Kafka Connector Versions

Choose the right Apache Kafka connector version for your Pinot deployment.

Apache Pinot provides multiple Kafka connector versions to match different Kafka broker deployments. Choose the connector that matches your Kafka cluster version.

Available Connectors

Connector Plugin	Kafka Client Version	Notes
pinot-kafka-3.0	3.9.x	Recommended for Kafka 3.x clusters. Requires Scala dependency.
pinot-kafka-4.0	4.1.x	Recommended for Kafka 4.x clusters (KRaft mode). Pure Java — no Scala dependency.

The pinot-kafka-2.0 (kafka20) plugin has been removed. If your table config references org.apache.pinot.plugin.stream.kafka20.KafkaConsumerFactory, you must migrate to either kafka30 or kafka40.

Kafka 4.0 Connector

The Kafka 4.0 connector (pinot-kafka-4.0) supports Apache Kafka 4.x brokers running in KRaft mode (ZooKeeper-free). It uses pure Java Kafka clients with no Scala dependency, resulting in a smaller deployment footprint.

When to use Kafka 4.0

• Your Kafka cluster runs Kafka 4.0+ with KRaft mode

• You want to eliminate the Scala transitive dependency

• You are deploying new Pinot clusters against modern Kafka infrastructure

Configuration

The Kafka 4.0 connector uses the same configuration properties as the Kafka 3.0 connector. The only difference is the stream.kafka.consumer.factory.class.name:

{
  "streamConfigs": {
    "streamType": "kafka",
    "stream.kafka.topic.name": "your-topic",
    "stream.kafka.broker.list": "kafka:9092",
    "stream.kafka.consumer.type": "lowlevel",
    "stream.kafka.consumer.factory.class.name": "org.apache.pinot.plugin.stream.kafka40.KafkaConsumerFactory",
    "stream.kafka.decoder.class.name": "org.apache.pinot.plugin.stream.kafka.KafkaJSONMessageDecoder",
    "realtime.segment.flush.threshold.rows": "0",
    "realtime.segment.flush.threshold.time": "24h",
    "realtime.segment.flush.threshold.segment.size": "100M"
  }
}

Migration from Kafka 2.0 or 3.0

To migrate from an older Kafka connector to Kafka 3.0 or 4.0, update the consumer factory class name in your table configuration:

From	To
org.apache.pinot.plugin.stream.kafka20.KafkaConsumerFactory	org.apache.pinot.plugin.stream.kafka30.KafkaConsumerFactory (Kafka 3.x) or org.apache.pinot.plugin.stream.kafka40.KafkaConsumerFactory (Kafka 4.x)
org.apache.pinot.plugin.stream.kafka30.KafkaConsumerFactory	org.apache.pinot.plugin.stream.kafka40.KafkaConsumerFactory

1. Ensure the pinot-kafka-4.0 plugin JAR is available in your Pinot plugin directory.

2. All other stream.kafka.* configuration properties remain the same.

The Kafka 4.0 connector is fully compatible with all existing Kafka consumer configuration properties including SSL/TLS, SASL authentication, isolation levels, and Schema Registry integration. See the main Kafka ingestion guide for detailed configuration examples.

Kafka 3.0 Connector

The Kafka 3.0 connector (pinot-kafka-3.0) supports Apache Kafka 3.x brokers. This is the most widely deployed connector version.

Configuration

{
  "streamConfigs": {
    "streamType": "kafka",
    "stream.kafka.topic.name": "your-topic",
    "stream.kafka.broker.list": "kafka:9092",
    "stream.kafka.consumer.type": "lowlevel",
    "stream.kafka.consumer.factory.class.name": "org.apache.pinot.plugin.stream.kafka30.KafkaConsumerFactory",
    "stream.kafka.decoder.class.name": "org.apache.pinot.plugin.stream.kafka.KafkaJSONMessageDecoder"
  }
}

Common Configuration Properties

All Kafka connector versions share the same configuration properties. See Ingest streaming data from Apache Kafka for the complete configuration reference, including:

• SSL/TLS setup

• SASL authentication

• Schema Registry integration (Avro, JSON Schema, Protobuf)

• Consumer tuning properties

• Isolation levels (read_committed / read_uncommitted)

Passing Native Kafka Consumer Properties

You can pass any native Kafka consumer configuration property using the stream.kafka.consumer.prop. prefix:

{
  "streamConfigs": {
    "stream.kafka.consumer.prop.auto.offset.reset": "smallest",
    "stream.kafka.consumer.prop.max.poll.records": "500",
    "stream.kafka.consumer.prop.fetch.min.bytes": "100000",
    "stream.kafka.consumer.prop.session.timeout.ms": "30000"
  }
}