diff --git a/nixos/tests/kafka/base.nix b/nixos/tests/kafka/base.nix
index 6e550c7f3c22..3a37048ca362 100644
--- a/nixos/tests/kafka/base.nix
+++ b/nixos/tests/kafka/base.nix
@@ -5,10 +5,7 @@ with pkgs.lib;
 let
   makeKafkaTest =
     name:
-    {
-      kafkaPackage,
-      mode ? "kraft",
-    }:
+    { kafkaPackage }:
     (import ../make-test-python.nix {
       inherit name;
 
@@ -16,48 +13,36 @@ let
         kafka =
           { ... }:
           {
-            services.apache-kafka = mkMerge [
-              {
-                enable = true;
-                package = kafkaPackage;
-                settings = {
-                  "offsets.topic.replication.factor" = 1;
-                  "log.dirs" = [
-                    "/var/lib/kafka/logdir1"
-                    "/var/lib/kafka/logdir2"
-                  ];
-                };
-              }
-              (mkIf (mode == "zookeeper") {
-                settings = {
-                  "zookeeper.session.timeout.ms" = 600000;
-                  "zookeeper.connect" = [ "zookeeper1:2181" ];
-                };
-              })
-              (mkIf (mode == "kraft") {
-                clusterId = "ak2fIHr4S8WWarOF_ODD0g";
-                formatLogDirs = true;
-                settings = {
-                  "node.id" = 1;
-                  "process.roles" = [
-                    "broker"
-                    "controller"
-                  ];
-                  "listeners" = [
-                    "PLAINTEXT://:9092"
-                    "CONTROLLER://:9093"
-                  ];
-                  "listener.security.protocol.map" = [
-                    "PLAINTEXT:PLAINTEXT"
-                    "CONTROLLER:PLAINTEXT"
-                  ];
-                  "controller.quorum.voters" = [
-                    "1@kafka:9093"
-                  ];
-                  "controller.listener.names" = [ "CONTROLLER" ];
-                };
-              })
-            ];
+            services.apache-kafka = {
+              enable = true;
+              package = kafkaPackage;
+              clusterId = "ak2fIHr4S8WWarOF_ODD0g";
+              formatLogDirs = true;
+              settings = {
+                "offsets.topic.replication.factor" = 1;
+                "log.dirs" = [
+                  "/var/lib/kafka/logdir1"
+                  "/var/lib/kafka/logdir2"
+                ];
+                "node.id" = 1;
+                "process.roles" = [
+                  "broker"
+                  "controller"
+                ];
+                "listeners" = [
+                  "PLAINTEXT://:9092"
+                  "CONTROLLER://:9093"
+                ];
+                "listener.security.protocol.map" = [
+                  "PLAINTEXT:PLAINTEXT"
+                  "CONTROLLER:PLAINTEXT"
+                ];
+                "controller.quorum.voters" = [
+                  "1@kafka:9093"
+                ];
+                "controller.listener.names" = [ "CONTROLLER" ];
+              };
+            };
 
             networking.firewall.allowedTCPPorts = [
               9092
@@ -67,29 +52,11 @@ let
             # i686 tests: qemu-system-i386 can simulate max 2047MB RAM (not 2048)
             virtualisation.memorySize = 2047;
           };
-      }
-      // optionalAttrs (mode == "zookeeper") {
-        zookeeper1 =
-          { ... }:
-          {
-            services.zookeeper = {
-              enable = true;
-            };
-
-            networking.firewall.allowedTCPPorts = [ 2181 ];
-            virtualisation.diskSize = 1024;
-          };
       };
 
       testScript = ''
         start_all()
 
-        ${optionalString (mode == "zookeeper") ''
-          zookeeper1.wait_for_unit("default.target")
-          zookeeper1.wait_for_unit("zookeeper.service")
-          zookeeper1.wait_for_open_port(2181)
-        ''}
-
         kafka.wait_for_unit("default.target")
         kafka.wait_for_unit("apache-kafka.service")
         kafka.wait_for_open_port(9092)