WarpStream is an Apache Kafka protocol compatible data streaming platform that runs directly on top of any commodity object store, such as AWS S3, GCP GCS, or Azure Blob Storage. It incurs zero inter-AZ bandwidth costs and has no local disks to manage, making it significantly cheaper than traditional Kafka deployments. WarpStream's architecture separates data from metadata, storing metadata in a custom database that reduces operational burdens. The platform can reduce the cost of most Kafka workloads by 5-10x, with almost zero operational overhead, but may introduce higher latency due to its reliance on object storage. WarpStream aims to address two major problems with traditional Kafka: cloud economics and operational overhead, while also improving developer UX through its novel architecture.