TL;DR: WarpStream is a data streaming platform that is compatible with Kafka’s protocol. It runs on top of S3 and eliminates the need for local disks, brokers, and ZooKeeper. The platform is significantly cheaper than Kafka due to its direct streaming to and from S3, reducing infrastructure costs. However, Kafka’s replication strategy leads to high inter AZ bandwidth costs, making it costly and difficult to operate. WarpStream solves these issues by offloading storage to S3 and separating data from metadata. The platform offers a better option for large-scale data streaming pipelines in cloud environments. It is currently in developer preview.
https://www.warpstream.com/blog/kafka-is-dead-long-live-kafka