> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.conduktor.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Gateway Community Edition

> Gateway Community Edition runs Conduktor Gateway as a Kafka-managed proxy that translates broker addresses, without storing credentials or exposing Gateway-managed features.

Gateway Community Edition is a license-restricted mode of Conduktor Gateway. Gateway forwards Kafka client connections 1:1 to brokers and translates broker addresses, without storing credentials or exposing Gateway-managed features.

Use Gateway Community Edition when you need to:

* Make privately accessible brokers (such as Confluent Cloud dedicated clusters or Google Cloud managed Kafka) reachable from outside their private network segment.
* Add or change advertised listener addresses without reconfiguring broker listeners.

<Note>
  Gateway Community Edition requires a separate license from a standard Conduktor Gateway license. See [Obtain a Gateway Community Edition license](#obtain-a-gateway-community-edition-license).
</Note>

## What's included

Conduktor Gateway runs in [Kafka-managed mode](/guide/conduktor-in-production/deploy-artifacts/deploy-gateway/listener-security#kafka_managed). Gateway forwards client connections 1:1 to brokers, and clients authenticate using their SASL credentials, which the Kafka broker validates. Gateway does not store or validate credentials.

## What's not included

The following Gateway capabilities are unavailable under a Gateway Community Edition license:

* [Interceptors](/guide/conduktor-concepts/interceptors)
* [Topic views](/guide/conduktor-concepts/logical-topics#topic-views)
* [Alias topics](/guide/conduktor-concepts/logical-topics#alias-topics)
* [Virtual Clusters](/guide/conduktor-concepts/virtual-clusters)
* [Gateway service accounts](/guide/conduktor-concepts/gateway-service-accounts)
* [Gateway groups](/guide/reference/gateway-reference#gatewaygroup)
* [Topic concentration](/guide/conduktor-concepts/logical-topics#concentrated-topics)
* [Failover](/guide/conduktor-in-production/deploy-artifacts/deploy-gateway/failover)

## Configure Gateway Community Edition

Deploy Gateway as a [Kafka-managed proxy](/guide/conduktor-in-production/deploy-artifacts/deploy-gateway/listener-security#kafka_managed).

<Note>
  Gateway Community Edition supports Kafka-managed security only, via `SASL_PLAINTEXT` or `SASL_SSL`.
</Note>

Apply the license the same way as any other Gateway license:

```js title=".env" theme={null}
GATEWAY_LICENSE_KEY="<YOUR_GATEWAY_CE_LICENSE>"
```

[See Licensing overview](/guide/conduktor-in-production/manage-licenses) for verification and renewal.

## Restrictions

A Gateway Community Edition license enforces three customer-visible restrictions:

* **Disallowed configuration prevents startup.** If Gateway starts with configuration that requires an excluded feature (such as Interceptors or Virtual Clusters), it refuses to start and logs the offending configuration.
* **Disallowed Admin API calls return 403.** Admin API calls that create or modify excluded features return `403 Forbidden`. The response identifies the disallowed feature.
* **Product-usage metrics cannot be disabled.** Gateway Community Edition deployments report anonymous product-usage metrics to Conduktor. The reporting cannot be disabled from within Gateway.

## Obtain a Gateway Community Edition license

To request a Gateway Community Edition license, see [conduktor.io/gateway/community-edition](https://www.conduktor.io/gateway/community-edition).