diff --git a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
index c26a69b8e89..5175480c9f0 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
+++ b/CHANGELOG.asciidoc
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v5.0.0-alpha5...master[Check the HEAD d
 
 *Affecting all Beats*
 - Change Elasticsearch output index configuration to be based on format strings. If index has been configured, no date will be appended anymore to the index name. {pull}2119[2119]
+- Replace `output.kafka.use_type` by `output.kafka.topic` accepting a format string. {pull}2188[2188]
 
 *Metricbeat*
 - Change field type system.process.cpu.start_time from keyword to date. {issue}1565[1565]
@@ -48,6 +49,9 @@ https://github.com/elastic/beats/compare/v5.0.0-alpha5...master[Check the HEAD d
 - Add script to generate the Kibana index-pattern from fields.yml. {pull}2122[2122]
 - Enhance redis output key selection based on format string. {pull}2169[2169]
 - Configurable redis `keys` using filters and format strings. {pull}2169[2169]
+- Add format string support to `output.kafka.topic`. {pull}2188[2188]
+- Add `output.kafka.topics` for more advanced kafka topic selection per event. {pull}2188[2188]
+
 
 *Metricbeat*
 
diff --git a/filebeat/filebeat.full.yml b/filebeat/filebeat.full.yml
index 8eb4db682db..a67d54b4c24 100644
--- a/filebeat/filebeat.full.yml
+++ b/filebeat/filebeat.full.yml
@@ -483,14 +483,10 @@ output.elasticsearch:
   # to.
   #hosts: ["localhost:9092"]
 
-  # The Kafka topic used for produced events. If use_type is set to true, the
-  # topic will not be used.
+  # The Kafka topic used for produced events. The setting can be a format string
+  # using any event field. To set the topic from document type use `%{[type]}`.
   #topic: beats
 
-  # Set Kafka topic by event type. If use_type is false, the topic option must
-  # be configured. The default is false.
-  #use_type: false
-
   # The number of concurrent load-balanced Kafka output workers.
   #worker: 1
 
diff --git a/libbeat/_meta/config.full.yml b/libbeat/_meta/config.full.yml
index d688ff9fbe8..6d10fc225be 100644
--- a/libbeat/_meta/config.full.yml
+++ b/libbeat/_meta/config.full.yml
@@ -257,14 +257,10 @@ output.elasticsearch:
   # to.
   #hosts: ["localhost:9092"]
 
-  # The Kafka topic used for produced events. If use_type is set to true, the
-  # topic will not be used.
+  # The Kafka topic used for produced events. The setting can be a format string
+  # using any event field. To set the topic from document type use `%{[type]}`.
   #topic: beats
 
-  # Set Kafka topic by event type. If use_type is false, the topic option must
-  # be configured. The default is false.
-  #use_type: false
-
   # The number of concurrent load-balanced Kafka output workers.
   #worker: 1
 
diff --git a/libbeat/docs/outputconfig.asciidoc b/libbeat/docs/outputconfig.asciidoc
index a1489cb38d0..c6e830e779e 100644
--- a/libbeat/docs/outputconfig.asciidoc
+++ b/libbeat/docs/outputconfig.asciidoc
@@ -543,11 +543,8 @@ The cluster metadata contain the actual Kafka brokers events are published to.
 
 ===== topic
 
-The Kafka topic used for produced events. If `use_type` is set to true, the topic will not be used.
-
-===== use_type
-
-Set Kafka topic by event type. If `use_type` is false, the `topic` option must be configured. The default is false.
+The Kafka topic used for produced events. The setting can be a format string
+using any event field. To set the topic from document type use `%{[type]}`.
 
 ===== client_id
 
diff --git a/libbeat/outputs/kafka/client.go b/libbeat/outputs/kafka/client.go
index 642b3745225..bf780e84e6d 100644
--- a/libbeat/outputs/kafka/client.go
+++ b/libbeat/outputs/kafka/client.go
@@ -11,13 +11,13 @@ import (
 
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/common"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/logp"
+	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/outputs/outil"
 )
 
 type client struct {
-	hosts   []string
-	topic   string
-	useType bool
-	config  sarama.Config
+	hosts  []string
+	topic  outil.Selector
+	config sarama.Config
 
 	producer sarama.AsyncProducer
 
@@ -38,12 +38,15 @@ var (
 	publishEventsCallCount = expvar.NewInt("libbeat.kafka.call_count.PublishEvents")
 )
 
-func newKafkaClient(hosts []string, topic string, useType bool, cfg *sarama.Config) (*client, error) {
+func newKafkaClient(
+	hosts []string,
+	topic outil.Selector,
+	cfg *sarama.Config,
+) (*client, error) {
 	c := &client{
-		hosts:   hosts,
-		useType: useType,
-		topic:   topic,
-		config:  *cfg,
+		hosts:  hosts,
+		topic:  topic,
+		config: *cfg,
 	}
 	return c, nil
 }
@@ -103,10 +106,7 @@ func (c *client) AsyncPublishEvents(
 	ch := c.producer.Input()
 
 	for _, event := range events {
-		topic := c.topic
-		if c.useType {
-			topic = event["type"].(string)
-		}
+		topic, err := c.topic.Select(event)
 
 		jsonEvent, err := json.Marshal(event)
 		if err != nil {
diff --git a/libbeat/outputs/kafka/config.go b/libbeat/outputs/kafka/config.go
index d0122419192..883e8736c3e 100644
--- a/libbeat/outputs/kafka/config.go
+++ b/libbeat/outputs/kafka/config.go
@@ -14,8 +14,6 @@ type kafkaConfig struct {
 	TLS             *outputs.TLSConfig `config:"tls"`
 	Timeout         time.Duration      `config:"timeout"             validate:"min=1"`
 	Worker          int                `config:"worker"              validate:"min=1"`
-	UseType         bool               `config:"use_type"`
-	Topic           string             `config:"topic"`
 	KeepAlive       time.Duration      `config:"keep_alive"          validate:"min=0"`
 	MaxMessageBytes *int               `config:"max_message_bytes"   validate:"min=1"`
 	RequiredACKs    *int               `config:"required_acks"       validate:"min=-1"`
@@ -32,8 +30,6 @@ var (
 		TLS:             nil,
 		Timeout:         30 * time.Second,
 		Worker:          1,
-		UseType:         false,
-		Topic:           "",
 		KeepAlive:       0,
 		MaxMessageBytes: nil, // use library default
 		RequiredACKs:    nil, // use library default
@@ -50,10 +46,6 @@ func (c *kafkaConfig) Validate() error {
 		return errors.New("no hosts configured")
 	}
 
-	if c.UseType == false && c.Topic == "" {
-		return errors.New("use_type must be true or topic must be set")
-	}
-
 	if _, ok := compressionModes[strings.ToLower(c.Compression)]; !ok {
 		return fmt.Errorf("compression mode '%v' unknown", c.Compression)
 	}
diff --git a/libbeat/outputs/kafka/kafka.go b/libbeat/outputs/kafka/kafka.go
index ee01c98f66e..0ae5efaeaba 100644
--- a/libbeat/outputs/kafka/kafka.go
+++ b/libbeat/outputs/kafka/kafka.go
@@ -14,10 +14,12 @@ import (
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/outputs"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/outputs/mode"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/outputs/mode/modeutil"
+	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/outputs/outil"
 )
 
 type kafka struct {
 	config kafkaConfig
+	topic  outil.Selector
 
 	modeRetry      mode.ConnectionMode
 	modeGuaranteed mode.ConnectionMode
@@ -71,7 +73,18 @@ func (k *kafka) init(cfg *common.Config) error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	_, err := newKafkaConfig(&k.config)
+	var err error
+	k.topic, err = outil.BuildSelectorFromConfig(cfg, outil.Settings{
+		Key:              "topic",
+		MultiKey:         "topics",
+		EnableSingleOnly: true,
+		FailEmpty:        true,
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	_, err = newKafkaConfig(&k.config)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -96,10 +109,9 @@ func (k *kafka) initMode(guaranteed bool) (mode.ConnectionMode, error) {
 
 	var clients []mode.AsyncProtocolClient
 	hosts := k.config.Hosts
-	topic := k.config.Topic
-	useType := k.config.UseType
+	topic := k.topic
 	for i := 0; i < worker; i++ {
-		client, err := newKafkaClient(hosts, topic, useType, libCfg)
+		client, err := newKafkaClient(hosts, topic, libCfg)
 		if err != nil {
 			logp.Err("Failed to create kafka client: %v", err)
 			return nil, err
diff --git a/libbeat/outputs/kafka/kafka_integration_test.go b/libbeat/outputs/kafka/kafka_integration_test.go
index f4689a5891e..d9bed8a91b9 100644
--- a/libbeat/outputs/kafka/kafka_integration_test.go
+++ b/libbeat/outputs/kafka/kafka_integration_test.go
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ import (
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/common"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/logp"
 	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/outputs"
+	"github.com/elastic/beats/libbeat/outputs/outil"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 )
 
@@ -47,7 +48,8 @@ func newTestKafkaClient(t *testing.T, topic string) *client {
 	hosts := []string{getTestKafkaHost()}
 	t.Logf("host: %v", hosts)
 
-	client, err := newKafkaClient(hosts, topic, false, nil)
+	sel := outil.MakeSelector(outil.ConstSelectorExpr(topic))
+	client, err := newKafkaClient(hosts, sel, nil)
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
@@ -57,11 +59,13 @@ func newTestKafkaClient(t *testing.T, topic string) *client {
 
 func newTestKafkaOutput(t *testing.T, topic string, useType bool) outputs.Outputer {
 
+	if useType {
+		topic = "%{[type]}"
+	}
 	config := map[string]interface{}{
-		"hosts":    []string{getTestKafkaHost()},
-		"timeout":  "1s",
-		"topic":    topic,
-		"use_type": useType,
+		"hosts":   []string{getTestKafkaHost()},
+		"timeout": "1s",
+		"topic":   topic,
 	}
 
 	cfg, err := common.NewConfigFrom(config)
diff --git a/metricbeat/metricbeat.full.yml b/metricbeat/metricbeat.full.yml
index f7b5dabe6a2..83d00880e2e 100644
--- a/metricbeat/metricbeat.full.yml
+++ b/metricbeat/metricbeat.full.yml
@@ -405,14 +405,10 @@ output.elasticsearch:
   # to.
   #hosts: ["localhost:9092"]
 
-  # The Kafka topic used for produced events. If use_type is set to true, the
-  # topic will not be used.
+  # The Kafka topic used for produced events. The setting can be a format string
+  # using any event field. To set the topic from document type use `%{[type]}`.
   #topic: beats
 
-  # Set Kafka topic by event type. If use_type is false, the topic option must
-  # be configured. The default is false.
-  #use_type: false
-
   # The number of concurrent load-balanced Kafka output workers.
   #worker: 1
 
diff --git a/packetbeat/packetbeat.full.yml b/packetbeat/packetbeat.full.yml
index a86b2c2f907..9e390003854 100644
--- a/packetbeat/packetbeat.full.yml
+++ b/packetbeat/packetbeat.full.yml
@@ -675,14 +675,10 @@ output.elasticsearch:
   # to.
   #hosts: ["localhost:9092"]
 
-  # The Kafka topic used for produced events. If use_type is set to true, the
-  # topic will not be used.
+  # The Kafka topic used for produced events. The setting can be a format string
+  # using any event field. To set the topic from document type use `%{[type]}`.
   #topic: beats
 
-  # Set Kafka topic by event type. If use_type is false, the topic option must
-  # be configured. The default is false.
-  #use_type: false
-
   # The number of concurrent load-balanced Kafka output workers.
   #worker: 1
 
diff --git a/winlogbeat/winlogbeat.full.yml b/winlogbeat/winlogbeat.full.yml
index 8f426d14952..4f8707f8cf6 100644
--- a/winlogbeat/winlogbeat.full.yml
+++ b/winlogbeat/winlogbeat.full.yml
@@ -292,14 +292,10 @@ output.elasticsearch:
   # to.
   #hosts: ["localhost:9092"]
 
-  # The Kafka topic used for produced events. If use_type is set to true, the
-  # topic will not be used.
+  # The Kafka topic used for produced events. The setting can be a format string
+  # using any event field. To set the topic from document type use `%{[type]}`.
   #topic: beats
 
-  # Set Kafka topic by event type. If use_type is false, the topic option must
-  # be configured. The default is false.
-  #use_type: false
-
   # The number of concurrent load-balanced Kafka output workers.
   #worker: 1