diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index da3e2e8a4..a4d9f749b 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 ## v1.5.1 [unreleased]
 
 - [#1982](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/pull/1982): Fix KafkaTopic not working from TICKscript
+- [#1989](https://github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/pull/1989): Improve Kafka alert throughput.
 
 ## v1.5.0 [2018-05-17]
 
diff --git a/integrations/streamer_test.go b/integrations/streamer_test.go
index c382bdbf2..4f489a9c9 100644
--- a/integrations/streamer_test.go
+++ b/integrations/streamer_test.go
@@ -8575,9 +8575,10 @@ stream
 
 	tmInit := func(tm *kapacitor.TaskMaster) {
 		configs := kafka.Configs{{
-			Enabled: true,
-			ID:      "default",
-			Brokers: []string{ts.Addr.String()},
+			Enabled:   true,
+			ID:        "default",
+			Brokers:   []string{ts.Addr.String()},
+			BatchSize: 1,
 		}}
 		d := diagService.NewKafkaHandler().WithContext(keyvalue.KV("test", "kafka"))
 		tm.KafkaService = kafka.NewService(configs, d)
@@ -8594,6 +8595,9 @@ stream
 		},
 	}
 
+	// Wait for kakfa messages to be written
+	time.Sleep(time.Second)
+
 	ts.Close()
 	msgs, err := ts.Messages()
 	if err != nil {
diff --git a/pipeline/alert.go b/pipeline/alert.go
index ceb2333a9..a1785abae 100644
--- a/pipeline/alert.go
+++ b/pipeline/alert.go
@@ -1853,6 +1853,13 @@ func (h *SNMPTrapHandler) validate() error {
 //                 .cluster('default')
 //                 .kafkaTopic('alerts')
 //
+// Mesasges are written to Kafka asynchronously.
+// As such, errors are not reported for individual writes to Kafka, rather an error counter is recorded.
+//
+// Kapacitor tracks these stats for Kafka:
+//
+// * write_errors - Reports the number of errors encountered when writing to Kafka for a given topic and cluster.
+// * write_messages - Reports the number of messages written to Kafka for a given topic and cluster.
 //
 // tick:property
 func (n *AlertNodeData) Kafka() *KafkaHandler {
diff --git a/services/kafka/config.go b/services/kafka/config.go
index 62a1dd121..39c3e4914 100644
--- a/services/kafka/config.go
+++ b/services/kafka/config.go
@@ -94,7 +94,12 @@ func (c Config) WriterConfig() (kafka.WriterConfig, error) {
 		Dialer:       dialer,
 		ReadTimeout:  time.Duration(c.Timeout),
 		WriteTimeout: time.Duration(c.Timeout),
+		BatchSize:    c.BatchSize,
 		BatchTimeout: time.Duration(c.BatchTimeout),
+		// Async=true allows internal batching of the messages to take place.
+		// It also means that no errors will be captured from the WriteMessages method.
+		// As such we track the WriteStats for errors and report them with Kapacitor's normal diagnostics.
+		Async: true,
 	}, nil
 }
 
diff --git a/services/kafka/service.go b/services/kafka/service.go
index 837b39da6..c74a2b7a1 100644
--- a/services/kafka/service.go
+++ b/services/kafka/service.go
@@ -6,15 +6,24 @@ import (
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
 	"sort"
+	"strconv"
 	"sync"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"text/template"
+	"time"
 
 	"github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/alert"
 	"github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/keyvalue"
+	"github.com/influxdata/kapacitor/server/vars"
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	kafka "github.com/segmentio/kafka-go"
 )
 
+const (
+	statWriteMessageCount = "write_messages"
+	statWriteErrorCount   = "write_errors"
+)
+
 type Diagnostic interface {
 	WithContext(ctx ...keyvalue.T) Diagnostic
 	InsecureSkipVerify()
@@ -25,13 +34,94 @@ type Cluster struct {
 	mu  sync.RWMutex
 	cfg Config
 
-	writers map[string]*kafka.Writer
+	writers map[string]*writer
+}
+
+// writer wraps a kafka.Writer and tracks stats
+type writer struct {
+	kafka *kafka.Writer
+
+	cluster,
+	topic string
+
+	wg sync.WaitGroup
+
+	statsKey     string
+	ticker       *time.Ticker
+	messageCount int64
+	errorCount   int64
+}
+
+func (w *writer) Open() {
+	statsKey, statsMap := vars.NewStatistic("kafka", map[string]string{
+		"cluster": w.cluster,
+		"topic":   w.topic,
+	})
+	w.statsKey = statsKey
+	// setup stats for the writer
+	writeErrors := &writeErrorCount{
+		w: w,
+	}
+	statsMap.Set(statWriteErrorCount, writeErrors)
+	writeMessages := &writeMessageCount{
+		w: w,
+	}
+	statsMap.Set(statWriteMessageCount, writeMessages)
+
+	w.ticker = time.NewTicker(time.Second)
+	w.wg.Add(1)
+	go func() {
+		defer w.wg.Done()
+		w.pollStats()
+	}()
+}
+
+func (w *writer) Close() {
+	w.ticker.Stop()
+	vars.DeleteStatistic(w.statsKey)
+	w.kafka.Close()
+	w.wg.Wait()
+}
+
+// pollStats periodically reads the writer Stats and accumulates the results.
+// A read operation on the kafka.Writer.Stats() method causes the internal counters to be reset.
+// As a result we control all reads through this method.
+func (w *writer) pollStats() {
+	for range w.ticker.C {
+		stats := w.kafka.Stats()
+		atomic.AddInt64(&w.messageCount, stats.Messages)
+		atomic.AddInt64(&w.errorCount, stats.Errors)
+	}
+}
+
+// writeMessageCount implements the kexpvar.IntVar to expose error counts.
+type writeMessageCount struct {
+	w *writer
+}
+
+func (w *writeMessageCount) IntValue() int64 {
+	return atomic.LoadInt64(&w.w.messageCount)
+}
+func (w *writeMessageCount) String() string {
+	return strconv.FormatInt(w.IntValue(), 10)
+}
+
+// writeErrorCount implements the kexpvar.IntVar to expose error counts.
+type writeErrorCount struct {
+	w *writer
+}
+
+func (w *writeErrorCount) IntValue() int64 {
+	return atomic.LoadInt64(&w.w.errorCount)
+}
+func (w *writeErrorCount) String() string {
+	return strconv.FormatInt(w.IntValue(), 10)
 }
 
 func NewCluster(c Config) *Cluster {
 	return &Cluster{
 		cfg:     c,
-		writers: make(map[string]*kafka.Writer),
+		writers: make(map[string]*writer),
 	}
 }
 
@@ -40,13 +130,13 @@ func (c *Cluster) WriteMessage(topic string, key, msg []byte) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	return w.WriteMessages(context.Background(), kafka.Message{
+	return w.kafka.WriteMessages(context.Background(), kafka.Message{
 		Key:   key,
 		Value: msg,
 	})
 }
 
-func (c *Cluster) writer(topic string) (*kafka.Writer, error) {
+func (c *Cluster) writer(topic string) (*writer, error) {
 	c.mu.RLock()
 	w, ok := c.writers[topic]
 	c.mu.RUnlock()
@@ -60,7 +150,14 @@ func (c *Cluster) writer(topic string) (*kafka.Writer, error) {
 				return nil, err
 			}
 			wc.Topic = topic
-			w = kafka.NewWriter(wc)
+			kw := kafka.NewWriter(wc)
+			// Create new writer
+			w = &writer{
+				kafka:   kw,
+				cluster: c.cfg.ID,
+				topic:   topic,
+			}
+			w.Open()
 			c.writers[topic] = w
 		}
 	}