With the release of Apache Kafka 4.0, we’d like to inform you that in this version, the Apache Kafka community has removed compatibility for old client API request versions. Moving forward, users must generally be using Apache Kafka 2.1.0 clients or newer or a non-Java client with equivalent API versions. Apache Kafka 3.7 (released in February 2024) has already marked these legacy API versions as deprecated.
We have updated our documentation to help you:
- Identify clients that are using deprecated versions
- Navigate how to update clients to compliant and stable client versions
Your account team, as well as our Professional Services team, are committed to supporting your transition to compliant, stable, and performant clients.
In the meantime, please refer to the resources below for more information regarding this change:
- Client Deprecation in Confluent Cloud
- Client Deprecation in Confluent Platform
- KIP-896: Remove old client protocol API versions in Kafka 4.0
For any questions or clarifications, please contact your account team.
For Confluent Cloud customers
We recognize identifying and updating these clients may take some time, so to support this transition, we are providing one year of extended compatibility for all current Confluent Cloud organizations.
We have also made updates within the Confluent Cloud Console and Metrics API to make it easier in identifying the deprecated clients. Please see the Client Deprecation in Confluent Cloud documentation page for a description of the features now available to help identify deprecated clients.
Please note that the continued use of deprecated client versions can result in metrics discrepancies; clients will not report certain throughput metrics if they are using a deprecated version.
For Confluent Platform customers
Confluent Platform 8.0, released in June 2025, removes compatibility for these legacy clients. You are welcome to use the full extent of your support plan to remain on supported Confluent Platform versions until you are ready to upgrade to Confluent Platform 8.0.