RobustMQ vs Redpanda Comparison
Core Difference: Redpanda is a high-performance, Kafka API-compatible streaming data platform (implemented in C++) that eliminates ZooKeeper and JVM dependencies. RobustMQ is a cloud-native, multi-protocol unified message middleware (implemented in Rust) that, in addition to Kafka protocol support (in development), natively supports MQTT and AMQP protocols, providing broader protocol compatibility and ecosystem integration.
Redpanda is a modern streaming data platform implemented in C++, focusing on Kafka API compatibility and high performance. By eliminating ZooKeeper and JVM dependencies, Redpanda simplifies deployment and operations. RobustMQ focuses on multi-protocol unification and cloud-native architecture, implemented in Rust with zero GC, supporting MQTT, Kafka, AMQP and other protocols, providing compute-storage separation and pluggable storage design. This document provides a detailed comparison of their positioning, architecture, features, and applicable scenarios.
1. Positioning & Strategic Goals
Redpanda is positioned as a high-performance, Kafka API-compatible streaming data platform, focusing on simplifying deployment and improving performance. The project is completely rewritten in C++, eliminating ZooKeeper and JVM dependencies, using built-in Raft consensus protocol for cluster metadata management. Adopts thread-per-core model and zero-copy technology to fully utilize modern multi-core CPUs and NVMe SSDs. The storage engine is optimized for modern hardware, supporting up to 1GB/s write throughput per core. Redpanda is fully compatible with Kafka protocol (producer, consumer, admin API), allowing existing Kafka clients and tools to be directly used. Suitable for scenarios requiring Kafka compatibility and high performance.
RobustMQ is positioned as a cloud-native, multi-protocol unified message middleware. The project is implemented in Rust, leveraging Rust's memory safety, zero GC, and high-performance features to provide, compared to C++, stronger memory safety guarantees and more maintainable code. Single-binary deployment, with no external dependencies, makes deployment extremely simple. Native support for multiple standard protocols such as MQTT, Kafka, and AMQP, using community standard SDKs, ensuring protocol compatibility. The storage layer adopts a pluggable design, supporting multiple backends such as memory, SSD, and S3, meeting different performance and cost requirements. Raft consensus-based metadata management provides complete distributed capabilities, including automatic failover and elastic scaling. RobustMQ is specifically designed for cloud-native scenarios, providing Kubernetes Operator and Serverless support.
2. Architecture Design Comparison
Redpanda adopts a simplified modern architecture, completely rewritten in C++, eliminating the need for ZooKeeper and JVM. Redpanda uses built-in Raft consensus protocol to manage cluster metadata, eliminating the dependency on external coordination services. Adopts thread-per-core model and zero-copy technology to fully utilize modern multi-core CPUs and NVMe SSDs. The storage engine is optimized for modern hardware, supporting up to 1GB/s write throughput per core. Redpanda is fully compatible with Kafka protocol (producer, consumer, admin API), allowing existing Kafka clients and tools to be directly used.
RobustMQ adopts a layered decoupled architecture, completely separating Broker, Meta Service, and Journal Server to achieve compute-storage separation and independent scaling. The project is implemented in Rust, leveraging Rust's memory safety, zero GC, and high-performance features to provide, compared to C++, stronger memory safety guarantees and more maintainable code. Single-binary deployment, with no external dependencies, makes deployment extremely simple. Native support for multiple standard protocols such as MQTT, Kafka, and AMQP, using community standard SDKs, ensuring protocol compatibility. The storage layer adopts a pluggable design, supporting multiple backends such as memory, SSD, and S3, meeting different performance and cost requirements. Raft consensus-based metadata management provides complete distributed capabilities, including automatic failover and elastic scaling. RobustMQ is specifically designed for cloud-native scenarios, providing Kubernetes Operator and Serverless support.
| Dimension | Redpanda | RobustMQ |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture Pattern | Monolithic architecture, compute-storage coupled No need for ZooKeeper | Broker/Meta/Journal three-tier separation Single binary, cloud-native K8s + Serverless |
| Development Language | C++ | Rust |
| Protocol & SDK | Kafka protocol (fully compatible) Uses standard Kafka SDK | MQTT/Kafka/AMQP multi-protocol Standard SDK, zero learning cost |
| Storage & Distribution | Modern hardware optimized storage engine Built-in Raft, no ZooKeeper needed | Pluggable storage (Memory/SSD/S3/HDFS) Raft metadata, automatic failover |
| Deployment Complexity | Simplified (single binary, no JVM/ZK) | Minimalist (single binary, no dependencies) |
| Ecosystem Compatibility | Fully compatible with Kafka ecosystem | Fully compatible, can replace existing MQ |
3. Core Features & Characteristics Comparison
Redpanda features high performance, with per-core 1GB/s write throughput and p99.999 latency of 16ms. Fully compatible with Kafka API (producer, consumer, admin API), existing Kafka clients and tools can be directly used. Eliminates ZooKeeper dependency, uses built-in Raft consensus for cluster metadata management, simplifying deployment and operations. Adopts thread-per-core model and zero-copy technology to fully utilize modern multi-core CPUs and NVMe SSDs. Provides rich monitoring and observability tools including Prometheus metrics, Grafana dashboards. Redpanda's advantages include high performance, simple deployment (no JVM/ZooKeeper), Kafka API compatibility. Its main challenges include: compared to Kafka, ecosystem is relatively young; C++ implementation requires specialized expertise for maintenance; multi-protocol support requires additional development.
RobustMQ features multi-protocol unification, achieving MQTT, Kafka, AMQP and other protocols within a single system, using standard open-source SDKs to ensure protocol compatibility. Implements compute-storage separation, allowing independent scaling of Broker and Storage; pluggable storage supporting memory, SSD, S3, HDFS and other backends. The project is implemented in Rust, achieving zero GC and predictable latency. Provides over 8 data integration connectors (Kafka/Pulsar/MySQL/MongoDB, etc.), supporting complex data workflow orchestration. Optimized for AI scenarios, including AI training pipelines, real-time inference, and multi-modal data processing. Offers complete cloud-native support including single-binary deployment, Kubernetes Operator, Helm charts, and Serverless architecture. RobustMQ's advantages are multi-protocol unified management, reduced operational complexity; compute-storage separation architecture enabling elastic scaling; zero GC, low resource consumption. Its main challenges include: the project is in active development, Kafka protocol support is being implemented; the community size is smaller compared to Redpanda; production case accumulation is ongoing.
| Feature Dimension | Redpanda | RobustMQ |
|---|---|---|
| Protocol Support | Kafka protocol (fully compatible) Uses standard Kafka SDK | MQTT 3.1.1/5.0 (supported) / Kafka (in development) / AMQP (planned) Standard open-source SDK, protocol compatible |
| Performance | High throughput, per-core 1GB/s write p99.999 latency 16ms | Microsecond latency (memory), million msg/s Zero GC, Tokio async |
| Message Model | Kafka partition model Consumer groups | Pub/Sub + queue + delayed messages Shared/exclusive subscriptions |
| Storage Architecture | NVMe SSD optimized Local storage | Pluggable: Memory/SSD/S3/HDFS WAL consistency guarantee |
| Data Integration | Fully compatible with Kafka Connect | 8+ connectors (Kafka/Pulsar/MySQL/MongoDB, etc.) |
| Distribution | Built-in Raft, self-healing cluster | Raft metadata, automatic failover, elastic scaling |
| Cloud-Native | Single binary, container-friendly K8s Operator | Single binary deployment, no dependencies K8s Operator + Helm + Serverless |
| AI Scenarios | General streaming platform | AI workflow optimization, training pipelines, real-time inference |
4. Community & Development Stage
| Dimension | Redpanda | RobustMQ |
|---|---|---|
| Project Status | Commercial open-source project | Active open-source project |
| Maturity | Production-ready, mature features | Core MQTT supported, Kafka in development |
| Community Size | 9.2k+ stars, growing rapidly | 1.4K+ stars, rapidly growing community |
5. Performance Comparison
| Metric | Redpanda | RobustMQ |
|---|---|---|
| Throughput | Per-core 1GB/s write | Million msg/s |
| Latency | p99.999 latency 16ms | Microsecond (memory) Millisecond (SSD/S3) |
| Concurrency | Thread-per-core model | High concurrency (Tokio async) |
| Resource Usage | Optimized for modern hardware | Low memory footprint (Zero GC) |
6. Applicable Scenarios Comparison
Selection Recommendations
Redpanda is suitable for scenarios requiring Kafka API compatibility and high performance, especially enterprises migrating from Kafka to simplified architecture and improved performance. Single-binary deployment and elimination of ZooKeeper dependency greatly simplify operations, making it particularly suitable for scenarios requiring Kafka compatibility. However, multi-protocol support requires additional development, suitable for scenarios primarily using Kafka protocol.
RobustMQ is suitable for production environments requiring multi-protocol support (MQTT/Kafka/AMQP), particularly enterprises operating MQTT, Kafka, AMQP and other systems simultaneously. The compute-storage separation architecture and pluggable storage make it adaptable from edge to cloud, suitable for enterprises requiring flexible scaling. Additionally, RobustMQ's data integration capabilities make it suitable for IoT data pipelines and AI training scenarios.
| Scenario | Redpanda | RobustMQ |
|---|---|---|
| Kafka Migration | Fully compatible, direct use | Kafka protocol in development |
| IoT Platform | Requires additional MQTT support | Native MQTT support, direct use |
| Microservices Messaging | Kafka API compatible | Suitable, supports multi-protocol |
| Streaming Analytics | Suitable, Kafka Connect compatible | Suitable, supports connectors and AI workflows |
| Edge Computing | Suitable, high performance | Suitable, supports pluggable storage and low resource consumption |
| Multi-Cloud Deployment | Local storage | Native support for S3/HDFS/MinIO |
7. Migration Cost Comparison
Migration Recommendations
Migrating from Kafka to Redpanda can directly reuse existing Kafka clients and tools, requiring minimal code changes. Kafka Connect can be directly used. Deployment is simplified, eliminating ZooKeeper dependency. Suitable for enterprises requiring Kafka compatibility and hoping to simplify architecture.
Migrating from Kafka to RobustMQ currently requires waiting for Kafka protocol support to mature (in development). After maturity, can reuse existing Kafka clients, requiring minimal code changes. The multi-protocol architecture supports gradual migration, avoiding system interruptions. Suitable for enterprises requiring multi-protocol support (MQTT/Kafka/AMQP).
| Migration Path | Complexity | Cost | Risk |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kafka → Redpanda | Low | Low (reuse Kafka SDK) | Low |
| MQTT → Redpanda | High | High (requires additional support) | High |
| RabbitMQ → Redpanda | High | High (no AMQP support) | High |
| Kafka → RobustMQ | Moderate | Moderate (Kafka protocol in development) | Moderate |
| MQTT → RobustMQ | Low | Low (native support) | Low |
| RabbitMQ → RobustMQ | Low | Low (AMQP compatibility) | Low |
8. Summary & Recommendations
Redpanda is positioned as a high-performance, Kafka API-compatible streaming data platform, featuring Kafka compatibility, high performance (per-core 1GB/s write), simplified deployment (no JVM/ZooKeeper). The project is implemented in C++, adopting thread-per-core model and zero-copy technology, optimized for modern multi-core CPUs and NVMe SSDs. Built-in Raft consensus manages cluster metadata, eliminating the need for external coordination services. Suitable for enterprises migrating from Kafka to simplified architecture and improved performance.
RobustMQ is positioned as a cloud-native, multi-protocol unified message middleware, featuring MQTT/Kafka/AMQP multi-protocol support, compute-storage separation, pluggable storage, and cloud-native support. Implemented in Rust, leveraging memory safety and high concurrency advantages, achieving zero GC and low resource consumption. Single-binary deployment, with no external dependencies, simplifies operations. The data integration and AI optimization features provide significant value for IoT and AI scenarios. Suitable for production environments requiring multi-protocol support, particularly enterprises operating multiple message queue systems simultaneously.
Recommended Scenarios
Redpanda: Kafka migration, scenarios requiring Kafka API compatibility and high performance, scenarios requiring simplified architecture (no JVM/ZooKeeper). Suitable for enterprises primarily using Kafka protocol and hoping to improve performance and simplify operations.
RobustMQ: Production environments requiring multi-protocol support (MQTT/Kafka/AMQP), enterprises needing flexible scaling (edge to cloud), IoT platforms and AI training pipelines. Suitable for enterprises with high system stability requirements and hoping to unify the management of multiple message queue systems.