Redpanda

Kafka Schema Registry in Production: Avro, Protobuf, Compatibility Rules, and What the IBM/Confluent Acquisition Changes

A principal cloud architect's guide to Kafka Schema Registry in production: choosing between Avro and Protobuf, understanding compatibility modes, and evaluating your options after IBM acquired Confluent.

Jun 24, 2025

Data & Analytics

Kafka Alternatives in 2026: Redpanda, AutoMQ, WarpStream, and When the Original Is No Longer the Answer

Apache Kafka still dominates event streaming, but the operational tax is real. Here is a frank comparison of Redpanda, AutoMQ, and WarpStream, with a decision framework for when the alternatives genuinely win.

May 10, 2025

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