Measured event size · Application

Apache Kafka log size: 2,000 bytes per event

The average Apache Kafka event is 2,000 bytes, measured from samples of its logs. An application source typically produces 100 events per second per device, bursting to 1,000: web access logs high, service audit trails low. The rate is an informed estimate; the size is measured.

2,000 B
per event, measured
100
events per second, typical
17.3 GB
per device per day
6.3 TB
per device per year

What that comes to

One device, raw bytes, at the typical rate for an application source.

PeriodAt 100 events/sAt the 1,000 events/s burst
An hour720 MB7.2 GB
A day17.3 GB173 GB
90 days1.6 TB15.6 TB
A year6.3 TB63.1 TB

A day of Apache Kafka logs from one device at the category's typical rate, 17.3 GB, is about the size of an 8B model’s weights.

Size your own

100
events per second
17.3 GB
per day
1.6 TB
at retention

Raw bytes, before compression, indexing overhead and replication.

Measure a sample of your own

The figure above is an average; yours will differ, and for Apache Kafka what moves it most is this: web access logs high, service audit trails low. The profiler reads a sample from Apache Kafka in your browser, line by line, one event per line, and reports the bytes per line to set against it. Nothing is uploaded.

Other application sources

The application category: its typical rate and every source in it →

Logcaliper, free on iOS, has these sizes and rates built in and sizes a whole list of sources at retention: storage, cluster capacity, nodes.