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Apache Kafka Logo

Open-source event stream processing and analytics platform

Table of Contents

Apache Kafka - 2026 Pricing, Features, Reviews & Alternatives

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All user reviews are verified by in-house moderators and provider data by our software research team.  Learn more

Apache Kafka overview

What is Apache Kafka?

Apache Kafka is an open-source software designed to help businesses across transportation, IT, banking, telecom, and several other industries handle event stream processing operations. It enables IT professionals to collect data from various sources such as databases, mobile devices, sensors, and online applications in the form of streams of events.

Employees can securely store event streams for retrieval, manipulation, and processing of data according to business requirements. The application allows administrators to read and write streams of events in multiple programming languages and connect different clusters across various geographic regions. Apache Kafka lets organizations process payments and financial transactions, analyze sensor data from IoT devices, and capture and store customer interactions in a centralized repository. It also helps logistics and automotive businesses to track and monitor vehicles, trucks, fleets, and shipments in real-time.

Apache Kafka supports integration with various third-party relational databases and event sources via APIs. Other features include data import/export, analytics, data storage management, event logs, activity tracking, and more.

Starting price


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Apache Kafka’s user interface

Ease of use rating:

Apache Kafka reviews

Overall rating

4.5

/5

18

Positive reviews

94

%

Rating breakdown
  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Features
  • Customer support
  • Likelihood to recommend8.59/10
Rating distribution

5

4

3

2

1

12

5

0

0

1

Pros
“The functionality of kafka is just so good, everything works fine and nothing breaks any time. Also the distribution is really good.”

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Anonymity request

“The best thing is architecture which I like the most and it is easy to understand/learn how exactly Kafka works.”
SR

Sakshi R.

Infrastructure Engineer

“I really enjoyed to work with Kafka throughout the years on different projects. It has an extensive API and solid documentation in various programming languages.”
Verified reviewer profile picture

Paweł W.

Software Engineer

Cons
“Though it has various messaging capabilities, kafka has poor debugging and logging tools to monitor an app communication topic which is risky.”
SM

Srikar M.

Software engineer

“Whenever we publish data from producers to Kafka, it is stored in a buffer and then it is published to Kafka, so we need to always flush the buffer to keep it empty.”

Verified reviewer

Anonymity request

“It’s a bit hard to maintain when you have a large kafka cluster with a lot of topics.”

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Who uses Apache Kafka?

Based on 18 verified user reviews.

Company size

Enterprises

Small Businesses

Midsize Businesses

Top industries

Information Technology and Services
Computer Software
Banking
Computer & Network Security
Others

Use cases

iPaaS

Apache Kafka's key features

Most critical features, based on insights from Apache Kafka users:

API
Dashboard
Pre-built connectors
Cloud data integration
Data mapping
Real-Time notifications

All Apache Kafka features

Features rating:

Alerts/Notifications
Data extraction
Data import/export
Data storage management
Real-Time analytics
Real-Time updates
SMS messaging
Data connectors
Activity tracking
Real-Time data

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Apache Kafka pricing

Value for money rating:

Starting from

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No pricing info

Pricing details
Subscription
Free trial
Free plan
Pricing range

User opinions about Apache Kafka price and value

Value for money rating:

To see what individual users think of Apache Kafka's price and value, check out the review snippets below.

“The functionality of kafka is just so good, everything works fine and nothing breaks any time. Also the distribution is really good.”

Verified reviewer

Anonymity request

“The best thing is architecture which I like the most and it is easy to understand/learn how exactly Kafka works.”
SR

Sakshi R.

Infrastructure Engineer

Apache Kafka support options

Typical customers

Freelancers
Small businesses
Mid size businesses
Large enterprises

Platforms supported

Web
Android
iPhone/iPad

Support options

Phone Support
Knowledge Base
FAQs/Forum
Email/Help Desk

Training options

Documentation

Apache Kafka FAQs

Q. What type of pricing plans does Apache Kafka offer?

Apache Kafka has the following pricing plans:
Pricing model: Open Source

These products have better value for money


Q. Who are the typical users of Apache Kafka?

Apache Kafka has the following typical customers:
Freelancers, Large Enterprises, Mid Size Business, Small Business


Q. Does Apache Kafka offer an API?

Yes, Apache Kafka has an API available for use.


Q. What level of support does Apache Kafka offer?

Apache Kafka offers the following support options:
Phone Support, Knowledge Base, FAQs/Forum, Email/Help Desk

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