3 brokers
Standard cluster; add more as throughput grows
DatabasesFrom $29/app/month
Managed Apache Kafka Hosting
Distributed event streaming platform
What is Apache Kafka on ManageStacks?
Kafka on ManageStacks is production-grade Apache Kafka (KRaft-mode, no ZooKeeper) or Redpanda (Kafka-API-compatible C++ rewrite) deployed to your own AWS, Azure, or GCP region — priced flat at $29 per cluster per month regardless of throughput, with a 3-broker cluster, Schema Registry, Kafka Connect for 100+ connectors, and Grafana dashboards for consumer lag and throughput. Materially cheaper than Confluent Cloud or AWS MSK for typical event-streaming workloads.
Kafka on ManageStacks is production-grade Apache Kafka (KRaft-mode, no ZooKeeper) or Redpanda (Kafka-API-compatible C++ rewrite) deployed to your own AWS, Azure, or GCP region — priced flat at $29 per cluster per month regardless of throughput, with a 3-broker cluster, Schema Registry, Kafka Connect for 100+ connectors, and Grafana dashboards for consumer lag and throughput. Materially cheaper than Confluent Cloud or AWS MSK for typical event-streaming workloads.
About Apache Kafka
What Apache Kafka does, and why teams deploy it.
Apache Kafka is the industry standard for distributed event streaming. It serves as the backbone for event-driven architectures, real-time analytics pipelines, CDC-based data integration, and microservice communication — handling trillions of events per day at companies from every industry.
Kafka's durable, partitioned log architecture provides fault tolerance, horizontal scalability, and exactly-once semantics for mission-critical data pipelines. The Kafka Connect ecosystem covers 100+ source/sink connectors (Postgres CDC via Debezium, S3, Elasticsearch, MongoDB, Snowflake); Kafka Streams handles lightweight stream processing without a separate cluster.
ManageStacks also supports Redpanda — the Kafka-API-compatible rewrite in C++/Raft that eliminates the JVM overhead and simplifies operations (no separate ZooKeeper or KRaft controller quorum management). Pick Apache Kafka for maximum ecosystem compatibility, Redpanda for lower operational overhead and better single-broker throughput.
Self-hosting Kafka means running 3+ brokers with correct partition-per-topic sizing, retention policy tuning, KRaft controller quorum (post-3.3), Schema Registry, and Kafka Connect workers separately. Add TLS + SASL for authentication and you've built a small streaming platform team. ManageStacks handles it.
DIY vs ManageStacks
What running Apache Kafka yourself looks like — and what it looks like with us.
DIY self-hosting
- Stand up 3+ VMs, install Kafka + configure KRaft controller quorum manually
- Deploy Schema Registry + Kafka Connect workers separately
- Configure TLS + SASL for auth; wire ACLs by hand
- Test broker addition + partition rebalancing under load
- Build lag monitoring + alerting with Burrow + Prometheus manually
On ManageStacks
- Subscribe through your AWS, Azure, or GCP marketplace
- 3-broker Kafka (or Redpanda) cluster comes up with Schema Registry, Connect, TLS, SASL
- Grafana dashboards ship for consumer lag, throughput, ISR, broker health
- Cruise Control rebalancing available on Business+ for automatic partition balance
- Rolling upgrades handled by us; MirrorMaker 2 configured on request for multi-region
Apache Kafka on ManageStacks — key numbers
$29/mo
Flat per cluster, standard tier
KRaft-mode
No ZooKeeper — modern operational shape
Kafka or Redpanda
Both engines available — pick your preference
Key features
Everything Apache Kafka ships with, running on our stack.
- 3-broker Apache Kafka cluster (KRaft mode, no ZooKeeper) or Redpanda
- Durable distributed log with configurable per-topic retention
- Horizontal scaling via topic partitioning + broker addition
- Exactly-once delivery semantics for mission-critical pipelines
- Kafka Connect deployed alongside for source/sink connectors (Debezium, S3, ES)
- Schema Registry (Confluent-compatible) for Avro/Protobuf/JSON schema governance
- Kafka Streams for lightweight stream processing
- TLS + SASL_SSL for client and inter-broker authentication
- Grafana dashboards for consumer lag, throughput, ISR, broker health
- Full data export — MirrorMaker 2 or cluster snapshot to another cluster
How it deploys
From subscribe to live in minutes.
Subscribe
Subscribe to ManageStacks through your AWS, Azure, or GCP marketplace.
Choose engine
Pick Apache Kafka (KRaft-mode) or Redpanda based on ecosystem + operational preference.
Provision
3-broker cluster spins up with Schema Registry, Kafka Connect, TLS, and Grafana monitoring — typically 3-5 minutes.
Produce + consume
Point your producers/consumers at the bootstrap servers. Configure connectors through Kafka Connect UI or REST API for CDC or S3 sink.
Who this is for
Built for teams that want Apache Kafka to just work.
Event-driven microservices
You need a durable event backbone between services — order events, user events, inventory updates. Kafka is the industry default; ManageStacks makes it flat-priced.
Data teams doing CDC + streaming ETL
Debezium reads Postgres/MySQL binlogs and streams into Kafka; downstream to ClickHouse or Snowflake. All available on the same ManageStacks account.
Real-time analytics + ML feature stores
Streaming aggregates into ClickHouse or feature stores, ML inference triggered off event streams. Kafka is the plumbing.
Compliance & compatibility
What we handle, what Apache Kafka runs on.
Compliance & operations
- TLS-encrypted producer/consumer + inter-broker communication
- SASL authentication (SCRAM, PLAIN, or mTLS)
- GDPR data-residency — cluster stays in your chosen cloud region
- OS-level and Kafka security patches applied during your maintenance window
- ACL-based topic access control
- Audit log on producer/consumer activity retained per compliance window
Compatibility
- Version
- Apache Kafka 3.x LTS (KRaft-mode) or Redpanda latest stable
- Runtime
- JVM for Kafka, C++/Raft for Redpanda; both on containerised infrastructure
- Dependencies
- Schema Registry, Kafka Connect, Prometheus-exporter
- Min. resources
- 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM per broker (dedicated)
How ManageStacks helps
We handle the parts you shouldn't be writing yourself.
ManageStacks deploys Apache Kafka (KRaft-mode) or Redpanda as a 3-broker cluster with Schema Registry, Kafka Connect for connectors, TLS + SASL for auth, and Prometheus + Grafana for consumer lag, ISR, and throughput monitoring. We handle broker addition, partition rebalancing, and rolling version upgrades — your team focuses on producers, consumers, and stream processing.
How it compares
Apache Kafka on ManageStacks vs the alternatives.
How Kafka on ManageStacks compares to the two dominant vendor-managed Kafka offerings and running Kafka yourself.
| Property | Kafka on ManageStacksUs | Confluent Cloud | AWS MSK | Self-hosted on your VM |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Managed on your AWS, Azure, or GCP | Vendor-hosted (multi-cloud) | AWS-managed | You provision + operate |
| Data residency | Your cloud region | Vendor region choice | AWS region | Your cloud region |
| Pricing basis | Flat per cluster | Per throughput + storage + connectors | Per broker-hour + storage + I/O | Your compute cost |
| Engine | Apache Kafka or Redpanda | Apache Kafka + Confluent add-ons | Apache Kafka | You choose |
| Open source | Yes (Apache 2.0 / BSL for Redpanda) | Yes (Apache, Confluent-hosted) | Yes (Apache 2.0, AWS-hosted) | Yes (Apache 2.0) |
| Connect + Schema Reg | Included | Included (extensive) | MSK Connect available (extra cost) | You install |
Comparison focuses on architectural properties (deployment model, pricing basis, open-source status) that don't change with vendor pricing pages. Verify current pricing on each vendor's own site.
FAQ
Common questions about Apache Kafka on ManageStacks.
Apache Kafka or Redpanda — which should I pick?
Both speak the Kafka protocol; your producers and consumers work unchanged. Pick Apache Kafka for maximum ecosystem compatibility (every tool tests against Apache Kafka first), better multi-region setups (MirrorMaker 2 mature), and vendor-neutrality. Pick Redpanda for lower operational overhead (no JVM, no ZooKeeper/KRaft controller quorum), higher single-broker throughput, and simpler tuning. For net-new deployments Redpanda is often the easier operational choice; for stability alignment with existing tooling, Apache Kafka wins.
How does this compare to Confluent Cloud or AWS MSK?
Confluent Cloud is priced per throughput + storage + connectors; AWS MSK is per broker-hour + storage + I/O. Both grow expensive fast. ManageStacks is flat $29 per cluster at standard tier. For workloads under 10 MB/s sustained ingest, self-hosted on ManageStacks is materially cheaper. Confluent wins on the enterprise Connect ecosystem, Stream Governance, and ksqlDB; MSK for tight AWS-VPC integration and IAM auth. We handle the same platform ops, at flat price, in your account.
How is broker management and scaling handled?
3-broker cluster standard. Add brokers through the dashboard; ManageStacks handles partition reassignment across the new topology. Cruise Control-style rebalancing on Business+ prevents partition-hotspots automatically.
Does ManageStacks provide Kafka Connect?
Yes. Kafka Connect workers deploy alongside the cluster. 100+ connectors available (Debezium CDC for Postgres/MySQL/MongoDB, S3, JDBC, Elasticsearch, HTTP, Snowflake). Distributed mode by default for HA connector deployments.
Is Schema Registry included?
Yes. Confluent-compatible Schema Registry deploys alongside. Avro, Protobuf, and JSON schemas supported with schema compatibility checks (backward, forward, full). Prevents downstream consumer breakage from producer schema changes.
Does ManageStacks handle Kafka version upgrades?
Yes. Apache Kafka LTS versions tracked; rolling upgrades across brokers keep the cluster available throughout. KRaft mode migration handled for clusters still on ZooKeeper.
How is consumer-lag monitoring handled?
Prometheus-exporter metrics + Burrow (Kafka lag monitor) + Grafana dashboards. Alert on consumer group lag exceeding thresholds, ISR shrinkage, or broker offline. Business+ plans include Cruise Control for automatic rebalancing.
What if I want to move to Confluent or MSK later?
MirrorMaker 2 replicates topics to any Kafka-compatible cluster. Zero-downtime migration is straightforward. Kafka's API compatibility across Apache/Confluent/MSK/Redpanda means your producers and consumers don't change. Migration off ManageStacks is a supported operation.
Deploy Apache Kafka in under 5 minutes.
Subscribe through your AWS, Azure, or GCP marketplace. We handle provisioning, SSL, monitoring, backups, updates, and security. From $29/app/month.