""It is a powerful product with a broad range of features.""The most valuable features of SAP Data Services lie in its ability to effectively observe and interpret the information within data related to people or facts, stands out.""I have worked with Data Services for a long time, and currently, I find the dashboarding and reporting part to be the most valuable function.""It's easy to understand and deploy. It's easy to create new applications, and depending on the complexity of the application, it is easy to deploy the new requirements.""The logic is also simple. It makes it easy to build your extraction.""The maintenance of data services is the solution's most valuable feature.""The most valuable feature is the logging capability."

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Cons
"Confluence could improve the server version of the solution. However, most companies are going to the cloud.""In Confluent, there could be a few more VPN options.""The pricing model should include the ability to pick features and be charged for them only.""The Schema Registry service could be improved. I would like a bigger knowledge base of other use cases and more technical forums. It would be good to have more flexible monitoring features added to the next release as well.""Areas for improvement include implementing multi-storage support to differentiate between database stores based on data age and optimizing storage costs.""Confluent's price needs improvement.""They should remove Zookeeper because of security issues.""there is room for improvement in the visualization."

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"The pricing of the solution should be improved.""They could make it easier to work with web services.""Some of the jobs that are built within Data Services require local files, and during initial deployment, those local files cannot be transported between machines simply because of security issues.""An area for improvement in SAP Data Services could involve making the product more accessible to non-technical end-users.""Integration with other products could be improved.""We would like the different tools offered within this solution to be available as standalone entities, rather than having to purchase the entire package when we only require a few features.""Scheduling of jobs in the sequence is not available. It's a very tedious process to do that particular task. If there was a tool to schedule in the sequence that would be extremely helpful.""The solution could improve the overall features. There is a lot that can be done in the solution, therefor there are areas where it can improve. Additionally, there is a need to make it easier for one to create connections to other non-SAP systems. The flexibility to connect to other non-SAP systems is needed."

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Pricing and Cost Advice
  • "Confluent is expensive, I would prefer, Apache Kafka over Confluent because of the high cost of maintenance."
  • "You have to pay additional for one or two features."
  • "The pricing model of Confluent could improve because if you have a classic use case where you're going to use all the features there is no plan to reduce the features. You should be able to pick and choose basic services at a reduced price. The pricing was high for our needs. We should not have to pay for features we do not use."
  • "On a scale from one to ten, where one is low pricing and ten is high pricing, I would rate Confluent's pricing at five. I have not encountered any additional costs."
  • "Confluence's pricing is quite reasonable, with a cost of around $10 per user that decreases as the number of users increases. Additionally, it's worth noting that for teams of up to 10 users, the solution is completely free."
  • "Confluent has a yearly license, which is a bit high because it's on a per-user basis."
  • "It comes with a high cost."
  • "Confluent is highly priced."
  • More Confluent Pricing and Cost Advice →

  • "Pricing is good, there is no problem."
  • "The pricing is a little high to make the product more competetive in the marketplace."
  • "Its pricing is as per the enterprise agreement and not a concern for us."
  • "The price is very reasonable."
  • "There is a one time purchase fee plus annual maintenance."
  • "The price of SAP Data Services is a little high when compared to other solutions. Due to the pricing and capabilities, many clients are switching to other solutions."
  • "At the entry level, if you're using it only for data integration, it is a little bit cheap. However, for large organizations it can be expensive. There are additional costs apart from the license."
  • "The license price is expensive but medium to large-scale companies, should be able to afford it. Other solutions, such as Talend are easier to afford for smaller companies. Depending on the sources of the data where you are receiving your data you could be paying for more than one license."
  • More SAP Data Services Pricing and Cost Advice →

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    Questions from the Community
    Top Answer:Implementing Confluent's schema registry has significantly enhanced our organization's data quality assurance.
    Top Answer:Confluent has a higher price than MSK. However, it delivers better features for tech stack requirements. For instance, its superior integration capabilities have proven essential, particularly in… more »
    Top Answer:Confluent's price needs improvement.
    Top Answer: I believe the license for the product is fair, even though some competitors offer similar services at lower prices. The difference between the Edge edition and the next one up is significant in price… more »
    Top Answer: I think after some preparation, a beginner will be able to use SAP Data Services, however, if you are completely unprepared, you may have some issues. I think that in particular you will need a more… more »
    Top Answer:SAP Data Services has helped our whole staff understand the data across various sources and systems within the company. Not everyone who works at my organization is an IT expert - most just have… more »
    Ranking
    3rd
    out of 38 in Streaming Analytics
    Views
    10,449
    Comparisons
    8,119
    Reviews
    10
    Average Words per Review
    396
    Rating
    8.5
    10th
    out of 94 in Data Integration
    Views
    7,236
    Comparisons
    5,716
    Reviews
    14
    Average Words per Review
    514
    Rating
    8.2
    Comparisons
    Also Known As
    SAP BusinessObjects Data Services, SAP BusinessObjects Data Integrator, BusinessObjects Data Integrator
    Learn More
    Overview

    Confluent is an enterprise-ready, full-scale streaming platform that enhances Apache Kafka. 

    Confluent has integrated cutting-edge features that are designed to enhance these tasks: 

    • Speed up application development and connectivity
    • Enable transformations through stream processing
    • Streamline business operations at scale
    • Adhere to strict architectural standards

    Confluent is a more complete distribution of Kafka in that it enhances the integration possibilities of Kafka by introducing tools for managing and optimizing Kafka clusters while providing methods for making sure the streams are secure. Confluent supports publish-and-subscribe as well as the storing and processing of data within the streams. Kafka is easier to operate and build thanks to Confluent.

    Confluent's software is available in three different varieties: 

    1. A free, open-source streaming platform that makes it simple to start using real-time data streams
    2. An enterprise-grade version of the product with more administrative, ops, and monitoring tools
    3. A premium cloud-based version.

    Confluent Advantage Features

    Confluent has many valuable key features. Some of the most useful ones include:

    • Multi-language

      • Clients: C++, Python, Go, and .NET
      • REST proxy: Can connect to Kafka from any connected network device
      • Admin REST APIs: RESTful interface for performing administrator operations
    • Pre-built ecosystem

      • Connectors: More than 100 supported connectors, including S3, Elastic, HDFS, JDBC
      • MQTT proxy: Gain access to Kafka from MQTT gateways and devices
      • Schema registry: Centralized database to guarantee data compatibility
    • Streaming database

      • ksqlDB: Materialized views and real-time stream processing
    • GUI management 

      • Control panel: GUI for scalable Kafka management and monitoring
      • Health+: Smart alerts and cloud-based control centers
    • DevOps automation that is flexible

      • Confluent for Kubernetes: Complete API to deploy on Kubernetes
      • Automated Ansible deployment on non-containerized environments
    • Dynamic performance 

      • Self-balancing clusters: Automated partition re-balancing across brokers in the cluster
      • Tiered storage: Older Kafka data offloading to object storage with transparent access
    • Security that is enterprise-grade 

      • Role-based access control: Granular user/group access authorization
      • Audit logs that are structured: Logs of user actions kept in dedicated Kafka topics
      • Secret protection: Sensitive information is encrypted
    • Global resilience

      • Linking clusters: A real-time, highly reliable, and consistent bridge across on-premises and cloud environments
      • Multiple-region clusters: Single Kafka cluster with automated client failover distributed across multiple data centers
      • Replicator: Asynchronous replication that is based on the Kafka Connect framework
    • Support

      • Round the clock enterprise support from Kafka experts

    Reviews from Real Users

    Confluent stands out among its competitors for a number of reasons. Two major ones are its robust enterprise support and its open source option. PeerSpot users take note of the advantages of these features in their reviews: 

    Ravi B., a solutions architect at a tech services company, writes of the solution, “KSQL is a valuable feature, as is the Kafka Connect framework for connecting to the various source systems where you need not write the code. We get great support from Confluent because we're using the enterprise version and whenever there's a problem, they support us with fine-tuning and finding the root cause.”

    Amit S., an IT consultant, notes, “The biggest benefit is that it is open source. You have the flexibility of opting or not opting for enterprise support, even though the tool itself is open source.” He adds, “The second benefit is it's very modern and built on Java and Scala. You can extend the features very well, and it doesn't take a lot of effort to do so.”

    SAP Data Services is a top-ranking data integration and data quality tool. This is a product that aims to provide its users with effective access to their data in order to transform it and connect it to various business processes. SAP Data Services offers companies detailed data insights which improve decision-making and make company operations more effective.

    Organizations can increase the value of their structured and unstructured data with the functionalities of this product regarding data integration, quality, and cleansing. Through various components such as:

    • Simplified maintenance
    • On-premises deployment
    • Data quality and integration
    • Intuitive user interfaces

    the product transforms data into a ready-to-use resource for business insights.

    Some of the key components of SAP Data Services include:

    • Universal data access
    • Native-text data processing
    • Intuitive user interfaces
    • Data quality dashboards
    • Simplified data governance
    • Scalability and high performance

    Through these components, the product allows its clients to access and integrate data sources and targets with native connectors. Users can derive meaning from unstructured text data, match data to reduce duplicates, and see the impact of data quality issues. The tool also offers the option to enable parallel processing, bulk data loading, and grid computing for high-volume data loads.

    SAP Data Services Features

    The solution has different features for data integration, data quality, data profiling, and processing of text data. Using these features, clients can manage their company's data easily and achieve excellent results by optimizing it. Some of the product’s features include:

    • Data integration capabilities: The features regarding data integration provide a wide variety of opportunities. The product is available in 31 languages and connects to many data sources, providing its clients with access to their data anywhere at any time. It is also integrated with the SAP Business Suite applications, allowing users the full experience that the company has to offer. The tool is interconnected with SAP Data Hub, orchestrating data flows through the SAP Data Intelligence solution. Additionally, it supports a large number of third-party data sources, it is optimized for SAP HANA, and provides fine-tuned data replication and transformation through unique mechanisms.

    • Data quality capabilities: Clients can use a single interface to access designing, testing, debugging, editing, running, maintaining, and monitoring of data integration and data quality. It allows for the delivery of ready-to-use transformations and exposes hidden problems in users' data. With this feature, clients can build a single version of their data that is most efficient for them.

    • Data profiling capabilities: Companies that work with high-volume data can employ parallel processing, bulk data loading, and grid computing to be able to operate with the data more efficiently. This feature enables unlimited scalability and high availability by various automations. It also provides excellent security for the treated data through encryption and other services.

    • Processing of text data capabilities: This feature allows users to extract data from unstructured texts and understand it better. It works with 220 different file and text formats and 31 languages.

    SAP Data Services Benefits

    This solution offers various benefits to its clients regarding the efficient operation of their data. The key benefits of SAP Data Services include:

    • Broad access to data which can build a better perspective for companies of their information.

    • Improved decision-making and information management due to efficient data operations.

    • Ability to utilize various tools to help unify data on premises, in the cloud, or within big data.

    • The software provides efficient insight for reporting and data analytics.

    • The tool allows for easy integration with a large number of different databases.

    • The product provides the opportunity to seamlessly connect with other SAP solutions.

    • The solution simplifies extract, transform, and load (ETL) construction processes through intuitive graphic software.

    Reviews from Real Users

    According to Michael Lutz, senior data warehouse developer at Fox Chase Cancer Center, SAP Data Services is a powerful tool that does a lot.

    An associate consultant at a consultancy says the tool is easy to use, simple to implement, and offers very good mapping capabilities.

    Sample Customers
    ING, Priceline.com, Nordea, Target, RBC, Tivo, Capital One, Chartboost
    EMC Corporation, LivePerson, Eldorado, Mozzart, The VELUX Group, AOK Bundesverband, Hilti Group, Nissha Printing Company Ltd., Asian Paints, Aareal Bank Group, Migros Group
    Top Industries
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company31%
    Retailer15%
    Non Tech Company8%
    Government8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Financial Services Firm19%
    Computer Software Company17%
    Manufacturing Company8%
    Retailer6%
    REVIEWERS
    Computer Software Company17%
    Manufacturing Company13%
    Retailer8%
    Pharma/Biotech Company8%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Manufacturing Company14%
    Computer Software Company13%
    Financial Services Firm9%
    Energy/Utilities Company8%
    Company Size
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business26%
    Midsize Enterprise21%
    Large Enterprise53%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business19%
    Midsize Enterprise12%
    Large Enterprise70%
    REVIEWERS
    Small Business23%
    Midsize Enterprise9%
    Large Enterprise68%
    VISITORS READING REVIEWS
    Small Business18%
    Midsize Enterprise11%
    Large Enterprise71%
    Buyer's Guide
    Confluent vs. SAP Data Services
    July 2023
    Find out what your peers are saying about Confluent vs. SAP Data Services and other solutions. Updated: July 2023.
    765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.

    Confluent is ranked 3rd in Streaming Analytics with 18 reviews while SAP Data Services is ranked 10th in Data Integration with 45 reviews. Confluent is rated 8.4, while SAP Data Services is rated 8.0. The top reviewer of Confluent writes "Has good technical support services and a valuable feature for real-time data streaming ". On the other hand, the top reviewer of SAP Data Services writes "Responsive support, scalable, and beneficial integration". Confluent is most compared with Amazon MSK, Amazon Kinesis, AWS Glue, Databricks and Oracle GoldenGate, whereas SAP Data Services is most compared with Azure Data Factory, Syniti Data Quality, Informatica PowerCenter, Palantir Foundry and SSIS. See our Confluent vs. SAP Data Services report.

    We monitor all Streaming Analytics reviews to prevent fraudulent reviews and keep review quality high. We do not post reviews by company employees or direct competitors. We validate each review for authenticity via cross-reference with LinkedIn, and personal follow-up with the reviewer when necessary.