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  • Difference between confluent Kafka and Apache Kafka

Difference between confluent Kafka and Apache Kafka

Difference Between Confluent Kafka and Apache Kafka

Confluent Kafka and Apache Kafka are both built on the same core Kafka technology, but Confluent provides additional enterprise features, tools, and cloud services that make Kafka easier to manage, scale, and integrate with other systems.

| Feature | Apache Kafka (Open-source) | Confluent Kafka (Enterprise & Cloud) |
|---------|------------------|---------------------------|
| Developed By | Apache Software Foundation | Confluent Inc. (Founded by Kafka’s original creators) |
| Deployment | Self-hosted, requires manual setup and maintenance. | Available as Confluent Cloud (fully managed) or self-hosted Confluent Platform. |
| Ease of Use | Requires manual configuration, monitoring, and scaling. | Provides UI-based management, automation, and monitoring tools. |
| Enterprise Features | Basic Kafka features: Topics, Producers, Consumers, Brokers, Partitions, Zookeeper. | Adds schema registry, connectors, monitoring tools (Control Center), security features, and stream processing tools (ksqlDB, Kafka Streams). |
| Schema Registry | Not available by default (needs external setup). | Built-in Schema Registry for handling Avro, JSON, and Protobuf schemas. |
| Connectors (Kafka Connect) | Requires manual installation of connectors. | Pre-built 100+ Kafka connectors for databases, cloud storage (S3, GCS), analytics tools, and more. |
| Security | Supports TLS encryption, SASL authentication. | Enterprise-grade RBAC (Role-Based Access Control), auditing, and security monitoring. |
| Stream Processing | Kafka Streams API (requires coding for stream processing). | ksqlDB (no-code SQL-based stream processing). |
| Monitoring & Management | No built-in GUI, needs external tools like Prometheus + Grafana. | Confluent Control Center (Web UI for managing Kafka clusters and monitoring). |
| Multi-Region & Disaster Recovery | Requires custom configuration for multi-region replication. | Confluent Replicator and Cluster Linking provide easy multi-region replication. |
| Support & SLAs | Community support, no official SLA. | Enterprise support with SLAs, 24/7 monitoring, and managed services. |
| Pricing | Free and open-source. | Paid for enterprise features (Confluent Platform) and fully managed Confluent Cloud. |

When to Choose What?

✅ Use Apache Kafka if:

  • You are comfortable with self-hosted deployments and managing Kafka manually.
  • You want a free open-source solution and have an in-house DevOps team.
  • You don't need enterprise features like Schema Registry, RBAC, or built-in monitoring.

✅ Use Confluent Kafka if:

  • You need an enterprise-ready, managed Kafka service with support.
  • You want built-in connectors, schema registry, UI-based monitoring, and security features.
  • You are using Kafka in a production environment and need reliability, scalability, and multi-region replication.

Final Thoughts

  • Apache Kafka = Great for DIY, open-source projects, and startups.
  • Confluent Kafka = Best for enterprises needing reliability, security, and managed services.

If you’re running Kafka at scale and need enterprise support, security, and pre-built integrations, Confluent is the better choice. 🚀