# Managed Apache Kafka
Now running 4.0
Managed Apache Kafka® scale real-time
data streaming with confidence
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Managed Apache Kafka® scale real-time data streaming with confidence
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Struggling with the complexities of managing Apache Kafka? NetApp Instaclustr delivers fully managed Kafka clusters tailored to meet your business needs.
[Apache Kafka playbook](/resources/scaling-seamlessly-with-apache-kafka-insights-for-enterprise-leaders/)
[Book free consultation](/contact-us/)
   
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- [How it works](#howItWorks)
- [Why Instaclustr](#whyInstaclustr)
- [Customer use cases](#customerUseCases)
- [Features](#features)
- [Kafka for AI](#kafkaForAi)
- [Resources](#resources)
How it works Why Instaclustr Customer use cases Features Kafka for AI Resources
Simplify and scale your Kafka experience
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At Instaclustr, we’ve designed our platform to solve the challenges of managing Kafka at scale. Our features ensure seamless operations and allow your teams to focus on innovation, not infrastructure.
![icon rocketship]() Deploy quickly
Spin up production-ready Kafka clusters in minutes without needing advanced technical skills. Use our console, API, or Terraform provider for an effortless setup.
![icon scale]() Scale flexibly
Adapt to fluctuating workloads with dynamic scaling options. Manage bursting demands worry-free, whether running on-prem, in the cloud, or hybrid environments.
![icon chart performance]() Ensure performance
Leverage our proactive monitoring tools to ensure your environment operates at peak efficiency.
![expert support icon]() Expert support
Experience peace of mind with 24/7 support from our team of seasoned Kafka professionals, so you’re always covered.
Eliminate the burden of self-managed Apache Kafka
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[Apache Kafka](https://www.instaclustr.com/education/apache-kafka/) enables robust, scalable stream processing, and event-driven architectures for enterprise companies and startups alike.
Focus on building your applications knowing that Instaclustr Managed Kafka comes optimized for your needs.
[Calculate your savings](/roi-calculator-2026/)
*Learn more in our detailed guide to [Kafka integration.](https://www.instaclustr.com/education/apache-kafka/apache-kafka-integration-challenges-solutions-and-best-practices/)*
Features
Instaclustr for Kafka
Managing Kafka in-house
Features: Performance optimization
Instaclustr for Kafka: Optimized scaling and configuration
Managing Kafka in-house: Requires advanced in-house expertise
Features: Scalability
Instaclustr for Kafka: Pre-built infrastructure and configurations based on business needs
Managing Kafka in-house: Requires significant planning, manual configuration and hardware/resource investment
Features: Stress-free resilience
Instaclustr for Kafka: Built-in redundancy, automatic failover, and high availability
Managing Kafka in-house: Custom setup for redundancy and manual intervention during failover
Features: Upgrades and maintenance
Instaclustr for Kafka: Managed upgrades, patches, and maintenance, ensuring minimal disruption
Managing Kafka in-house: Manual upgrades and maintenance, with frequent downtime
Features: SLA guarantee
Instaclustr for Kafka: Up to 99.999% availability SLA & up to 99% Latency SLAs
Managing Kafka in-house: No SLA
Features: Pricing
Instaclustr for Kafka: Transparent, predictable pricing. No hidden costs
Managing Kafka in-house: Variable expenses for cloud services or hardware and software for on-prem deployments
Features: Security compliance
Instaclustr for Kafka: Built-in, with high level of security features and compliance with industry standards (SOC2, ISO27001, ISO27018, PCI-DDS, HIPPA)
Managing Kafka in-house: Needs custom implementation
Kafka Diskless: Redefining Data Streaming Architecture
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By separating storage from compute, diskless Kafka has the potential to significantly reduce infrastructure costs and simplify operations for selected workloads.
[ Learn more ](/platform/kafka-diskless/)
Customers love Instaclustr for Apache Kafka
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![quote mark]()
![Joshua McKenzie]()
![lendi logo]()
![Joshua McKenzie]()
— Joshua McKenzie, Head of Engineering
![lendi logo]()
Instaclustr has been instrumental in helping us build out our data-centric platform. Their consulting team did an amazing job in providing specific technical expertise around Apache Kafka, and their managed platform provides us with the confidence and reliability we need to continue to grow.
— Joshua McKenzie, Head of Engineering
[Learn more](/resources/customer-case-study-lendi/)
![quote mark]()
![Ken Izumi]()
![Paidy logo]()
![Ken Izumi]()
— Ken Izumi, VP of Engineering
![Paidy logo]()
Technologies like Apache Cassandra and Apache Kafka can be complex to manage efficiently and effectively. Instaclustr abstracts that complexity and helps us to stay focused on building our applications and services.
— Ken Izumi, VP of Engineering
[Learn more](/resources/customer-case-study-paidy/)
![quote mark]()
![Ben Moody]()
![Tesouro logo]()
![Ben Moody]()
— Ben Moody, DevOps Lead
![Tesouro logo]()
One of our engineering managers really ran point on Kafka specifically. It was a collaborative effort, but when it came to scaling and updates, we realized we needed a dedicated team like Instacluster to help us.
— Ben Moody, DevOps Lead
[Learn more](/resources/customer-case-study-tesouro/)
Why Instaclustr Is the smarter choice for Apache Kafka
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Instaclustr for Apache Kafka runs Kafka in the cloud or on-prem, providing a production-ready and fully supported Kafka clusters.
[Discover our platform](https://www.instaclustr.com/wp-content/uploads/Insta_Platform_Datasheet_Apache_Kafka_1_27aug24.pdf)
- Fully managed and hosted, 100% open source +
- Bring Your Own Cloud or Ours
- 24×7 Support
- SOC2, ISO27001 and ISO27018 Certified
- PCI-DSS and HIPAA Compliant
- Built in Monitoring
- Provision via Console, API or Terraform Provider
- Up to 99.999% availability SLA & up to 99% Latency SLAs +
Our industry leading SLAs for Kafka set us apart. Enterprise deployments with dedicated Apache ZooKeeper or KRaft nodes have a 99.999% SLA. Standard deployments still provide a [99.99% SLA](https://www.instaclustr.com/policies/service-level-agreements/).
- Dedicated or co-located Apache ZooKeeper™ and KRaft nodes +
NetApp offers dedicated or co-located Apache ZooKeeper and KRaft nodes to enhance performance and availability.
- Easily add Kafka® Connect +
Kafka Connect allows you to use low-code enterprise grade connectors between products in your data layer. Easily add [Kafka Connect](https://www.instaclustr.com/platform/managed-kafka-connect/) in our console.
- Managed mirroring +
NetApp offers [managed mirroring](https://www.instaclustr.com/blog/general-availability-of-managed-mirroring-for-apache-kafka/) via MirrorMaker 2 to mirror data between geographical regions, create active/active topologies, or create an additional copy of your data in another region with a failover cluster.
Our Technical Operations team takes full, end to end, responsibility for the availability of the mirroring service.
- Zero Downtime Migration +
Managed Apache Kafka makes it easy to horizontally scale Kafka by adding or removing nodes.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) Gateway +
Give your AI applications and agents standardized, governed, and scalable access to your Kafka data infrastructure.
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Streaming data at scale
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Focus on your core operations while we manage your Apache Kafka infrastructure. Learn more about [Kafka architecture.](https://www.instaclustr.com/education/apache-kafka/apache-kafka-architecture-a-complete-guide-2026/)
- [ Scalability ](#panel-1-1)
- [ Reliability ](#panel-1-2)
- [ Automated health checks ](#panel-1-3)
- [ Simple provisioning ](#panel-1-4)
Scalability Reliability Automated health checks Simple provisioning
### Scalability
Apache Kafka is proven to scale from small streaming workloads up through millions of writes per second.
With NetApp Instaclustr, you can easily take advantage of this to scale the capacity of Kafka to support event-driven architectures or handle bursting workloads. Scaling goes both ways: we’ve helped customers scale down to reduce costs.
### Reliability
Apache Kafka is a highly performant and fault-tolerant database to reliably stream and queue messages in event-driven architectures.
We optimized the configuration of Kafka to ensure the most robust reliability and performance for our managed service customers, with SLAs up to 99.999%
### Automated health checks
Apache Kafka performs best when you use it intelligently.
Our system monitors your Kafka cluster and our 24x 7 team of dedicated Kafka experts are alerted whenever action or investigation is necessary.
### Simple provisioning
With Instaclustr, you don’t have to think about any of the tricky cluster configurations. We’ve done all the hard work so that you can spin up a production-ready cluster within minutes via our console, API or Terraform.
Instaclustr for Apache Kafka makes it easy to horizontally or vertically scale Kafka.
Get real-time delivery of data For AI workflows
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Apache Kafka is a key component for AI applications that require real-time data. It efficiently ingests, transforms, and delivers data from multiple sources, while supporting high throughput, scalability and fault tolerance. Kafka is used in data-heavy AI workflows such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), chatbots, technical support, virtual assistants, recommendation systems, Agentic AI, knowledge engines, and more.
[ Learn more ](/blog/unlocking-the-power-of-kafka-for-ai-how-kafka-ai-transforms-data-processing/)
Featured insights for applying Apache Kafka to real-world scenarios
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Discover your roadmap to overcoming Kafka management challenges and unlocking peak efficiency and scalability.
[Download e-Book](/resources/scaling-seamlessly-with-apache-kafka-insights-for-enterprise-leaders/)
Recommended resources
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[ White Paper
Practical solutions in Apache Kafka® for compliance with data privacy regulations
In this white paper, discover actionable strategies for addressing compliance concerns in Apache Kafka all while optimizing Kafka...
](https://www.instaclustr.com/resources/practical-solutions-in-apache-kafka-for-compliance-with-data-privacy-regulations/)
[ Blog
Migrating Apache Kafka Clusters from ZooKeeper to KRaft
Simplify your Kafka ZooKeeper to KRaft migration with our automated process. Learn how to ensure efficiency, minimize risks, and...
](https://www.instaclustr.com/blog/migrating-apache-kafka-clusters-from-zookeeper-to-kraft/)
[ Blog
Rebalance your Apache Kafka® partitions with the next generation Consumer Rebalance ...
This blog focuses on KIP-848, the next generation consumer rebalance protocol...
](https://www.instaclustr.com/blog/rebalance-your-apache-kafka-partitions-with-the-next-generation-consumer-rebalance-protocol/)
[ Documentation
Getting Started with Apache Kafka
Welcome to Instaclustr's support pages for Apache Cassandra, Apache Kafka and Apache Elasticsearch. Here's everything on getting...
](https://www.instaclustr.com/support/documentation/kafka/getting-started-with-kafka/)
Optimize your
Kafka cluster performance
Today
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Whether you’re deploying Kafka for the first time, optimizing throughput, or troubleshooting production concerns, we’re here every step of the way.
[ Book free consultation ](/contact-us/)