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Free Apache Kafka®
Aiven is the Apache Kafka® development platform. Start your free cloud Apache Kafka cluster with fully managed Schema registry and REST proxy.
Service benefits
What’s included in your free Aiven for Apache Kafka?
With Aiven's free managed Apache Kafka plan, we've set healthy limits that protect the ecosystem while giving you enough room to build real applications.
Managed Apache Kafka®, now free
Get the stability and automation of Kafka as a service trusted by our enterprise customers, scaled for your prototyping needs.
Master Event-Driven architectures
Build expertise using the exact managed Kafka implementation trusted by Fortune 500 companies, completely free of charge.
Validate complex architectural concepts instantly
Skip approvals and resource provisioning to test mission-critical designs right away with a fully functional, reliable Kafka as a service.
Launch your next microservice today
Deploy a dependable, low-latency hosted Kafka cluster for side projects without any infrastructure overhead or cost commitments.
Enterprise-grade infrastructure
Experience the stability, security, and automation of the hosted infrastructure our largest customers rely on.
Ready to build?
Get started in three steps
Sign up for Aiven & create your project
No credit card needed.
Create your free managed service
Your cluster provisions in under two minutes.
Connect & start building
Use Sample Data Generator or Quick Connect in the Aiven console to start producing messages in as little as 30 seconds.
FAQ
Whilst Apache Kafka® is Open Source, meaning the core software is free, managed Apache Kafka® is usually a paid service. Aiven are now offering a Free Tier for Apache Kafka®, which provides a fully managed, no-strings-attached Kafka service for $0/month.
Aiven’s free Apache Kafka® tier is a fully managed Apache Kafka service offered at $0/month. It is designed for personal development, learning, testing, and hobbyist projects.
Yes! This is not a trial plan; it is a fully managed, no-strings-attached Kafka service and it is completely free.
As long as the Free tier exists, you can use it within the specified resource limits. Free services will be automatically powered off if they or the Aiven platform aren't actively used, but you can reactivate simply within the console, with no time limit imposed.
Absolutely. You can transition to a paid plan without disrupting service continuity, although a cloud migration will be necessary. Our upcoming ‘Developer Tier’ will be available in the near future to enable you to upgrade without cloud migration. Aiven handles the transition behind the scenes, ensuring your data and configurations are moved to the new plan without downtime.
We have set limits carefully on the Free Tier to ensure stability for all users. The key technical limitations are:
- Data IN: up to 250 kb/s
- Data OUT: up to 250 kb/s
- Retention: up to 3 days
- Clouds: Limited
- No Kafka Connect
- No integrations
- Automatic Poweroff: Free services will be automatically powered off if they or the Aiven platform aren't actively used.
- Support: Support is provided via documentation.
Find a kafka plan that fits your needs from the Aiven for Apache Kafka® range.
Yes. The free tier includes Karapace, an open-source tool that provides both a Schema Registry and a REST Proxy.These features allow you to manage Avro/JSON/Protobuf schemas and interact with your cluster via HTTP. You can review all the included features in the Aiven Free Kafka Tier documentation.
The best way to test is to connect your local application directly to the Aiven Free Kafka endpoint using the provided SSL credentials. Additionally, Aiven provides a Sample Data Generator in the console to help you simulate message flow without writing producer code immediately. For a quick guide on getting started, check out our post on Just Free Kafka in the Cloud.
Yes, Aiven provides basic monitoring for all free services. You can view real-time metrics and service logs directly in the Aiven Console to track throughput and service health. If you are exploring different ways to visualize your clusters, you might also find our guide on the Top Kafka UIs helpful.
Yes. All data is encrypted at rest (on disk) and in transit (using TLS/SSL) to ensure the highest level of security, even on the free plan. We believe in providing robust data infrastructure for all, so enterprise-grade security is never compromised. (Bonus reading: Curious about the future of Kafka storage? Read about Diskless Apache Kafka (KIP-1150)).
