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AWS Kafka Managed Services
Do you work on a financial app, e-commerce platform, game website, smart home device, or similar tech product? Then we bet you consider how to process gigabytes of real-time data. From this article, you’ll learn which solutions use Netflix and Disney and watch the AWS Kinesis vs Kafka “battle.“ Moreover, we’ll advise you on how to hire an AWS engineer cost-effectively.
About Streaming Services
With the growing need for streaming or real-time data processing, businesses look for appropriate solutions. Streaming services help us book Uber taxis, buy so-wanted dresses, and prevent heart attacks. And the list goes on. However, the list of top data streaming solutions is much shorter: Kafka and Kinesis.
Businesses compare these platforms’ features and choose the best fit. For instance, Netflix uses Apache Kafka, and Disney+ uses Kinesis. Let’s compare Kafka vs AWS Kinesis and learn more about these instruments.
About Kafka Service in AWS
The Kafka platform allows stream and batch processing with exceptional throughput (30,000 records/sec). This open-source distributed solution is highly customizable, and many Fortune 100 companies use it even without official support. Kafka offers more flexibility but requires experienced developers to set it up and keep the service running reliably and securely.
About Amazon Kinesis Service
Kinesis is a serverless tool that collects, stores, and analyzes terabytes of data in real time. This solution is managed by Amazon and easily scalable on demand. Kinesis users leverage its optimized data loading, compatibility with other AWS products, support of several programming languages, and cost-effectiveness. But let’s start our AWS managed Kafka vs Kinesis investigation.
Apache Kafka vs AWS Kinesis
Large corporations and startups widely use both streaming platforms. But which service wins the AWS Kafka vs Kinesis battle? Is the open-source tool more flexible than the managed-by-Amazon solution? Let’s check.
| Criteria | Amazon Kinesis | Apache Kafka |
| Setting up | Will take several hours. Since AWS is a managed system, it handles all the settings to stream data on your behalf. | Can take days or even weeks due to complex deployments. That’s because this open-source system is highly configurable. |
| Risk of failure | Is lower because Amazon ensures Kinesis’ availability and minimizes the human factor with its automated services. So if we compare Kinesis AWS vs Kafka, the first one will be more reliable. | Is higher once you don’t have a 24/7 DevOps team and a risk alert system. Due to multiple customized configurations, Kafka can have vulnerabilities. |
| Tuning | Is minimal. You can increase the number of shards (throughput units) within your stream to grow its capacity. Also, you can extend the data retention period up to one year. So Kinesis wins this Apache Kafka vs Kinesis competition. | Is available. Kafka’s Producers and Consumers can be set up to optimize the throughput. However, due to its distributed nature, Kafka is fault-tolerant, so developers should not affect its availability with optimizations. |
Kafka vs Kinesis Cost Analysis
In the previous Kinesis vs Kafka section, we’ve shared the key differences between these instruments. However, we decided to discuss their cost separately. The Kinesis service has two pricing options: On-Demand Mode and Provisioned Mode.
The Kafka or MSK (Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka) Service offers three payment plans: MSK, MSK Serverless, and MSK Connect. Below, we provide the top-level Amazon Kinesis vs Kafka comparison, and you can find more information about each tariff on the Amazon website.
| Criteria | Apache Kafka | Kinesis |
| Pricing model | Hourly rate. The fees depend on the number of brokers and broker instance size. | Per GB of streamed data with the On-Demand mode and per provisioned shard hours (throughput units). |
| Data storage | Per GB-month. You add provisioned gigabytes per month and divide by the number of hours when you use the service. The low-cost storage starts at $0.06 per GB-month. | Is free for 24. For extended data retention, you pay for GB-month or per Shard Hour. |
| Data transfer | Free within the Amazon MSK clusters. Payable for data going in and out of Amazon MSK clusters. | Is free for 24 hours or 7 days if you pay for the extended data storage. You’ll pay for each GB retrieved between the day 8 and 365. |
How to Choose AWS Kafka Managed Service
Once you decide to outsource an AWS DevOps consultant or hire an AWS developer, your next step will be to choose a trustworthy Kafka managed service AWS provider. We’ve highlighted the two essential criteria and explained them in detail.
Outsourcing Destination
The first thing you consider in outsourcing Kafka consultants is where your engineers will be based. And despite the cost-efficiency, you’ll have to consider these three other factors.
- Time zone. Will your developers be located in India, Asia, China, or Eastern Europe? The answer depends on the number of shared hours you plan to have. Synchronized schedules result in greater efficiency and faster communication in remote teams. And you won’t have to get a much-needed reply only the following day.
- Level of English. In most outsourcing countries, English isn’t a native language. Consequently, US and European companies will need to hire software developers with at least a B1 level of English. This is critical for effective communication and high productivity of the entire project team. So ensure you mention English in the job description.
- Cultural differences. In its research, the HBR stated that global teams have pros and cons. When team members come from countries with different political and economic systems, it helps them find creative approaches and solutions faster. Still, different attitudes to time management, expressing ideas, discussing alternatives, etc., can be the challenge you can avoid.
Provider’s Reputation
When you pick the most comfortable country to hire your team from, you’ll find tens of companies offering Kafka as a service AWS there. The three factors below will help you narrow that list and choose a reliable outsourcing partner.
- Years on the market. Look for a provider that has existed for 3+ years. We believe this is the minimum period required to understand the tech clients’ needs, speed up the recruiting processes, and optimize administrative issues.
- Case studies and reviews. An extensive portfolio of use cases allows potential customers to get proof of the provider’s expertise. Case studies help you understand the workflows, see the communication style, estimate the terms, and check professionalism.
- Ratings. Prominent companies with years of experience always get noticed by industry leaders. So if your potential vendor boasts good reviews and ratings on top platforms, you’ll get high-level service. Many companies start their search by checking G2, Clutch, Tristpilot, and similar resources.
Kafka as a Service Pricing
Now let’s estimate how much you’ll need to spend on an AWS developer in different countries. Here are just a few examples.
| Country | Annual Salary |
| The USA | $129,752 |
| Germany | $82,118 |
| The UK | $77,575 |
| The Netherlands | $51,881 |
| Ukraine | $33,600* |
*Ukrainian salaries are provided based on Mobilunity’s Recruitment Team research on the local job markets. All salaries are net and do not include the service fee (in case of hiring on a dedicated team model). The salaries are provided for comparison purposes and could be not entirely accurate. Contact us to know the exact cost of hiring a developer corresponding to the required parameters.
As you can see from these numbers, hiring Kafka engineers in Ukraine is around 63% cheaper than in the USA, 42% cheaper than in Germany, and 8% cheaper than in the Netherlands.
AWS Kafka Service from Mobilunity
We know that any cooperation starts with understanding the benefits. And here’s what you gain when getting AWS managed service for Kafka from Mobilunity.
Your Benefits
We believe these four points are the key ones to consider:
- You’ll cut the project costs. We help you outsource Ukrainian developers who belong to one of the prominent IT hubs in the world. And you can leverage their skills, saving up to 10-20% of your budget. It’s possible because the living index in Ukraine is lower than in the USA and Western Europe. This means that the salaries of top engineers are also lower.
- You’ll hire an effective team. Whether you need Amazon Web Service Kinesis or Kafka developers, we know how to build your dedicated team. Our recruiters will find top talents working with minor time differences from your other team members. Our developers will speak English fluently and belong to a similar culture so that the communication will be flawless and, thus, effective.
- You’ll get your team promptly. Our specialists have polished the recruiting processes, allowing them to quickly find the best-matching candidates. We have vast professional networks, advanced tools, top-notch approaches, and years of experience. This background lets you set the first tasks for the Kafka developers only a few weeks after our first conversation. We need 4-8 weeks to build your team.
- You’ll be free from admin tasks. Many of our clients love delegating their teams’ assistance to us. This means we’re responsible for finding office premises, paying rentals, transferring payrolls, submitting tax reports, and staying compliant with local labor laws. We let you focus on big things by taking on operational issues related to your team.
Our Expertise
The next question you ask is why you should trust Mobilunity. And here’s what we have to answer:
- 12 years in the IT market. We’ve assembled tech teams for over a decade and have developed our formula of success — the 3R philosophy we follow. It’s about building long-term Relationships and offering exceptional Recruitment services. The last R stands for ensuring the Retention of our developers, clients, and employees.
- 40+ clients in 20+ countries. We’re proud of these numbers as they prove the high quality of our service and demonstrate our global approach. Tens of clients appreciate our work and are happy to return with new projects. Among them are brands like Booqable (the Netherlands), BYG-E (Denmark), Paidy (Japan), ICUC Social (Canada), Network of Arts (Switzerland), and others.
- Top ratings from Clutch. In 2021, Mobilunity joined two top lists of Clutch. These were Top B2B Services Companies and Top HR Services Companies. We’re happy to get 4 and 5-star ratings from our customers and hear the feedback. Clients say our team is hardworking, professional, and good at communication and problem-solving. So we’re ready to accept any challenges during our cooperation.
Two Models to Get Your AWS Managed Kafka Service
We understand that every business is unique and requires an individual approach. And we do our best to stay flexible and meet each client’s requirements. So we offer two cooperation options to help you get the job done and not go beyond budgeting.
- Hire a dedicated team. Large projects with a stable workload require a team of full-time Kafka developers. And we’re happy to build a dedicated team for you within 4 to 6 weeks. You can load your specialists for 40 working hours a week and pay a fixed monthly fee. We’ll take care of arranging the working space and buying equipment.
- Contract a part-time consultant. We offer the pay-as-you-go option for short-time projects or those with a small load. This means you can hire an AWS Kafka consultant for several hours a day. We agree on the hourly rate of your developer and give you the breakdown with the final amount for each worked month.
3 Steps You Need to Make
Our cooperation is as easy as these three simple actions. Here’s what we need you to do:
- Complete the contact form. Leave us your name, email, and a comment. For instance, mention the approximate number of specialists you need and be ready for a 15-30 min call from our managers. They’ll contact you within a couple of business hours.
- Explain your project needs. We’ll need you to share your vision of the team composition, project terms, cooperation format, and available budget. Our specialists will advise on the most cost-effective and appropriate solutions and start sourcing resumes.
- Select the candidates. Our recruiters will help you run tech and HR interviews with the best-fitting candidates. Once you confirm the final list of Kafka developers, we will prepare job offers and sign cooperation agreements with them.
Check our AWS Kafka as a service offer — send us the contact form right now!
Disclaimer: All salaries and prices mentioned within the article are approximate NET numbers based on the research done by our in-house Recruitment Team. Please use these numbers as a guide for comparison purposes only and feel free to use the contact form to inquire on the specific cost of the talent according to your vacancy requirements and chosen model of engagement.
