Docker Image Reference for Confluent Platform

Confluent Platform is a data-streaming platform that completes Kafka with advanced capabilities designed to help accelerate application development and connectivity for enterprise use cases.

You can install the entire Confluent Platform or individual components using Docker images. The Confluent Platform component images are available on Docker Hub. The source files for the images are available in the GitHub repos. From GitHub you can extend and rebuild the images and upload them to your own DockerHub repository. The software required to build these images is covered by the Apache 2 License. To learn more about configuring these images, see Docker Image Configuration Reference for Confluent Platform.

The table below lists the available images and the Confluent software packages that they contain. The images that require the Confluent Enterprise License include proprietary components and must be licensed from Confluent when deployed.

Image guide

The following sections list images by component type. In most cases, the license is noted for each package. For more information about package licenses, see Manage Confluent Platform Licenses.

Base images

The following images provide build files for the Confluent Platform images. The license varies by package.

All Confluent Platform images now use ubi9-minimal as their base image, replacing ubi8-minimal.
The cp-ksqldb-server Docker image uses cp-base-java as its base. This cp-base-java image includes the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) but not the Java Development Kit (JDK). This base image change significantly optimizes the ksqlDB server image size, reducing it from 1.3 GB to approximately 500 MB.

Image Name	Packages	GitHub Repo
cp-base-java	temurin-21-jre hostname crypto-policies-scripts findutils	common-docker
cp-base-lite	temurin-17-jre curl	common-docker
cp-base-new	temurin-21-jdk wget openSSL python39 additional utilities not listed	common-docker

Kafka images

The following images contain Apache Kafka®.

cp-kafka is the Confluent official Docker image for Kafka and includes the Community Version of Kafka.
confluent-local is a Kafka package optimized for local development. This Docker image enables you to quickly start Kafka in KRaft mode with no configuration setup.
Note that the Confluent Server image package listed in the next section includes everything in cp-kafka and additional commercial features that are only available as a part of the cp-server package.

Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
cp-kafka	confluent-kafka (Apache 2 License)	kafka-images
confluent-local	confluent-kafka (Apache 2 License) confluent-kafka-rest (Confluent Community License)	kafka-images

Confluent Server image

Confluent Server is a component of Confluent Platform that includes everything in the cp-kafka package and additional commercial features that are only available as a part of the cp-server package. Following are a few key features included in Confluent Server:

Role-based access control (RBAC).
Tiered Storage
Self-Balancing Clusters

For the full list of Confluent Server features, see Enterprise license subscription.

Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
cp-server	cp-server (Confluent Enterprise License) cp-security (Confluent Enterprise License) cp-rebalancer (Confluent Enterprise License)	kafka-images

Confluent Server Native image

Confluent Server native Docker image is a GraalVM-based version of Confluent Server that runs faster and uses fewer resources than the traditional JVM-based image. Because it’s compiled ahead-of-time (AOT), the native image starts faster, uses less memory, and has a much smaller footprint than the traditional JVM-based image.

You can use the cp-server-native image to improve your local development and testing workflow. The image provides the following benefits:

Faster development cycles: Start Kafka clusters in under 2 seconds, which is about 80% faster than the JVM-based image.
Reduced resource use: Use approximately 55% less memory, which lets you run more instances on your local machine.
Smaller image size: Accelerate your CI/CD pipelines with significantly smaller images:
- Compressed: ~90% smaller (from 2.0 GB to 185 MB)
- Uncompressed: ~75% smaller (from 2.52 GB to 601 MB)
Lower development costs: Reduce expenses for storage, data transfer, and infrastructure.
Improve your developer experience: Get faster feedback and spend less time waiting for services to start.

Note

The cp-server-native image is experimental and intended only for local development and testing. It is available only with Confluent Platform 8.0, starting 8.0.1 release. Do not use this image in production environments.

To get started, see the docker-compose.yml files in the cp-server-native examples directory in the GitHub repository. The Docker Compose examples show you how to run cp-server-native in the following common scenarios:

Basic, single-broker setup
Metadata Service (MDS) enabled clusters
Embedded REST Proxy
OAuth and role-based access control (RBAC) security

Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
cp-server-native	cp-server (Confluent Enterprise License) cp-security (Confluent Enterprise License) cp-rebalancer (Confluent Enterprise License)	server-native

Schema Registry image

Schema Registry provides a centralized repository for managing and validating schemas for topic message data, and for serialization and deserialization of the data over the network.

Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
cp-schema-registry	confluent-schema-registry (Confluent Community License) confluent-telemetry (Confluent Enterprise License) confluent-security (Confluent Enterprise License) confluent-schema-registry-security-plugin (Confluent Enterprise License) confluent-control-center (Confluent Enterprise License)	schema-registry-images

Connect images

Connect is part of Kafka and is used to integrate external systems with Kafka.

cp-server-connect and the cp-server-connect-base images, which pull from cp-server, are identical.
cp-kafka-connect and the cp-kafka-connect-base images, which pull from cp-kafka, are also identical.

These images had differences in the past.

Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
cp-kafka-connect and cp-kafka-connect-base	confluent-schema-registry (Confluent Community License) confluent-hub-client (Confluent Enterprise License)	kafka-images
cp-server-connect and cp-server-connect-base	confluent-schema-registry (Confluent Community License) confluent-hub-client (Confluent Enterprise License)	kafka-images

ksqlDB images

ksqlDB enables you to build event streaming applications leveraging your familiarity with relational databases.

Component	Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
ksqlDB CLI	cp-ksqldb-cli	ksqldb-cli (Confluent Community License) confluent-hub (Confluent Enterprise License)	ksql-images
ksqlDB Server	cp-ksqldb-server	ksqldb-server (Confluent Community License) confluent-telemetry (Confluent Enterprise License) confluent-hub (Confluent Enterprise License) confluent-security (Confluent Enterprise License)	ksql-images

REST Proxy image

REST Proxy provides a RESTful interface to an Kafka cluster, making it easy to produce and consume messages, view the state of the cluster, and perform administrative actions without using the native Kafka protocol or clients.

Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
cp-kafka-rest	confluent-kafka-rest (Confluent Community License) confluent-control-center (Confluent Enterprise License) confluent-security (Confluent Enterprise License)	kafka-rest-images

Confluent CLI image

The Confluent CLI (CLI) enables developers to manage both Confluent Cloud and Confluent Platform and is source-available under the Confluent Community License.

Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
confluent-cli	confluent-cli (Confluent Community License)	cli

Control Center image

Control Center is a self-hosted web-based tool for managing and monitoring key components of Confluent Platform.

Image Name	Packages Included/License	GitHub Repo
cp-enterprise-control-center-next-gen	confluent-control-center (Confluent Enterprise License)	control-center-next-gen-images

kcat utility image

kcat is a command-line utility that you can use to test and debug Kafka deployments.

Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
cp-kcat	kafkacat (Apache Kafka C Driver License)	kafkacat-images

MQTT Proxy image

MQTT Proxy provides a scalable and lightweight interface that enables MQTT clients to produce messages to Kafka directly, in a Kafka-native way, that avoids redundant replication and increased lag.

Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
cp-kafka-mqtt	confluent-kafka-mqtt (Confluent Enterprise License)	kafka-mqtt-images

Replicator images

Replicator enables you to easily and reliably replicate topics from one Kafka cluster to another.

Component	Image Name	Packages Included (License)	GitHub Repo
Replicator	cp-enterprise-replicator	confluent-kafka-replicator (Confluent Enterprise License)	kafka-replicator-images
Replicator Executable	cp-enterprise-replicator-executable	confluent-kafka-replicator (Confluent Enterprise License)	kafka-replicator-images

Confluent for Kubernetes image

Confluent for Kubernetes allows you to deploy and manage Confluent Platform as a stateful container application on Kubernetes.

Image Name	License	GitHub Repo
confluent-operator	confluent-operator (Confluent Enterprise License)	Private

Note

You need to install Confluent for Kubernetes image using Helm. For instructions, see Deploy and Manage Confluent Platform Using Confluent for Kubernetes.

Confluent Platform image tags

The Confluent Platform Docker images are tagged as follows:

<cp_version>-<image_release_number>-<os_type>.<processor_architecture>

<image_release_number> is incremented when an updated image needs to be uploaded for the same <cp-version>.

For example, for the Confluent Platform 8.0.2 images with RHEL UBI 8 being the only supported and default OS, the available RHEL UBI 8 cp-base-new image tags are:

8.0.2-1-ubi8.amd64
8.0.2.amd64
latest.amd64
8.0.2-1-ubi8
8.0.2
latest
8.0.2-1-ubi8.arm64
8.0.2.arm64
latest.arm64

Linux ARM64 Docker images can be used on Apple macOS with M1.

Additional tags are applied to the image of the default OS type:

To identify the image as being the default image for a given release.
```
<cp_version>
```
To identify the most recent version of the image of the default OS type.
```
latest
```

For the supported OS types in Confluent Platform 8.0, see Supported Versions for Confluent Docker Images.