head to head · open source
kafka vs Operational
kafka has 34,117 GitHub stars, 15,657 forks, 574 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Operational has 476 stars, 18 forks, 9 open issues and last shipped 1 months ago. kafka leads on adoption by 7,067% (34,117 vs 476 stars). kafka is written in Java under Apache-2.0; Operational is written in Vue under AGPL-3.0. kafka has attracted 46% as many forks as stars, Operational 4%. 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.
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Side by side
| kafka | Operational | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 34K | ★ 476 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Java | Vue |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 16K | ⑂ 18 |
| 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 Operational if
- You want the Operational feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Vue
- You evaluated both and Operational 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 Operational
Website Docs Self hosting Pitch Vision Operational.co is a open source Event tracking tool. Monitor signups, webhooks, cronjobs and more. Currently Swipekit Facebook ad library tool and youtubedescriptionextractor are using this in production. 🔍 View Live Demo See Operational in action with a demo account receiving test events. ✨ Key Features Get push notifications for critical events straight to your phone, or on the webapp Monitor critical events Trigger webhooks via action buttons Understand complex events via contexts(events in events) Usable on mobile as a progressive web app(can receive push notifications…
read the full Operational overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is kafka or Operational more popular?
kafka has 34,117 GitHub stars and Operational has 476. kafka has the larger community by that measure.
Are kafka and Operational free?
Both are open source. kafka is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Operational under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between kafka and Operational?
kafka is written in Java and Operational in Vue. 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 Operational?
Choose kafka if you want the larger community (34,117 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose Operational if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.