Celebrity Deathmatch: Akka.NET vs Orleans - Hannes Lowette - NDC London 2023

A showdown between two popular actor frameworks in.NET: Akka.NET and Orleans. Hannes Lowette compares their design challenges, trade-offs, and performance, ultimately helping you decide which one is right for your project.

Key takeaways
  • Both Akka.NET and Orleans are actor frameworks, but they have different design challenges and goals.
  • Akka.NET focuses on ease of use and simplicity, while Orleans focuses on scalability and performance.
  • Akka.NET uses a more straightforward approach, with a focus on plugins and extensions, whereas Orleans uses a more complex, hierarchical architecture.
  • Akka.NET’s actor system is easier to understand and learn, while Orleans’ is more complex and has a steeper learning curve.
  • Akka.NET’s actors are more flexible and can be used in a variety of scenarios, while Orleans’ actors are more specialized and geared towards high-performance, distributed systems.
  • Akka.NET’s supervision strategy is simpler and easier to implement, while Orleans’ supervision strategy is more complex and requires more configuration.
  • Akka.NET’s clustering is easier to set up and manage, while Orleans’ clustering is more complex and requires more configuration.
  • Orleans uses a more advanced persistence mechanism, with support for multiple storage technologies, while Akka.NET uses a simpler, more straightforward approach.
  • Akka.NET’s message handling is more flexible and can handle complex scenarios, while Orleans’ message handling is more rigid and requires more configuration.
  • Akka.NET’s grain concept is similar to Orleans’ actor concept, but Akka.NET’s grains are more complex and have more features.
  • Akka.NET’s interfaces are more verbose and require more boilerplate code, while Orleans’ interfaces are more concise and require less boilerplate code.
  • Akka.NET’s configuration system is more flexible and allows for more customization, while Orleans’ configuration system is more rigid and requires more configuration.
  • Akka.NET’s debugging tools are more comprehensive and easier to use, while Orleans’ debugging tools are less comprehensive and require more expertise.
  • Akka.NET’s community is smaller and less active, while Orleans’ community is larger and more active.
  • Akka.NET’s documentation is more comprehensive and easier to follow, while Orleans’ documentation is less comprehensive and requires more technical expertise.
  • Akka.NET’s performance numbers are more promising, with faster response times and higher throughput, while Orleans’ performance numbers are more variable and depend on the specific use case.