# Learn Apache Kafka | Conduktor Kafkademy

Learn Apache Kafka, *from scratch to production*.

        Free Apache Kafka tutorials, hands-on labs, and production playbooks. From your first topic to running brokers under load. Patient, opinionated, and built by [the team behind Conduktor](https://www.conduktor.io/about). Read in any order, skip what you already know.

      Where are you starting from?

I'm new to KafkaStart from zero. We'll build the vocabulary.
I've used it a bitSkip the basics, jump to CLI and code.
I run it in productionPerformance, security, observability, on-call.

        [Start with the fundamentals →](https://www.conduktor.io/kafka/what-is-apache-kafka)
        [Open the hands-on track →](https://www.conduktor.io/kafka/how-to-start-kafka-with-conduktor)
        [Go advanced →](https://www.conduktor.io/kafka/kafka-topics-advanced)
        [Open the Kafka Options Explorer ↗](https://kafka-options-explorer.conduktor.io/)

      Lessons
      65

      Sign-up
      Not required

      Cost
      Free, forever

  01
  Understand it, do it, run it.

    Most Kafka courses pick one of these. Ours runs all three in parallel, because you don't really know Kafka until you've broken it on your laptop.

      01

    Learn — Build the mental model
    The vocabulary, the diagrams, the why. No setup, no Docker. Read on the train.

      ○  What is Apache Kafka?
      ○  Topics, partitions and offsets
      ○  Producers and consumers
      ○  Brokers and topic replication
      ○  KRaft and ZooKeeper

    10 chapters, no install required
    [Start with the fundamentals →](https://www.conduktor.io/kafka/what-is-apache-kafka)

      02

    Practice — Get your hands dirty
    Install Kafka on your laptop. Drive it from the CLI, then from Java.

      ○  Install Kafka on Mac, Linux or Docker
      ○  Manage topics from the CLI
      ○  Drive producers and consumers via CLI
      ○  Build a Java producer and consumer
      ○  Wire up a Maven or Gradle project

    24 hands-on guides across install, CLI and code
    [Open the hands-on track →](https://www.conduktor.io/kafka/how-to-start-kafka-with-conduktor)

      03

    Master — Run it like you mean it
    The settings that make or break an on-call shift. Tune, secure, monitor, scale.

      ○  Topic internals and log compaction
      ○  Producer acks, idempotence, batching
      ○  Consumer delivery semantics
      ○  Security, monitoring, multi-cluster
      ○  Min ISR and unclean leader election

    31 deep dives on topics, producers, consumers, ops
    [Go advanced →](https://www.conduktor.io/kafka/kafka-topics-advanced)

      Reference tool
      Kafka Options Explorer

        Compare Kafka configs across every version. Read KIPs, decode error codes, plan upgrades.

        Compare broker, producer, consumer and connect configs side by side
        Browse every KIP with summaries and status
        Generate upgrade reports between any two versions
        Look up error codes and wire protocol changes

      [Open the explorer →](https://kafka-options-explorer.conduktor.io/)

      Done with Kafkademy?
      Put what you learned into a real Kafka stack.

        Conduktor Console gives you topic management, message browsing, schema control and access policies, on top of any Kafka cluster. Free tier, no card needed.

      [Try Conduktor Console →](https://www.conduktor.io/get-started)