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Kafka pricing vs Condense: From
Cluster Costs to Complete Streaming Platform TCO

Kafka pricing vs Condense: From Cluster Costs to Complete Streaming Platform TCO

Managed Kafka services like MSK, Confluent, Aiven, and Redpanda charge per broker, unit, or GB – Condense gives you a Kafka‑based streaming platform in your cloud with pipelines, connectors, and governance included, often at 40%+ lower TCO

Condense gives you managed Kafka in your own
cloud, a low‑code pipeline builder, connectors, and built‑in security so you ship real‑time apps faster

Condense gives you managed Kafka in your own cloud, a low‑code pipeline builder, connectors, and built‑in security so you ship real‑time apps faster

Our Pricing Model
Our Pricing Model

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How Kafka pricing actually works today

From ‘free’ open source to managed Kafka line items

Self‑managed Kafka (EC2/Kubernetes/own cloud)

Software is free, but infra (compute, storage, cross‑AZ traffic), ops time, and tooling often dwarf managed service bills.

Services publish domain events (OrderCreated, PaymentProcessed) to topics; other services subscribe and react, improving decoupling
and scalability
Services publish domain events (OrderCreated, PaymentProcessed) to topics; other services subscribe and react, improving decoupling
and scalability
Confluent Cloud

Serverless clusters priced via eCKUs per hour, plus per‑GB ingress/egress and storage; tiers (Basic, Standard, Enterprise) start from ~0 to hundreds or thousands per month depending on utilization.

Services publish domain events (OrderCreated, PaymentProcessed) to topics; other services subscribe and react, improving decoupling
and scalability
Services publish domain events (OrderCreated, PaymentProcessed) to topics; other services subscribe and react, improving decoupling
and scalability
AWS MSK & other cloud‑managed Kafka

Charged by broker instance hours, storage GB‑month, optional I/O and low‑cost storage, with serverless models adding partition hours and data in/out.

Services publish domain events (OrderCreated, PaymentProcessed) to topics; other services subscribe and react, improving decoupling
and scalability
Services publish domain events (OrderCreated, PaymentProcessed) to topics; other services subscribe and react, improving decoupling
and scalability

Clusters are cheap. Everything around them isn’t.

Condense is designed to attack these hidden costs by giving you a full streaming platform on managed Kafka, not just cheaper brokers.

// Infrastructure and networking

Compute and storage for brokers plus cross‑AZ replication and client traffic can hit tens of thousands per month at scale.​
You can see broker and consumer lag metrics but still spend time correlating which topics and apps are affected; Condense attaches metrics directly to pipelines and connectors.​

// Over‑provisioning & scaling inefficiencies

Over‑sizing clusters “just in case,” lack of right‑sizing, and conservative retention policies all inflate bills.​
Platform, data, and app teams each maintain separate dashboards and alert rules; Condense centralizes pipeline and cluster observability in one place.​

// Ops and SRE cost

Skilled Kafka engineers and 24×7 support add significant recurring cost; Confluent’s own TCO content emphasises these hidden expenses when arguing for its platform.​
Instead of treating Kafka monitoring as a separate project, Condense ships it as part of how pipelines are designed, deployed, and governed.​

// Ecosystem tooling and licenses

Schema registry, connectors, monitoring, governance, and integration
tools either cost extra from vendors or require internal build/maintain budgets.​
Instead of treating Kafka monitoring as a separate project, Condense ships it as part of how pipelines are designed, deployed, and governed.​

From paying for pieces to paying for a platform,
How Condense changes Kafka cost structure

Kafka included, managed, and deployed into your cloud

Pipelines and tooling included vs bolt‑ons

40%+ lower TCO

Condense (Kafka-based platform)Self-managed KafkaManaged Kafka Only (MSK, Aiven, etc.)
SoftwareIncludedFree OSSIncluded
Infra & TrafficYour cloud bill (optimised)Your cloud billYour cloud bill
Ops & SRECondense Handles Kafka ops as a platformYour teamReduced, but still tuning & tooling
Tooling (Connector, pipelines, monitoring)Included in Condense platformBuild/buy seperatelyBuild/buy seperately

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Is Condense cheaper than running open‑source Kafka myself?
Open‑source Kafka has no license fee but significant infra, ops, and tooling costs; Condense combines managed Kafka with pipelines and monitoring, and your own content cites 40%+ lower TCO vs DIY Kafka on your cloud.
Is Condense cheaper than running open‑source Kafka myself?
Open‑source Kafka has no license fee but significant infra, ops, and tooling costs; Condense combines managed Kafka with pipelines and monitoring, and your own content cites 40%+ lower TCO vs DIY Kafka on your cloud.
Is Condense cheaper than running open‑source Kafka myself?
Open‑source Kafka has no license fee but significant infra, ops, and tooling costs; Condense combines managed Kafka with pipelines and monitoring, and your own content cites 40%+ lower TCO vs DIY Kafka on your cloud.
Can Condense help reduce Redpanda/Aiven/managed Kafka bills?
By consolidating pipelines, reducing over‑provisioning, and moving from multiple tools to a single platform, Condense can reduce both infra and operational overhead compared with pure broker‑as‑a‑service offerings.
Can Condense help reduce Redpanda/Aiven/managed Kafka bills?
By consolidating pipelines, reducing over‑provisioning, and moving from multiple tools to a single platform, Condense can reduce both infra and operational overhead compared with pure broker‑as‑a‑service offerings.
Can Condense help reduce Redpanda/Aiven/managed Kafka bills?
By consolidating pipelines, reducing over‑provisioning, and moving from multiple tools to a single platform, Condense can reduce both infra and operational overhead compared with pure broker‑as‑a‑service offerings.
How does Condense work with AWS MSK pricing?
If you already use MSK, Condense can sit above it as a pipeline/governance layer; if you use Condense’s managed Kafka deployment, Condense handles Kafka while you mainly see your cloud infra bill plus Condense subscription, rather than separate broker + connector + tooling charges.
How does Condense work with AWS MSK pricing?
If you already use MSK, Condense can sit above it as a pipeline/governance layer; if you use Condense’s managed Kafka deployment, Condense handles Kafka while you mainly see your cloud infra bill plus Condense subscription, rather than separate broker + connector + tooling charges.
How does Condense work with AWS MSK pricing?
If you already use MSK, Condense can sit above it as a pipeline/governance layer; if you use Condense’s managed Kafka deployment, Condense handles Kafka while you mainly see your cloud infra bill plus Condense subscription, rather than separate broker + connector + tooling charges.
How does Condense compare to Confluent Kafka enterprise pricing?
Confluent Cloud charges per CKU/hour, GB in/out, and storage, with tiered plans; Condense focuses on running a Kafka‑based platform in your cloud account with more predictable platform‑level pricing, so you are not metered on every GB and connector task.​
How does Condense compare to Confluent Kafka enterprise pricing?
Confluent Cloud charges per CKU/hour, GB in/out, and storage, with tiered plans; Condense focuses on running a Kafka‑based platform in your cloud account with more predictable platform‑level pricing, so you are not metered on every GB and connector task.​
How does Condense compare to Confluent Kafka enterprise pricing?
Confluent Cloud charges per CKU/hour, GB in/out, and storage, with tiered plans; Condense focuses on running a Kafka‑based platform in your cloud account with more predictable platform‑level pricing, so you are not metered on every GB and connector task.​

Conclusion

If you are comparing Apache Kafka pricing across MSK, Confluent, Redpanda, and Aiven, you are already thinking in TCO terms. Condense gives you a Kafka‑based streaming platform in your own cloud that reduces infra, ops, and tooling costs instead of just shifting broker line items.