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kcat vs kafkactl: catalog facts
kcat	kafkactl
Free Free and open source under the BSD-2-Clause license.	Free The project is available under the Apache License 2.0.
Command line	Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
Produces to and consumes from Kafka topics Displays cluster and topic metadata	Manages topics, partitions, brokers, consumer groups, users, and ACLs Consumes and produces messages with Avro, JSON Schema, or Protobuf support
Requires access to an Apache Kafka cluster	Limitations not stated
Downloadable app	Downloadable app
Open source	Open source
License: BSD-2-Clause	License: Apache-2.0
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 8, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 4, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.