Upstash Kafka Pricing 2026
Plans, hidden costs, and cheaper alternatives compared
Is Upstash Kafka worth the price?
Upstash Kafka offers a fair pricing structure, especially with its generous Free tier providing 256 MB data and 500K monthly commands.
The 'Pay as you go' at $0.2 per 100K commands offers flexibility for variable usage, while the 'Fixed 250MB' at $10/month is a good value for predictable, moderate loads. This pricing is best suited for developers and small to medium businesses looking for cost-effective serverless Kafka.
Pricing Plans
Free
$0
- Data Size 256 MB
- Monthly Commands 500 K
Pay as you go
$0.2 per 100K commands
- Flexible pricing for variable traffic.
- Data Size 100 GB
- Monthly Bandwidth Unlimited
Fixed 250MB
$10/month
- No per-command pricing
- For consistent loads with predictable costs.
- Data Size 250 MB
- Monthly Bandwidth 50GB
Enterprise
Contact us
- Everything in Prod Pack
- 100K+ commands per second
- Unlimited bandwidth and database count
- Professional support with SLA
- Dedicated resources for isolation
- HIPAA Compliance
Hidden Costs & Gotchas
Overage fees for commands on 'Pay as you go'
Data size limits on Free and Fixed tiers
Bandwidth limits on Fixed 250MB tier
Which Plan Do You Need?
Developers needing a free Kafka sandbox
Startups with variable event streaming needs
SMBs seeking predictable Kafka costs
How Upstash Kafka Compares to Competitors
Compared to Aiven Kafka, which often starts around $50-$100/month for basic plans, Upstash Kafka's $0 free tier and $10/month fixed plan are significantly more accessible. Confluent Cloud's serverless Kafka also tends to be more expensive, making Upstash a more budget-friendly option for smaller-scale or development use cases, though it may lack some enterprise-grade features found in higher-priced competitors.
Upstash Kafka Pricing FAQ
How much does Upstash Kafka cost?
Upstash Kafka starts at $10/month on the Fixed 250MB plan. A free plan is also available with limited features.
Does Upstash Kafka have a free plan?
Yes. Upstash Kafka offers a free plan called "Free". It includes: Data Size 256 MB, Monthly Commands 500 K.