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Streamkap vs Redpanda

Complete CDC Platform vs Message Broker

Redpanda is a great Kafka-compatible streaming platform. But for CDC workloads, you still need to build connectors, transforms, and sinks. Streamkap delivers the complete stack with latency under 250ms—source to destination.

Why Teams Choose Streamkap

Platform vs Infrastructure

Complete Platform vs DIY Infrastructure

Redpanda provides excellent Kafka-compatible infrastructure, but you still need to build CDC connectors, stream processing, and destination sinks. Streamkap delivers the complete stack out of the box.

Latency Under 250ms

End-to-end latency from database change to destination—not just broker latency. Streamkap measures what matters: how fast your data warehouse, lakehouse, or application sees the change.

50+ Managed Connectors

Streamkap includes managed CDC connectors for PostgreSQL, MySQL, MongoDB, SQL Server, and 50+ other sources—all maintained and updated automatically. With Redpanda, you need to deploy and manage Debezium or other CDC tools yourself.

Native Lakehouse Delivery

Stream CDC directly to Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake, Snowflake, and BigQuery with built-in optimizations. No need to build and maintain sink connectors—data lands in your lakehouse in real-time.

Built-in Apache Flink Transforms

Transform data in-flight with SQL, Python, or TypeScript using our managed Flink cluster. With Redpanda, you'd need to provision and manage a separate Flink deployment.

Zero Ops, Zero Kafka Expertise Needed

Streamkap handles all infrastructure—Kafka, Flink, connectors, scaling, and monitoring. Get the power of streaming without building a platform team.

Feature Comparison

Streamkap vs Redpanda

Feature Streamkap Redpanda
Solution Type Complete CDC platform Message broker (Kafka-compatible)
End-to-End Latency <250ms source to destination Broker only—CDC latency depends on DIY stack
CDC Connectors 50+ built-in, managed Build/manage yourself
Stream Processing Apache Flink (SQL, Python, TypeScript) Requires separate setup
Lakehouse Support Native Iceberg, Delta Lake, Hudi Iceberg (sink connectors DIY)
Time to Production Minutes Weeks (build CDC stack)
Operational Overhead Zero-ops, fully managed Manage connectors & transforms
Kafka Access Full Kafka API access Full Kafka API access
Destination Connectors Snowflake, BigQuery, Iceberg, ClickHouse, more Need to build/manage sinks
Schema Registry Included with governance Included

What You Get

Complete Stack vs Build Your Own

Streamkap (All Included)

50+ Source Connectors (Managed)
Apache Kafka (Managed)
Apache Flink Transforms (Managed)
Schema Registry + Governance (Managed)
Iceberg, Snowflake, BigQuery Sinks (Managed)
Monitoring & Alerting (Included)
Everything included, zero ops

Redpanda (You Build)

Debezium/CDC Connectors (DIY)
Redpanda Cluster (Managed)
Flink/Transforms (DIY)
Schema Registry (Managed)
Sink Connectors (DIY)
Monitoring Stack (DIY)
Requires platform engineering

Time to Value

Minutes vs Months

Building a production CDC pipeline with Redpanda requires assembling and maintaining multiple components: Debezium for CDC, Kafka Connect for connectors, and potentially Flink for transforms.

With Streamkap, you connect your source database, configure transforms if needed, and start streaming to any destination - all in minutes, not months.

  • No Debezium configuration or management
  • No Kafka Connect cluster to maintain
  • No Flink cluster to provision
  • No pipeline monitoring to build

Time to First Pipeline

5 min
Streamkap
Weeks
DIY with Redpanda

End-to-End Latency

<250ms
Source to Destination
?
Depends on your stack

Focus on your product, not building data infrastructure

Right Tool for the Job

When to Use Each

Choose Streamkap When

  • You need CDC from databases to destinations
  • You need real-time data in Iceberg, Snowflake, or BigQuery
  • You want stream processing without managing Flink
  • You prefer zero-ops over building platform expertise
  • You want to ship quickly without infra investment

Consider Redpanda When

  • You need a general-purpose message broker
  • You have a platform team to build/maintain CDC
  • You have custom streaming needs beyond CDC
  • You want to build your own data platform
"We went from struggling with data freshness issues to having sub-second updates in our analytics"
David Bolowitski
VP Engineering, Fleetio
See customer stories

Skip the DIY and get 3 months free

Don't spend months building CDC infrastructure. Start with Streamkap and get 3 months free.

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Stream Data Without Building Infrastructure

Get a complete CDC platform with managed Kafka, Flink, and 50+ connectors. Start streaming in minutes.