---
title: "Deploy Kafka Native"
description: "Kafka Native broker and Kafbat UI. Low memory, KRaft, login."
category: "Queues"
url: https://railway.com/deploy/kafka-native
---

# Deploy Kafka Native

Kafka Native broker and Kafbat UI. Low memory, KRaft, login.

**[Deploy Kafka Native on Railway](https://railway.com/template/kafka-native)**

Machine-readable deploy manifest (JSON, validated by TemplateCI): https://railway.com/deploy/kafka-native/manifest.json

- **Creator:** Francisco Trillo's Projects
- **Category:** Queues

## Template content

### Kafka UI

- **Image:** ghcr.io/kafbat/kafka-ui:v1.5.0
- **Health check:** /actuator/health
- **Public domain:** Yes

### Kafka

- **Image:** apache/kafka-native:4.3.1

## Documentation

# Deploy and Host Kafka Native on Railway

Apache Kafka compiled with GraalVM (`apache/kafka-native`) and [Kafbat Kafka UI](https://ui.docs.kafbat.io/) 1.5.0. The native broker uses a few hundred megabytes of RAM instead of a full JVM heap. Kafbat is the maintained Kafka UI.

This is a single combined KRaft node. There is no ZooKeeper. The broker is reachable only on the private network. Kafka UI is public through a generated Railway domain on port 8080, and it has a generated login.

Apache marks the native image as experimental and intended for development and testing.

## About Hosting Kafka Native

The broker image is `apache/kafka-native:4.3.1`. It runs as one process that is both broker and controller. A volume at `/var/lib/kafka/data` keeps topic logs across deploys. Logs live in `/var/lib/kafka/data/kraft`, one level below the mount, so Railway's `lost+found` directory does not stop Kafka from booting. The broker is limited to 0.5 vCPU and 512 MB.

Kafka UI uses `ghcr.io/kafbat/kafka-ui:v1.5.0`. It joins the broker over the private network. The UI is the only public service. Its heap is `-Xms128m -Xmx384m` inside a 1 GB limit, which is enough for it to finish starting.

| Service | Image | Network |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kafka | `apache/kafka-native:4.3.1` | private port 9092, volume at `/var/lib/kafka/data` |
| Kafka UI | `ghcr.io/kafbat/kafka-ui:v1.5.0` | generated public domain on port 8080 |

## Why Deploy Kafka Native

The GraalVM native binary starts quickly and stays small. A JVM Kafka image often wants a 1 GB heap before it serves traffic. This template is aimed at development, demos, and light internal workloads where that memory cost is the problem.

Railway private networking lets other services in the same project reach the broker without a public TCP port.

## Common Use Cases

- Try Kafka from another Railway service without running ZooKeeper
- Inspect topics, messages, and consumer groups in the browser
- Prototype event-driven workers on a small single node

## Dependencies for Kafka Native

Producers and consumers should run in the same Railway project. The broker does not authenticate clients. A public TCP proxy would expose every topic.

### Deployment Dependencies

- `apache/kafka-native:4.3.1`
- `ghcr.io/kafbat/kafka-ui:v1.5.0`
- A volume mounted at `/var/lib/kafka/data`
- Private networking between the two services

## Connect from another Railway service

```
KAFKA_BROKER_URL=${{Kafka.RAILWAY_PRIVATE_DOMAIN}}:9092
KAFKA_SECURITY_PROTOCOL=PLAINTEXT
```

## UI login

Username `admin`. The password is generated on deploy as `SPRING_SECURITY_USER_PASSWORD` on the Kafka UI service.

## Notes

- Replication factor is 1. Do not raise it on this single broker.
- `CLUSTER_ID` is generated once per deploy. Leave it unchanged after the first boot.
- Do not add a public TCP proxy. The listener is plaintext.


## Similar templates

- [Celery | Web, Worker and Scheduler as Three Services](https://railway.com/deploy/celery-or-web-work-1) — Web, worker and scheduler wired up: Celery on Redis, outcomes in Postgres.
- [Redpanda](https://railway.com/deploy/redpanda-1) — Redpanda 26.2: Kafka-compatible streaming, single node, with Kafbat UI.
- [smoothmq](https://railway.com/deploy/AJv-64) — A drop-in replacement for AWS SQS

Open this page in a browser: https://railway.com/deploy/kafka-native