Aiven raises Kafka Developer plan 21% to $35/month
What happened
Between the May 4, 2026 and May 11, 2026 captures of Aiven's pricing page, Pulse recorded 2 changes: Apache Kafka Developer plan starting price increased from $29/month ($0.04/hour) to $35/month ($0.05/hour), a 21% increase; Apache Kafka Developer plan data retention reduced from a range of 1-7 days to a fixed maximum of 3 days. Pulse files it as a pricing change (price increase, limit decrease) with an upward direction. Pulse's latest capture (Sep 21, 2026) lists Developer at $5, Hobbyist at $12, Startup at $75, Business at $180 and Premium at $270.
It lands 15 days after Aiven's previous change, "Aiven Reveals Tiered Storage Pricing at $0.00012/GB-Hour" (Apr 27, 2026). Before that Pulse recorded "Aiven restructures free plan with new throughput and topic limits" (Apr 20, 2026) and "Aiven: networking no longer 'all cost included' across plans" (Apr 11, 2026). Aiven has been tracked since 2024-10-01.
In the same window MongoDB also changed their Cloud & DevOps pricing pages. Those moves are listed further down, and the Pulse Agent can compare them side by side.
- Developer · PricePrice increase
Apache Kafka Developer plan starting price increased from $29/month ($0.04/hour) to $35/month ($0.05/hour), a 21% increase.
- Developer · LimitChanged
Beforea range of 1-7 days
Aftera fixed maximum of 3 days
| Plan | Field | Before | After | Change |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Developer | Price | — | $35/month | Price increase |
| Developer | Limit | a range of 1-7 days | a fixed maximum of 3 days | Changed |
Values as written on Aiven's public pricing page in the two captures Pulse compared; where the page states no number, the cells give the wording before and after.
Evidence
The two captures Pulse comparedFull-page captures of Aiven's pricing page (aiven.io) from May 4, 2026 and May 11, 2026; the change is marked near the top of the page, where "a range of 1-7 days" becomes "a fixed maximum of 3 days".
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The two full-page captures with this change marked up are free with an account.
Aiven, the last 90 days
Full history- Sep 21, 2026improvedAiven expands product-tab selector with DataHub, Runtime services
- Jul 2, 2026packagingAiven: Tiered Storage add-on pricing revealed ($0.00012/GB/hour)
- Jun 8, 2026packagingAiven simplifies Developer plan pricing to flat $35/month rate
- May 12, 2026packagingAiven raises Kafka Developer plan 21% to $35/month · this change
- Apr 27, 2026packagingAiven Reveals Tiered Storage Pricing at $0.00012/GB-Hour
- Apr 20, 2026improvedAiven restructures free plan with new throughput and topic limits
- Apr 11, 2026packagingAiven: networking no longer 'all cost included' across plans
Across Cloud & DevOps in the same window
All Cloud & DevOps changesQuestions about this change
Did Aiven raise prices in May 2026?
Yes. Pulse captured Aiven's pricing page on May 4, 2026 and again on May 11, 2026 and recorded 1 price increase: Developer: Apache Kafka Developer plan starting price increased from $29/month ($0.04/hour) to $35/month ($0.05/hour), a 21% increase..
What changed on Aiven's pricing page between May 4, 2026 and May 11, 2026?
Apache Kafka Developer plan starting price increased from $29/month ($0.04/hour) to $35/month ($0.05/hour), a 21% increase; Developer limit: a range of 1-7 days → a fixed maximum of 3 days, changed. Pulse compared the captures it took on May 4, 2026 and May 11, 2026; the before/after table above lists each item as written on the page.
How often does Aiven change its pricing?
Pulse recorded 3 other pricing-page changes for Aiven in the 90 days before this one; the previous change was "Aiven Reveals Tiered Storage Pricing at $0.00012/GB-Hour" on Apr 27, 2026; Aiven has been tracked since 2024-10-01.