# Confluent

> Commercial Kafka platform from the team that built it

Confluent is the commercial data streaming platform built around Apache Kafka by its original creators, sold as self-managed Confluent Platform and as the Confluent Cloud service, and acquired by IBM in March 2026.

Website: https://www.confluent.io

## Use it when

- You want Kafka with the platform pieces already assembled: connectors, Schema Registry, Flink SQL and ksqlDB, security, and management tooling from one vendor.
- A managed service must span clouds; Confluent Cloud runs the same surface on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, with Cluster Linking between clusters.
- Enterprise support and compliance weigh more than license cost; this is the commercial default, now backed by IBM since the March 2026 acquisition.
- You need the whole spectrum: self-managed Platform, fully managed Cloud, and BYOC through WarpStream under one roof.

## Think twice when

- Cost sensitivity dominates: eCKU/CKU hours plus ingress, egress, replicated storage, and separately billed processing add up against self-managed Kafka or a leaner compatible.
- You only need a small cluster; the platform's value concentrates at organizational scale.
- Vendor independence is a goal in itself; the convenience deepens the relationship.

## How it runs

Two shapes: Confluent Platform, a self-managed distribution you run and license, and Confluent Cloud, a managed service where eCKUs autoscale and Dedicated CKUs pin capacity. Managed connectors, tiered storage, and Stream Governance are platform features; Flink SQL and ksqlDB are billed separately from the cluster.

## Details

### General

| Attribute | Value |
| --- | --- |
| License | Commercial |
| Deployment | Self-hosted, Managed |
| Workload | Streaming |
| Operational complexity | Medium |
| Pricing | Free, Subscription |
| Documentation | https://docs.confluent.io |

### Event Streaming

| Attribute | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Protocol | Kafka |
| Consumption model | Replayable log with offsets; Cloud added queues in 2026 |
| Storage | Kafka's, with tiered storage in Cloud |
| What you run | Confluent Platform yourself, or nothing on Confluent Cloud |
| Scaling | eCKUs autoscale; Dedicated CKUs are fixed capacity you set |
| Multi-region | Cluster Linking between clusters, billed as its own dimension |
| Delivery guarantee | At-least-once by default; Exactly-once with transactions |
| Connectors | Managed connectors on Cloud; Kafka Connect on Platform |
| Transformations | Flink SQL and ksqlDB, billed separately from the cluster |
| Billing unit | eCKU or CKU hours, plus ingress, egress and 3× replicated storage |

## Capabilities

- [Event Streaming](https://matca.io/capabilities/event-streaming)

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Source: https://matca.io/confluent
Last updated: 2026-08-31T11:40:49.158Z