Redpanda
3-broker Redpanda cluster - Kafka-compatible streaming without the JVM or ZooKeeper, plus Redpanda Console.
One-click deploy, from $49/mo on a Miget plan.
Redpanda speaks the Kafka API - your existing Kafka clients, libraries, and tooling work unchanged - but ships as a single C++ binary with no JVM and no ZooKeeper. The practical upshot: lower memory floors, predictable tail latency, and a much simpler ops story.
This template runs three brokers (each with the Kafka API on :9092, schema registry on :8081, and HTTP proxy on :8082 built in - no extra components to deploy) plus Redpanda Console as the public web UI. Brokers seed from each other by service name and keep their data on per-node persistent volumes.
Apps in the same project connect with bootstrap servers rp-1:9092,rp-2:9092,rp-3:9092. Schema registry and REST proxy come for free on every broker - things that cost extra almost everywhere else.
Upstream project: Redpanda
#what you get
- Kafka-API compatible - existing clients and ecosystem tools work unchanged
- No JVM, no ZooKeeper: one binary per broker, lower RAM, stable latency
- Schema registry and HTTP proxy built into every broker
- Redpanda Console for topics, consumer groups, and live message viewing
- Per-broker persistent volumes (10 GB each)
- Stock Redpanda image; per-node flags ride each service’s command
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| rp-1..3 | brokers (Kafka API :9092, schema registry :8081, HTTP proxy :8082) | no |
| redpanda-console | web console | yes (HTTP) |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
6.5 GiB RAM · 30 GB disk · 4 services
2 GiB per broker is a comfortable floor for development and moderate production loads; Redpanda autotunes to its container limits. The Console is light at 512 MiB.
Hobby - recommended fit
$49/mo
4 vCPU · 8 GiB · 160 GiB disk
Headroom for your own apps: 16 GiB at $97/mo
Professional - production
$85/mo
4 vCPU · 8 GiB · 50 GiB disk
Dedicated resources, production SLOs - plan details
One Miget plan is a fixed pool of compute - the whole stack (managed databases included) deploys inside it, and anything left over runs your other apps. No per-service or per-seat math.
#vs. the managed service
What the hosted equivalents charge, against the flat Miget plan this stack fits on. Prices as of June 2026, sources linked.
| Service | Plan | Monthly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Redpanda on Miget ★ | 8 GiB plan | $49 | this whole stack, flat - no usage meters, and room left for your own apps |
| Redpanda Cloud | Serverless | ~$95 | always-on small workload (base compute + partitions + transfer + storage); BYOC is annual-commit |
| Confluent Cloud | Basic (usage-based) | ~$120 | comparable small Kafka-API workload |
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (6.5 GiB RAM, 30 GB disk, 4 containers) elsewhere, from published June 2026 rates.
| Platform | Est. monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $49 flat | compose stacks first-class: one deploy, dedicated vCPU, managed Postgres/Valkey, volumes and TLS all included in the plan |
| Heroku | ~$325 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| Render | ~$89 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| DO App Platform | ~$83 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Railway | ~$70 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$43 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
Estimates assume RAM fully allocated at published on-demand rates - and sticker price isn't the whole comparison: the cheaper rows buy burstable shared CPUs, per-service wiring instead of a compose deploy, and managed databases billed separately. Heroku and DO App Platform have no persistent volumes at all - stateful stacks like this one need workarounds there.
#deploy it
On Miget
- Create a Compose Stack in app.miget.com pointing at the templates repository
- Set the stack path to
redpanda - No required variables - deploy as-is
- Deploy. Miget layers
compose.miget.yaml(RAM, privacy, volumes, managed services) automatically
Locally first?
Every template is portable, vanilla Docker Compose - the Miget overrides are ignored locally:
git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd miget-compose-templates/redpanda
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
Is Redpanda really compatible with Kafka clients?
Yes - Redpanda implements the Kafka wire protocol. kafkajs, librdkafka, Spring Kafka, kcat, and the standard Kafka CLI tools all work against rp-1:9092 without code changes.
Why choose Redpanda over Kafka for self-hosting?
Simplicity and footprint. No JVM tuning, no ZooKeeper, schema registry and REST proxy built in. This 3-broker Redpanda stack totals 6.5 GiB RAM where the equivalent Kafka stack needs 7 GiB - and there are four fewer things that can go wrong.
How much does self-hosting Redpanda cost?
The full 3-broker cluster plus Console fits an 8 GiB Miget plan: $49/month hobby or $85/month Professional, flat. Redpanda Cloud and managed Kafka services are usage-priced and typically land far higher for an always-on 3-node cluster.
How do I use the schema registry?
Every broker serves it on port 8081 - point your serializers at http://rp-1:8081 from apps in the same project. No separate schema-registry deployment needed.
Ship Redpanda today
One compose stack, 6.5 GiB of RAM, from $49/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.