Apache Kafka® and the great database debate

The debate over whether Apache Kafka is a database revolves around its role in data architecture. While it does take in and give out data, making it similar to databases, Kafka's primary function is to record events as they occur rather than storing states of affairs like relational databases do. It excels at being a message bus component for data pipelines but isn't well-suited for occasional queries or long-term storage. Thus, while it can process enormous amounts of data and handle streaming data effectively, Kafka is best used between systems rather than as a standalone database.