Kafka UI and console comparisons

AKHQ is free and costs operator time. Kpow is licensed per cluster with a published price. How the two differ on masking, audit, and support.

CMAK connects through ZooKeeper and stops at Kafka 4.0. Kpow bills per cluster and talks to brokers. What each one costs, and which one fits your team.

Control Center needs a Confluent JAR in the broker classpath. Kpow runs against any distribution, per cluster, at a published price. Which fits which team.

Kadeck bills per user, Kpow bills per cluster. What each one costs, what each needs in order to start, and which one fits your team.

Kafbat UI is free and carries real RBAC, masking and an audit log. Kpow is licensed per cluster with support behind it. Which fits which team.

Kafdrop is free with no tier above it. Kpow is licensed per cluster. What each one does well, where each runs out, and which fits your cluster.

Lenses.io bills by capability with a user cap. Kpow bills per cluster. How the pricing, the control plane and the exit differ, and which fits which team.

Offset Explorer is licensed per named user and installed on a laptop. Kpow is licensed per cluster and shared. What each costs, and which fits which team.

Redpanda Console is free, and its governance is licensed to the broker vendor. Kpow prices per cluster and publishes the price. Which one fits which team.

AKHQ ships releases. CMAK last shipped in April 2022 and still needs ZooKeeper. What each one costs to carry, where each runs out, and which to pick.

AKHQ is free and runs against any Kafka. Confluent Control Center is not sold separately and needs Confluent Platform in the brokers. What each costs.

AKHQ is free under Apache 2.0 with no paid tier. Kadeck sells governance at ten seats. What each costs, where each runs out, and which fits which team.

AKHQ and Kafbat UI are both free and Apache 2.0, so the split is maintenance and governance. What each masks, what each audits, where each runs out.

AKHQ and Kafdrop are both free Kafka UIs under Apache 2.0. What each keeps up with, what free actually costs a team, and which one fits which job.

AKHQ is free with no vendor behind it. Lenses prices by tier and needs a Postgres per component. What each costs to run, where each runs out, and which fits.

AKHQ is free and deployed once for a whole team. Offset Explorer is licensed per named user and installed per machine. What each costs and where each runs out.

AKHQ holds nothing back from its Apache 2.0 release. Redpanda Console gives away the viewer and charges for the login. What each costs, and which fits.

CMAK is free and stopped shipping in 2022. Conduktor bills per seat and needs PostgreSQL. What each costs, where each runs out, and which one fits your team.

CMAK needs ZooKeeper. Confluent Control Center needs Confluent Platform. What each one costs to run, where each runs out, and which fits which team.

CMAK is free and needs a ZooKeeper. Kadeck is commercial and bills per user. What each one costs, which clusters each can reach, and which fits which team.

CMAK needs ZooKeeper, so it cannot reach a Kafka 4.x cluster. Kafbat UI connects like any client. What each free tool really costs, and where each runs out.

CMAK is an admin console that needs ZooKeeper. Kafdrop is a message viewer that does not. What each is for, what free costs, and what a KRaft cutover breaks.

CMAK is free and stopped shipping in 2022. Lenses is a control plane with a database per cluster. What each costs, where each runs out, and which fits.

CMAK is a server-side console with a hard ZooKeeper dependency. Offset Explorer is a desktop client licensed per user. What each costs and where each runs out.

CMAK cannot reach a KRaft cluster. Redpanda Console licenses the partition reassignment CMAK did for nothing. What each covers free, and which fits your team.

Conduktor bills per seat and runs against any Kafka distribution. Confluent Control Center is bundled with Confluent Platform and reaches nothing else.

Conduktor sells policy enforcement, Kadeck sells data exploration. What each charges per person, where governance sits on each ladder, and which fits a team.

Conduktor Console Community caps at 50 users and 3 clusters. Kafbat UI caps at nothing. What each free tier reaches, what the next rung costs, which to pick.

Kafdrop is free with no authentication at all. Conduktor Team Edition is 1,200 US dollars per seat per year. What each free tier reaches, and which fits yours.

Conduktor bills per seat and puts a proxy on the wire. Lenses tiers by user count and connects as a client. What each costs, and which fits a team.

Conduktor is a per-seat platform with a database behind it. Offset Explorer is a per-user desktop application. What each costs, and which fits which team.

Conduktor bills per seat. Redpanda Console is free, with RBAC behind a broker vendor licence. What each costs, where each runs out, and which fits your team.

Confluent Control Center ships with Confluent Platform and watches nothing else. Kadeck bills per seat. What each costs, where each runs out, and which fits.

Confluent Control Center only ever watches Confluent Platform. Kafbat UI is free and reaches any cluster. What each costs, where each runs out, and which fits.

Confluent Control Center needs a broker-side reporter and a platform licence. Kafdrop runs on any Kafka and has no login. What each one obliges you to own.

Confluent Control Center needs a broker-side reporter and reaches only Confluent Platform. Lenses connects to any Kafka and bills per user. What each costs.

Control Center ships with Confluent Platform and reaches nothing else. Offset Explorer is a per-user desktop app. What each costs, and which one fits you.

Control Center only runs on Confluent Platform. Redpanda Console is free until governance. What each costs, where each runs out, and which to pick.

Kadeck bills per user and puts governance behind Enterprise. Kafbat UI is Apache-2.0 with RBAC, masking, and audit built in. What each costs, and which fits.

Kafdrop is free with nobody to escalate to. Kadeck bills per user and its governed tier starts at ten seats. What each costs, and which fits which team.

Lenses meters users and capability tiers. Kadeck meters seats. What governance costs on each side, what each one makes you deploy, and which fits your team.

Kadeck bills per user and puts governance behind a ten-user floor. Offset Explorer is a per-user purchase nobody logs in to. What each costs, and which fits.

Kadeck bills per user and holds governance at Enterprise. Redpanda Console is free and gates the login. What each costs, where each runs out, and which fits.

Kafdrop is a fast viewer with no authentication and no KRaft support. Kafbat UI adds RBAC, masking, and an audit log. What each costs, and which to pick.

Kafbat UI is free and stateless, with no database. Lenses meters by user count from 4,000 US dollars a year. What each costs, and where each runs out.

Kafbat UI is free and deployed once for a team. Offset Explorer is licensed per named user. What each costs, where each runs out, and which fits which team.

Kafbat UI is Apache 2.0 with governance included. Redpanda Console gates access control behind a Redpanda licence. What each costs, where each runs out.

Kafdrop is a free viewer with no login in front of it. Lenses bills by user count and needs PostgreSQL. What each costs, where each runs out, who picks which.

Kafdrop is free with no login in front of it. Offset Explorer is a purchase per named user. What each costs, where each runs out, and which fits which team.

Kafdrop is Apache 2.0 with no paid tier. Redpanda Console is source-available, with SSO and RBAC licensed. What each costs, and which fits which team.

Offset Explorer is a desktop purchase per named user. Lenses is a control plane billed by tier. What each costs, where each runs out, and who should pick which.