Apache Kafka 3.8.0 Released

As a release manager for this version, I want to personally thank all users and the team of 200+ contributors for the release of Apache Kafka® 3.8.0. This was truly a community effort to bring new features and improvements to an open source streaming platform used by thousands of organizations worldwide.

This release contains many new features and improvements, including fixes and improvements from 456 JIRA tickets, so the team has been quite busy. An overview of the release can be found in the Apache Kafka's announcement blog post. For a full list of changes, be sure to check the release notes. The Kafka documentation includes a section on Upgrading to 3.8.0 from any version 0.8.x through 3.7.x to guide you through the notable changes and the upgrade process. I encourage you to check out each of these fantastic resources. .

Aiven’s contribution to Apache Kafka and open source software

Apache Kafka is an open source, data streaming platform designed to handle large-scale, real-time data streams. It was originally developed by LinkedIn and later donated to the Apache Software Foundation in 2011. It is one of Apache’s most popular projects, and is the de facto standard for data streaming. Kafka is highly scalable and fault tolerant, providing a durable platform for streaming data with extremely low latency. More than 80% of Fortune 100 companies trust and use Apache Kafka.

In addition to its versatility, Apache Kafka is open source and has a committed, savvy community behind it. With Aiven’s focus on open source and taking the pain out of managing it, we saw the value of Apache Kafka early on and were the first to offer managed Apache Kafka in the cloud.

At Aiven, we live the values of open source software (OSS) sustainability through our Open Source Program Office. Specifically, Aiven has a dedicated team working on open source Apache Kafka full time: This unique approach sets us apart from many other companies where contributors are forced to juggle between product and OSS.

Remember, using open source software is free, but the work that goes into maintaining it does not just magically happen. You can check the projects we maintain at Aiven’s projects on GitHub. We welcome contributions to all our projects.

We are committed to building out our data and AI platform and Aiven for Apache Kafka capabilities to make it easier and faster for you to deploy widely adopted technologies across multiple clouds with just a few clicks to stream, store, and serve your data.