diff --git a/console/data/docs/99-changelog.md b/console/data/docs/99-changelog.md
index 2fd82e6b..cbdc64f2 100644
--- a/console/data/docs/99-changelog.md
+++ b/console/data/docs/99-changelog.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ identified with a specific icon:
 ## Unreleased
 
 - ✨ *console*: add a bidirectional mode for graphs to also display flows in the opposite direction
+- 🌱 *inlet*: Kafka key is now a 4-byte random value making scaling less dependent on the number of exporters
 - 🌱 *demo-exporter*: add a setting to automatically generate a reverse flow
 - 🌱 *docker-compose*: loosen required privileges for `conntrack-fixer`
 
diff --git a/inlet/core/root_test.go b/inlet/core/root_test.go
index a6fd0f5a..c7a1ad54 100644
--- a/inlet/core/root_test.go
+++ b/inlet/core/root_test.go
@@ -129,9 +129,6 @@ func TestCore(t *testing.T) {
 			if msg.Topic != expectedTopic {
 				t.Errorf("Kafka message topic (-got, +want):\n-%s\n+%s", msg.Topic, expectedTopic)
 			}
-			if msg.Key != sarama.StringEncoder("192.0.2.142") {
-				t.Errorf("Kafka message key (-got, +want):\n-%s\n+%s", msg.Key, "192.0.2.142")
-			}
 
 			got := flow.Message{}
 			b, err := msg.Value.Encode()
diff --git a/inlet/kafka/root.go b/inlet/kafka/root.go
index 5bdc96bc..b857f447 100644
--- a/inlet/kafka/root.go
+++ b/inlet/kafka/root.go
@@ -5,7 +5,9 @@
 package kafka
 
 import (
+	"encoding/binary"
 	"fmt"
+	"math/rand"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
@@ -124,9 +126,11 @@ func (c *Component) Stop() error {
 func (c *Component) Send(exporter string, payload []byte) {
 	c.metrics.bytesSent.WithLabelValues(exporter).Add(float64(len(payload)))
 	c.metrics.messagesSent.WithLabelValues(exporter).Inc()
+	key := make([]byte, 4)
+	binary.BigEndian.PutUint32(key, rand.Uint32())
 	c.kafkaProducer.Input() <- &sarama.ProducerMessage{
 		Topic: c.kafkaTopic,
-		Key:   sarama.StringEncoder(exporter),
+		Key:   sarama.ByteEncoder(key),
 		Value: sarama.ByteEncoder(payload),
 	}
 }
diff --git a/inlet/kafka/root_test.go b/inlet/kafka/root_test.go
index 28d10ae0..52aac474 100644
--- a/inlet/kafka/root_test.go
+++ b/inlet/kafka/root_test.go
@@ -26,9 +26,9 @@ func TestKafka(t *testing.T) {
 		defer close(received)
 		expected := sarama.ProducerMessage{
 			Topic:     "flows-v2",
-			Key:       sarama.StringEncoder("127.0.0.1"),
+			Key:       got.Key,
 			Value:     sarama.ByteEncoder("hello world!"),
-			Partition: 30,
+			Partition: got.Partition,
 		}
 		if diff := helpers.Diff(got, expected); diff != "" {
 			t.Fatalf("Send() (-got, +want):\n%s", diff)