alternative to Confluent Cloud, Amazon SQS

Apache Kafka

8 tools replace Apache Kafka, 2 of them drop-in

RedpandaDrop-in

Redpanda is a streaming data platform for developers. Kafka API compatible. 10x faster. No ZooKeeper. No JVM!

Kafka API compatible, without ZooKeeper or a JVM.

Language
C++
Licence
None detected
Stars
13k
Latest
v26.2.2
Last push
2026-10-08

No licence detected

AutoMQDrop-in

Diskless Kafka® on S3. 10x Cost-Effective. No Cross-AZ Traffic Cost. Autoscale in seconds. Single-digit ms latency. Multi-AZ Availability.

A Kafka fork that keeps partitions in S3-compatible object storage, with the same protocol and tools.

Language
Java
Licence
Apache-2.0
Stars
11k
Latest
1.7.5-rc3
Last push
2026-11-12
Apache RocketMQFull replacement

Apache RocketMQ is a cloud native messaging and streaming platform, making it simple to build event-driven applications.

Streaming and messaging with transactional and delayed messages, through its own protocol and clients.

Language
Java
Licence
Apache-2.0
Stars
23k
Last push
2026-11-10
NATSPartial

High-Performance server for NATS.io, the cloud and edge native messaging system.

Durable streams with JetStream, without Kafka's protocol.

Language
Go
Licence
Apache-2.0
Stars
21k
Latest
v2.15.3
Last push
2026-11-11
RabbitMQPartial

Open source RabbitMQ: core server and tier 1 (built-in) plugins

A message broker first; streams add a replayable, Kafka-like log.

Language
JavaScript
Licence
Other
Stars
14k
Latest
v4.4.0
Last push
2026-11-11
Apache IggyPartial

Apache Iggy: Hyper-Efficient Message Streaming at Laser Speed

Persistent message streaming in Rust over TCP, QUIC and HTTP, with its own protocol and clients.

Language
Rust
Licence
Apache-2.0
Stars
5.3k
Last push
2026-11-11
FluvioPartial

🦀 event stream processing for developers to collect and transform data in motion to power responsive data intensive applications.

Streaming in Rust with WebAssembly transforms, with its own protocol and clients.

Language
Rust
Licence
Apache-2.0
Stars
5.3k
Latest
v0.18.1
Last push
2026-11-05

Other tools in Event streaming