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Classic Kafka overview

Classic Kafka is an Aiven for Apache Kafka® service type that uses fixed plans with local broker storage. You can optionally move older data to object storage with tiered storage when the selected plan and cloud support it.

Classic Kafka is compatible with Apache Kafka APIs and clients. It remains available for existing customers. New customers create Standard Kafka services. Free and Developer tier services use Classic Kafka.

Key characteristics​

Classic Kafka services:

  • Use fixed plans that define compute, memory, and local disk capacity.
  • Store classic topics on local broker disks by default.
  • Support optional tiered storage to offload older data to object storage.
  • Run on Aiven Cloud or Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC).
  • Support Free, Developer, and Professional service tiers (availability depends on the deployment model).

When to use Classic Kafka​

Use Classic Kafka when you need:

  • Predictable plan-based capacity and pricing.
  • Low-latency access to data on local broker storage.
  • Control over broker size, disk capacity, and scaling.
  • BYOC deployment, including optional diskless topics as an add-on on supported plans.
  • Free or Developer tier Kafka services.

Existing Classic Kafka services​

Existing Classic Kafka services continue to run unchanged. You cannot upgrade or migrate a Classic Kafka service to Standard Kafka. To use Standard Kafka, create a Standard Kafka service.

Classic Kafka and Standard Kafka can run in the same project. To replicate data between them, use Apache Kafka MirrorMaker 2.

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