Instaclustr Adds Enterprise Support for Karapace, the Open Source Alternative to Apache Kafka Schema Registry and REST Proxy

Instaclustr is also joining Aiven – the creator of the open source Karapace project – in supporting and growing the powerful, fast, and stable solution

Instaclustr, which helps organizations deliver applications at scale by operating and supporting their open source data infrastructure, today announced it has added enterprise support for Karapace, the fully open source alternative to Confluent’s Kafka Schema Registry and REST proxy. Support for Karapace is immediately available and part of Instaclustr’s comprehensive Apache Kafka^® support solutions led by dedicated Kafka experts and delivering 24/7 availability.

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The Apache 2.0-licensed project, which launched in 2020 and has seen considerable adoption, is freely downloadable from GitHub. Karapace was created by Aiven shortly after Confluent announced the intention to move its Kafka Schema Registry and REST proxy from the Apache 2.0 license to a newer and more restrictive license, the Confluent Community License.

Instaclustr had supported Confluent’s Schema Registry and REST proxy but identified critical features – such as support for Protobuf message formats – that were not available under a true open source license. Karapace was vetted as a more-than-capable replacement, and Instaclustr joined Aiven in supporting the project with code and development resources. Instaclustr has already made a significant contribution to the Karapace project, including adding support for Protobuf schemas.

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“Instaclustr is excited to offer support around a true open source alternative for customers who want to use Kafka Schema Registry or REST proxy without restrictive licenses and risk of lock-in,” said Paul Aubrey, VP of Product Management at Instaclustr. “By collaborating with Aiven to add support for Protobuf, we have been able to cement the Karapace project as a robust alternative across any use case. This is a significant step forward for Apache Kafka and the open source community.”

“Our aim with Karapace is to provide a truly open source alternative to Confluent’s Schema Registry and Kafka REST proxy,” said Soumya Bijjal, Senior Director Product Management at Aiven. “We are excited to see Karapace gaining traction in the open source community, with Instaclustr making a significant contribution to the code base with Protobuf support. A vast majority of our Aiven for Apache Kafka users are using Karapace in production today and we look forward to having more users of Karapace via Instaclustr through this collaboration.”

New and existing customers who would like to learn more about Karapace support can contact the Instaclustr Customer Success team for more information.

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