head to head · open source
kafka vs MadelineProto
kafka has 34,117 GitHub stars, 15,657 forks, 574 open issues and last shipped yesterday. MadelineProto has 3,551 stars, 931 forks, 75 open issues and last shipped yesterday. kafka leads on adoption by 861% (34,117 vs 3,551 stars). kafka is written in Java under Apache-2.0; MadelineProto is written in PHP under AGPL-3.0. kafka has attracted 46% as many forks as stars, MadelineProto 26%. kafka was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 20902 open source comparisons
Side by side
| kafka | MadelineProto | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 3.6K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | PHP |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 931 |
| 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 MadelineProto if
- You want the MadelineProto feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches PHP
- You evaluated both and MadelineProto 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 MadelineProto
MadelineProto, a PHP MTProto telegram client Created by Daniil Gentili StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 Do join the official channel, @MadelineProto and the support groups! Approved by Telegram! What's this? This library can be used to easily interact with Telegram without the bot API, just like the official apps. It can login with a phone number (MTProto API), or with a bot token (MTProto API, no bot API involved! ). It is now fully async! Getting started (now fully async!) Try running this code in a browser or in a console! Tip: if you receive an error (or nothing), send us the error message and the MadelineProto.log…
read the full MadelineProto overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Messaging & Event Streaming projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Messaging & Event Streaming field.
Frequently asked questions
Is kafka or MadelineProto more popular?
kafka has 34,117 GitHub stars and MadelineProto has 3,551. kafka has the larger community by that measure.
Are kafka and MadelineProto free?
Both are open source. kafka is licensed under Apache-2.0 and MadelineProto under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kafka and MadelineProto?
kafka is written in Java and MadelineProto in PHP. 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 MadelineProto?
Choose kafka if you want the larger community (34,117 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose MadelineProto if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.