Free Tier Apache Kafka® Competition

TL;DR

Win $5,000 by building a cool project using Aiven’s new free tier Kafka, and sharing it online with #FreeKafka or #FreeTierKafka. Competition closes January 31, 2026!

Aiven’s New Free Tier

At Aiven, we believe Kafka should be accessible to everyone who wants to build with streaming data, but the cloud has been missing its most vital component: a real entry point at zero cost.

Historically, you had two bad options for getting started:

1. Free credits that expire just as you've got started
2. DIY single-node Kafka on your laptop or Kubernetes, knowing it's nothing like production

Neither helps you build with confidence. We’ve built an alternative that can help you get up and running with a real Kafka cluster without any surprise credit card bills.

Aiven's free tier Kafka includes:

• 5 topics with 2 partitions each
• 250 KiB/s throughput (combined produce and consume)
• 3-day retention

It's real Kafka, fully managed, for free, and more than enough for prototyping and learning. No credit card required.

The competition

We're genuinely excited to see what you'll build with streaming data and we're backing that excitement with cash. We're launching a competition to find the most compelling project built on Aiven for Apache Kafka Free Tier.

How to enter

Post about your experience building with Kafka Free Tier and show off your project with #FreeKafka or #FreeTierKafka on LinkedIn, blogs are also welcome, to help guarantee we see your project you can also submit it via the Google form.

This isn't a random draw nor is it a popularity contest. A panel of Aiven judges will evaluate entries based on two key criteria:

The Build (50%): We're looking for quality, creativity, and practical usability. Show us the real potential of streaming data at scale and that "small data" can solve real problems in interesting ways.

The Story (50%): Document your journey and engage the community. Share your build process, technical decisions, challenges overcome, and the solution in action. Use #FreeKafka to help us find your content. The more creative the project and descriptive the story, the better!

Bonus points for sharing your work in progress!

Check out this example for help getting started

Follow Aiven or my account on LinkedIn for updates and check out the #FreeKafka or #FreeTierKafka tag for other submissions for inspiration.

Next Steps

1. Create your free tier Kafka service
2. Build your project
3. Share your story with #FreeKafka or #FreeTierKafka by January 31, 2026
4. See the results of the jury vote in early February

We can't wait to see what you create. Good luck!

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