It seems the answer to the OP's concern lies in the exact balance here.
Can you choose an Alchemist that gets a lot of these things? How do they compare to an utility Wizard? Do you need to sacrifice any combat utility to get them (or is utility elixirs chosen at different levels than combat bombs)?
It's hard to speak to balance without having seen it in play, much less without having read and absorbed everything.
That said, from my cursory examination of the classes I would describe them as different. Unless you're simply looking to compare DPR in a white room, I don't think a direct comparison would be easy.
Since the alchemist can acquire formulas in a number of different ways (leveling up, buying them, and potentially even 'inventing' them during downtime) there isn't a serious penalty for taking the 'creative' option over the 'effective' one. You can always acquire the missed formulas later.
Whereas wizards use Vancian magic, Alchemists get a choice. They can use Advanced Alchemy to prepare alchemical items in a manner that is functionally similar to Vancian magic, or they can leave their reagents unassigned and create them on the fly using an action for Quick Alchemy (the downside is that these items need to be use immediately or they lose their efficacy).
Then you also need to consider that alchemical items are explicitly called out as being non-magical, despite sometimes producing effects that would typically be limited to magic. That means that detect magic won't find these items, dispel magic can't end the effects they produce, and they'll function just fine in an antimagic field.
One the other hand, there are a wealth of spells compared to options for alchemical items. Also, from what I've read it seems that spellcasters get many more slots than an alchemist. However, from what I can tell, the alchemist's slots automatically upgrade to the best formula they have available to them (functionally speaking). Therefore, it may well balance out.
Overall, I'd say the balance seems okay, although I think it will be improved whenever they put out a supplement with additional alchemical items. The wizard, unsurprisingly, has the alchemist beat wrt total available options. In fairness though, that has been true when comparing a non-caster vs a caster in every edition of D&D. More alchemical items won't actually change that (unless the alchemy book is massive) but even simply doubling the alchemist's options would go a long way towards this end (particularly for replay), at least in my estimation. I expect that such a book is likely inevitable.
Like I said before though, I haven't finished reading the classes so this shouldn't be taken as more than a first impression of balance. It's entirely possible that I may have overlooked factors that ought to be considered in a more thorough evaluation.
