> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.streamnative.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# StreamNative Kafka Service

> Native Apache Kafka service powered by the Ursa Engine. Leaderless, lakehouse-native, and up to 95% lower cost.

StreamNative Kafka Service is a fully managed, **native Apache Kafka** service built on the [Lakestream architecture](/cloud/overview/lakestream-overview) and powered by the [Ursa Engine](/cloud/overview/data-streaming-engine). It is not a Kafka compatibility layer — it runs native Apache Kafka with a lakehouse-native storage engine that delivers leaderless, compute-storage separated architecture with up to 95% lower infrastructure costs.

Your existing Kafka clients, Kafka Connect connectors, and Kafka Streams applications work without any code changes. Just point them at your StreamNative Kafka endpoint.

## Key advantages

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Native Apache Kafka" icon="check">
    Runs native Apache Kafka — not a compatibility layer. Use any standard Kafka client, tool, or ecosystem without modification.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Up to 95% Lower Cost" icon="arrow-down">
    Leaderless architecture with compute/storage separation eliminates cross-AZ replication fees. Data writes directly to object storage.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Lakehouse-Native" icon="database">
    Every topic is simultaneously an Iceberg or Delta Lake table. Zero-copy streaming into your lakehouse with no connectors or ETL.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Zero Operations" icon="gear">
    Fully managed. No brokers to provision, no ZooKeeper to manage, no partitions to rebalance. Auto-scaling handles the rest.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Coming from an existing Kafka deployment?

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="From Amazon MSK" icon="aws" href="/kafka/kafka-migration-guide#from-amazon-msk">
    Lower cost with lakehouse-native storage. No cross-AZ replication fees. Same Kafka APIs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="From Confluent" icon="arrows-rotate" href="/kafka/kafka-migration-guide#from-confluent-cloudplatform">
    Open formats, no vendor lock-in. Data stored in Iceberg and Delta Lake on your object storage.
  </Card>

  <Card title="From Self-Managed" icon="server" href="/kafka/kafka-migration-guide#from-self-managed-apache-kafka">
    Zero operational overhead. Auto-scaling, managed infrastructure, and enterprise-grade security.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Deployment options

StreamNative Kafka Service is available in multiple deployment configurations:

| Option         | Description                                         | Best for                              |
| -------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------- |
| **Serverless** | Fully managed, pay-per-use                          | Development, testing, small workloads |
| **Dedicated**  | Dedicated infrastructure, predictable performance   | Production workloads                  |
| **BYOC**       | Runs in your cloud account, managed by StreamNative | Data sovereignty, compliance          |
| **BYOC Pro**   | Advanced BYOC with custom networking and DNS        | Enterprise, regulated industries      |

See [Cluster Types](/cloud/clusters/cluster-types) for detailed feature comparison.

## How it works

StreamNative Kafka Service runs on the **Ursa Engine**, a cloud-native storage engine at the heart of the [Lakestream architecture](/cloud/overview/lakestream-overview).

* **Stateless brokers**: Kafka brokers are stateless and leaderless. Any broker can handle produce or fetch requests for any partition.
* **Object storage**: Data writes directly to S3, GCS, or Azure Blob Storage. No local disks, no inter-broker replication.
* **Lakehouse-native**: Data is stored in open table formats (Iceberg, Delta Lake) on your object storage, queryable by any analytics engine.

Learn more about the [Lakestream architecture](/cloud/overview/lakestream-overview) and the [Ursa Engine](/cloud/overview/data-streaming-engine).

## Get started

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Quick Start" icon="play" href="/kafka/kafka-getting-started">
    Create a Kafka cluster and produce your first message in under 5 minutes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Migration Guide" icon="right-left" href="/kafka/kafka-migration-guide">
    Migrate from MSK, Confluent, or self-managed Kafka with zero code changes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Kafka Compatibility" icon="list-check" href="/cloud/build/kafka-clients/compatibility/kafka-compatibility">
    Check supported Kafka APIs, client versions, and feature compatibility.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Choose Kafka or Pulsar" icon="code-compare" href="/cloud/overview/choose-kafka-or-pulsar">
    Not sure which protocol fits your workload? Compare Kafka and Pulsar side by side.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>