# Apache Kafka and Confluent Kafka

**URL:** <https://forum.confluent.io/t/apache-kafka-and-confluent-kafka/3974>\
**Category:** Lounge\
**Created:** [24 January 2022 12:23 UTC](https://forum.confluent.io/t/apache-kafka-and-confluent-kafka/3974 "2022-01-24T12:23:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jiyeke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@jiyeke](https://forum.confluent.io/u/jiyeke)\
**Post date:** [24 January 2022 12:23 UTC](https://forum.confluent.io/t/apache-kafka-and-confluent-kafka/3974/1 "2022-01-24T12:23:12Z")

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Hi everyone 👋🏾

I have just started to learn Apache Kafka. My employers however, are using Confluent Kafka… I want to know:  
a) whats the difference between the two? and  
b) how do I get competent at both?

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**Author:** ![vnadkarni](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.confluent.io/vnadkarni/32/1839_2.png) [@vnadkarni](https://forum.confluent.io/u/vnadkarni)\
**Post date:** [24 January 2022 12:42 UTC](https://forum.confluent.io/t/apache-kafka-and-confluent-kafka/3974/2 "2022-01-24T12:42:55Z")

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Hi @jiyeke . Apache Kafka is an open source project under the Apache Software Foundation. Confluent, which was founded by the team that originally created Apache Kafka, offers [two solutions built using Kafka](https://www.confluent.io/get-started/) :

- Confluent Platform (self-managed / on-premise solution) and
- Confluent Cloud (fully-managed cloud solution).

To learn more, I would suggest looking at the resources available at the Confluent Developer website (at [developer.confluent.io](https://developer.confluent.io/?utm_source=forum&utm_medium=vnadkarni&utm_campaign=tp.community.con.vnadkarni_forum&utm_term=devx-vnadkarni)). The website has free video courses, tutorials, blogs and more.

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**Author:** ![vnadkarni](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.confluent.io/vnadkarni/32/1839_2.png) [@vnadkarni](https://forum.confluent.io/u/vnadkarni)\
**Post date:** [24 January 2022 12:57 UTC](https://forum.confluent.io/t/apache-kafka-and-confluent-kafka/3974/3 "2022-01-24T12:57:48Z")

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By the way, welcome to the Confluent Community Forum @jiyeke ! 👋 😃

If you have any questions about using this forum, you can always ask me. Also, check out the [Confluent Community Slack space](https://launchpass.com/confluentcommunity)!

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**Author:** ![rmoff](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.confluent.io/rmoff/32/3_2.png) [@rmoff](https://forum.confluent.io/u/rmoff)\
**Post date:** [24 January 2022 13:57 UTC](https://forum.confluent.io/t/apache-kafka-and-confluent-kafka/3974/4 "2022-01-24T13:57:33Z")

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Welcome @jiyeke!

@vnadkarni has answered your question well, I would just add a couple more things.

There’s no such thing as `Confluent Kafka`. Confluent includes Kafka within its distribution, but as @vnadkarni said, Kafka owned by the ASF and so it is only ever Apache Kafka.

Confluent have built ecosystem component around Apache Kafka, including:

- ksqlDB (streaming database)
- Schema Registry
- REST Proxy
- Web-based GUI
- Clients for Python, Go, C/C++, .NET
- Many [connectors](https://www.confluent.io/hub/) for Kafka Connect

You can get these on-premises (Confluent Platform) or in the Cloud (Confluent Cloud).

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**Author:** ![mjsax](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex019/user_avatar/forum.confluent.io/mjsax/32/3113_2.png) [@mjsax](https://forum.confluent.io/u/mjsax)\
**Post date:** [25 January 2022 01:08 UTC](https://forum.confluent.io/t/apache-kafka-and-confluent-kafka/3974/5 "2022-01-25T01:08:50Z")

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To add to the above:

Confluent actually does not ship a vanilla Apache Kafka broker, but an enhanced _Confluent Server_ (of course, we also use Confluent Server in Confluent Cloud), including many enterprise features (like tiered storage, cluster linking, and many more) that are not available in Apache Kafka.