diff --git a/.ci/run.sh b/.ci/run.sh
index 814674b0..7d0fc9ed 100755
--- a/.ci/run.sh
+++ b/.ci/run.sh
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ env
 
 set -ex
 
-export KAFKA_VERSION=3.3.1
+export KAFKA_VERSION=3.9.1
 ./kafka_test_setup.sh
 
 bundle exec rspec -fd
diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index f71bab15..c93b72b0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+## 11.8.0
+  - Deprecate partitioner `default` and `uniform_sticky` options [#206](https://github.com/logstash-plugins/logstash-integration-kafka/pull/206)
+      Both options are deprecated in Kafka client 3 and will be removed in the plugin 12.0.0.
+
 ## 11.7.0
   - Add `reconnect_backoff_max_ms` option for configuring kafka client [#204](https://github.com/logstash-plugins/logstash-integration-kafka/pull/204)
 
diff --git a/docs/output-kafka.asciidoc b/docs/output-kafka.asciidoc
index 3ca797e7..377c6bc0 100644
--- a/docs/output-kafka.asciidoc
+++ b/docs/output-kafka.asciidoc
@@ -349,14 +349,15 @@ The max time in milliseconds before a metadata refresh is forced.
 * Value type is <<string,string>>
 * There is no default value for this setting.
 
-The default behavior is to hash the `message_key` of an event to get the partition.
-When no message key is present, the plugin picks a partition in a round-robin fashion.
+By not setting this value, the plugin uses the built-in partitioning strategy provided by the Kafka client. Read more about the "partitioner.class" on the Kafka documentation.
 
-Available options for choosing a partitioning strategy are as follows:
+Available options are as follows:
 
-* `default` use the default partitioner as described above
+* `default` hashes the `message_key` of an event to get the partition. When no message key is present, the plugin picks a partition in a round-robin fashion. Please note that this is a different strategy than the one used when `partitioner` is left unset.
 * `round_robin` distributes writes to all partitions equally, regardless of `message_key`
-* `uniform_sticky` sticks to a partition for the duration of a batch than randomly picks a new one
+* `uniform_sticky` hashes the `message_key` of an event to get the partition. When no message key is present, the plugin sticks to a partition for the duration of a batch than randomly picks a new one.
+
+NOTE: `default` and `uniform_sticky` are deprecated and will be removed in `12.0.0`.
 
 [id="plugins-{type}s-{plugin}-receive_buffer_bytes"]
 ===== `receive_buffer_bytes` 
diff --git a/kafka_test_setup.sh b/kafka_test_setup.sh
index 664e2b43..0311bf7a 100755
--- a/kafka_test_setup.sh
+++ b/kafka_test_setup.sh
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ set -ex
 if [ -n "${KAFKA_VERSION+1}" ]; then
   echo "KAFKA_VERSION is $KAFKA_VERSION"
 else
-   KAFKA_VERSION=3.4.1
+   KAFKA_VERSION=3.9.1
 fi
 
 export _JAVA_OPTIONS="-Djava.net.preferIPv4Stack=true"
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ mkdir build
 echo "Setup Kafka version $KAFKA_VERSION"
 if [ ! -e "kafka_2.13-$KAFKA_VERSION.tgz" ]; then
   echo "Kafka not present locally, downloading"
-  curl -s -o "kafka_2.13-$KAFKA_VERSION.tgz" "https://archive.apache.org/dist/kafka/$KAFKA_VERSION/kafka_2.13-$KAFKA_VERSION.tgz"
+  curl -s -o "kafka_2.13-$KAFKA_VERSION.tgz" "https://downloads.apache.org/kafka/$KAFKA_VERSION/kafka_2.13-$KAFKA_VERSION.tgz"
 fi
 cp kafka_2.13-$KAFKA_VERSION.tgz build/kafka.tgz
 mkdir build/kafka && tar xzf build/kafka.tgz -C build/kafka --strip-components 1
diff --git a/lib/logstash/outputs/kafka.rb b/lib/logstash/outputs/kafka.rb
index 0bc2532a..139bea76 100644
--- a/lib/logstash/outputs/kafka.rb
+++ b/lib/logstash/outputs/kafka.rb
@@ -409,8 +409,10 @@ def partitioner_class
     when 'round_robin'
       'org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.RoundRobinPartitioner'
     when 'uniform_sticky'
+      log_partitioner_warning(partitioner, 'UniformStickyPartitioner')
       'org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.UniformStickyPartitioner'
     when 'default'
+      log_partitioner_warning(partitioner, 'DefaultPartitioner')
       'org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.internals.DefaultPartitioner'
     else
       unless partitioner.index('.')
@@ -420,4 +422,10 @@ def partitioner_class
     end
   end
 
+  def log_partitioner_warning(partitioner, class_name)
+    deprecation_logger.deprecated("Producer `partitioner` is configured with the deprecated option `#{partitioner}`. " \
+                  "#{class_name} is removed in kafka-client 4.0 and the `#{partitioner}` option will be removed in the plugin 12.0.0. "\
+                  'Please update your configuration to use `round_robin` or unset the option to use the build-in partitioning strategy. ')
+  end
+
 end #class LogStash::Outputs::Kafka
diff --git a/logstash-integration-kafka.gemspec b/logstash-integration-kafka.gemspec
index 34519a66..47b46599 100644
--- a/logstash-integration-kafka.gemspec
+++ b/logstash-integration-kafka.gemspec
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 Gem::Specification.new do |s|
   s.name            = 'logstash-integration-kafka'
-  s.version         = '11.7.0'
+  s.version         = '11.8.0'
   s.licenses        = ['Apache-2.0']
   s.summary         = "Integration with Kafka - input and output plugins"
   s.description     = "This gem is a Logstash plugin required to be installed on top of the Logstash core pipeline "+