head to head · open source
kafka vs AutoMQ
kafka has 34,117 GitHub stars, 15,657 forks, 574 open issues and last shipped yesterday. AutoMQ has 10,920 stars, 800 forks, 60 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kafka leads on adoption by 212% (34,117 vs 10,920 stars). kafka is written in Java under Apache-2.0; AutoMQ is written in Java under Apache-2.0. kafka has attracted 46% as many forks as stars, AutoMQ 7%. AutoMQ was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (kafka), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| kafka | AutoMQ | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 11K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | Java |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 800 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick kafka if
- You weight community size — 34K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick AutoMQ if
- You want the AutoMQ feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and AutoMQ fits your workflow better
About kafka
Apache Kafka is an open source distributed event streaming platform used by thousands of companies for high performance data pipelines, streaming analytics, data integration, and mission critical applications. You need to have Java installed. We build and test Apache Kafka with Java versions 17 and 25. The release parameter in javac is set to 11 for the clients and streams modules, and 17 for the rest, ensuring compatibility with their respective minimum Java versions. Similarly, the release parameter in scalac is set to 11 for the streams modules and 17 for the rest. Scala 2.13 is the only supported version in…
read the full kafka overview →
About AutoMQ
Diskless Kafka® on S3, Offering 10x Cost Savings and Scaling in Seconds. 📑  Documentation     🔥  Explore AutoMQ Playground Now     yellow) orange) From 6 Hours to Seconds: How Grab Achieved 3x Data Streaming Efficiency with AutoMQ Tencent Cloud EMR uses AutoMQ as a first party service 2.2B Messages a Day: LG U+ Modernizes Log Pipelines with AutoMQ on AWS Geely: Powering Hybrid Cloud Streaming for a 10 Million Vehicle Fleet Bambu Lab: Unifying Multi Cloud Data Streaming with Stateless Kafka Honda: Slashing Kafka TCO by 50% with Cloud Native Diskless Architecture Avia Games…
read the full AutoMQ overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kafka or AutoMQ more popular?
kafka has 34,117 GitHub stars and AutoMQ has 10,920. kafka has the larger community by that measure.
Are kafka and AutoMQ free?
Both are open source. kafka is licensed under Apache-2.0 and AutoMQ under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kafka and AutoMQ?
kafka is written in Java and AutoMQ in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, kafka or AutoMQ?
Choose kafka if you want the larger community (34,117 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose AutoMQ if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.