
Kafka Tool
If you’re looking for a quick and easy tool to access a Kafka cluster on Windows, Mac OS, or Linux then Kafka Tool may be right for you.
- Browse all of your Kafka clusters
- View messages on the log
- View offsets
- show JSON, XML, String, or Binary data.
- Create and remove topics
- Save individual messages
- Custom plugin development
- Runs on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux
- FREE for personal use! (About $80 per user otherwise)
Starting a Sample Kafka Cluster in Docker
This might make it easier to play with if you are new and want to try out this tool.
docker pull landoop/fast-data-dev
docker run --rm --name landoopkafka -p 2181:2181 -p 3030:3030 -p 8081:8081 -p 8082:8082 -p 8083:8083 -p 9092:9092 -e ADV_HOST=127.0.0.1 landoop/fast-data-dev
Connecting to a Cluster
You will need to set the name, cluster version and Zookeeper host address.
Kafka Tool Main Interface
Browsing Data
When you first select a topic and view the data under the partition it’s going to default to a Byte Array.

Changing Content Types to String
You will need to click on the topic name to view the Content Type properties. By changing the Key and Message Content Types to “String” this will be much easier to read. Be sure to click “Update” when you are done.

To view the Details Panel click the 4th icon. By selecting “View Data As [JSON]” you can view the data as Text, Hex, JSON, or XML.
