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Databases · head to head

RisingWave vs Solace PubSub+

RisingWave logo

RisingWave

Databases

Streaming database that maintains incremental materialised views in SQL instead of Flink jobs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Solace PubSub+ logo

Solace PubSub+

Databases

Multi-protocol event broker sold as software, cloud service or a hardware appliance

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: RisingWave anything that does not fit SQL, such as custom windowing, complex event processing or heavy stateful logic, still needs Flink, so RisingWave often adds a system rather than removing one.; Solace PubSub+ no pricing is published at any tier, so evaluation requires a sales engagement before you can even judge whether it is in budget, and broker tier sizing determines cost in ways buyers frequently get wrong.
  • They diverge on capability: RisingWave covers SQL materialised views, Solace PubSub+ covers Multi-protocol broker.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which RisingWave and Solace PubSub+ actually diverge.

Attributes where RisingWave and Solace PubSub+ differ
AttributeRisingWaveSolace PubSub+
Pricing modelPer RisingWave Unit hourquote
PlatformsLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, CloudLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, Hardware appliance

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Databases).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in RisingWave

  • SQL materialised views
  • Postgres wire compatibility
  • Object storage state
  • Source connectors
  • Sink connectors
  • Iceberg tables
  • Watermarks and windowing
  • User defined functions

Only in Solace PubSub+

  • Multi-protocol broker
  • Dynamic message routing
  • Hardware appliance
  • Event Portal
  • Guaranteed delivery
  • Mission Control
  • Topic hierarchies and wildcards
  • Kafka and MQ bridging

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

RisingWave

  • A team with Kafka topics that needs continuously fresh aggregates for a dashboard without standing up a Flink clusternot Solace PubSub+
  • A fraud or risk team maintaining rolling counters and joins across event streams expressed as SQL viewsnot Solace PubSub+
  • A company doing Postgres CDC into a real-time denormalised view for search or servingnot Solace PubSub+
  • An analytics group that wants streaming results landed directly into Apache Iceberg without a separate writer jobnot Solace PubSub+

Solace PubSub+

  • A bank building an event mesh across regions where a Java JMS application and an MQTT mobile client must share the same topic spacenot RisingWave
  • An exchange or trading platform with a latency budget that needs the hardware appliance rather than a software brokernot RisingWave
  • An airline distributing operational events to ground systems, aircraft and partner APIs over different protocolsnot RisingWave
  • A manufacturer bridging factory MQTT telemetry into an enterprise Kafka estate without writing translation servicesnot RisingWave

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

RisingWave

  • Anything that does not fit SQL, such as custom windowing, complex event processing or heavy stateful logic, still needs Flink, so RisingWave often adds a system rather than removing one.
  • The Apache 2.0 community edition excludes premium features behind a licence key, and which capabilities sit on which side of that line moves between releases, so a self-hosted plan can be invalidated by an upgrade.
  • Long-running materialised views accumulate state in object storage, and cost and recovery time grow with retention in ways that are hard to forecast before you are in production.
  • The Postgres compatibility is protocol level; it is not a transactional Postgres and using it as a general purpose database, with point updates or high write concurrency, goes badly.
  • It is a comparatively young venture-funded project competing with Flink, Materialize and warehouse-native streaming, and the ecosystem of connectors, operators and third-party expertise is much thinner.

Solace PubSub+

  • No pricing is published at any tier, so evaluation requires a sales engagement before you can even judge whether it is in budget, and broker tier sizing determines cost in ways buyers frequently get wrong.
  • The free Standard edition has hard capacity and support limits, which makes it useful for development but means any real deployment triggers a commercial negotiation.
  • The proprietary SMF protocol gives the best performance and feature coverage, so teams that lean on it acquire real switching costs even though open protocols are supported.
  • Operating a self-managed high availability broker pair with disaster recovery is a specialist task, and Solace expertise is scarce in the hiring market compared with Kafka skills.
  • Event Portal and Mission Control are licensed as part of platform packages, so the governance tooling that makes an event mesh manageable is not simply included with the broker.

Pricing, plan by plan

RisingWave

Free
  • Community EditionFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence, self-hosted
    • Core streaming engine and connectors
    • Premium features excluded and require a licence key
  • Cloud Basic$0.227/hour
    • Billed per RisingWave Unit hour
    • Hosted on AWS, GCP or Azure
    • Capped at 64 cores
  • Cloud Pro$undefined/year
    • No core limit
    • Bring your own cloud option
    • Premium features included
  • Self-managed Enterprise$undefined/year
    • On premises or Kubernetes
    • Premium features unlocked by licence
    • Annual contract with SLA

Solace PubSub+

Free
  • Software Event Broker StandardFree
    • Free for production within capacity limits
    • Single node, capped connections and queues
    • No vendor support
  • Solace Cloud$undefined/year
    • Managed brokers in tiers from ENT-250 to ENT-100K
    • Foundation, Accelerate and Scale platform packages
    • Fixed subscription or annual consumption drawdown
  • Software Enterprise self-managed$undefined/year
    • Deploy in your own Kubernetes, VMs or data centre
    • High availability and disaster recovery
    • Support with SLA
  • Hardware appliance$undefined/year
    • Purpose-built appliance with FPGA message offload
    • Deterministic low latency
    • Sold with support contract

Which should you pick?

Choose RisingWave if

  • You need sql materialised views.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want postgres wire compatibility.
RisingWave review

Choose Solace PubSub+ if

  • You need multi-protocol broker.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, Hardware appliance.
  • You also want dynamic message routing.
Solace PubSub+ review

Questions people ask

Is RisingWave or Solace PubSub+ better?
Neither clearly leads. RisingWave starts at Free and Solace PubSub+ at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, RisingWave or Solace PubSub+?
RisingWave starts at Free and Solace PubSub+ at Free.
Does RisingWave or Solace PubSub+ run on more platforms?
RisingWave runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud. Solace PubSub+ runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud, Hardware appliance.
Can I use RisingWave for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is RisingWave best used for?
RisingWave is most often used for a team with kafka topics that needs continuously fresh aggregates for a dashboard without standing up a flink cluster, a fraud or risk team maintaining rolling counters and joins across event streams expressed as sql views, a company doing postgres cdc into a real-time denormalised view for search or serving, an analytics group that wants streaming results landed directly into apache iceberg without a separate writer job. Of those, a team with kafka topics that needs continuously fresh aggregates for a dashboard without standing up a flink cluster and a fraud or risk team maintaining rolling counters and joins across event streams expressed as sql views are not what Solace PubSub+ is typically brought in for.
What can RisingWave do that Solace PubSub+ cannot?
RisingWave covers SQL materialised views, Postgres wire compatibility, Object storage state, Source connectors. Solace PubSub+ covers Multi-protocol broker, Dynamic message routing, Hardware appliance, Event Portal.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

RisingWave: Is RisingWave open source?

The community edition is Apache 2.0 and self-hostable, but a set of premium features requires a paid licence key.

Solace PubSub+: Is there a free version of Solace?

Yes, the Standard edition of the software event broker is free for production within capacity limits, with no vendor support.

RisingWave: What does the cloud cost?

It starts at 0.227 US dollars per RisingWave Unit hour on the Basic tier, which is capped at 64 cores.

Solace PubSub+: Does Solace publish prices?

No. Cloud, software and appliance are all quoted, based on broker tier from ENT-250 to ENT-100K and licensing model.

RisingWave: Does it replace Flink?

For SQL-expressible transformations, often yes. For custom stateful processing and complex event handling, no.

Solace PubSub+: Why buy an appliance in 2026?

Deterministic low latency with message processing offloaded to hardware, which matters in capital markets and little elsewhere.

RisingWave: Can I query it like Postgres?

Yes over the Postgres wire protocol, but it is an analytical streaming engine, not a transactional database.

Solace PubSub+: Can it replace Kafka?

Not for log retention and stream reprocessing. It is stronger at multi-protocol routing and guaranteed delivery, and the two are often bridged.

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