diff --git a/.chloggen/feat_42156.yaml b/.chloggen/feat_42156.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000..f0994d92a6ce6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.chloggen/feat_42156.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+# Use this changelog template to create an entry for release notes.
+
+# One of 'breaking', 'deprecation', 'new_component', 'enhancement', 'bug_fix'
+change_type: "enhancement"
+
+# The name of the component, or a single word describing the area of concern, (e.g. filelogreceiver)
+component: exporter/kafkaexporter
+
+# A brief description of the change.  Surround your text with quotes ("") if it needs to start with a backtick (`).
+note: "Use franz-go client for Kafka exporter as default, promoting the exporter.kafkaexporter.UseFranzGo feature gate to Beta."
+
+# Mandatory: One or more tracking issues related to the change. You can use the PR number here if no issue exists.
+issues: [42156]
+
+# (Optional) One or more lines of additional information to render under the primary note.
+# These lines will be padded with 2 spaces and then inserted directly into the document.
+# Use pipe (|) for multiline entries.
+subtext:
+
+# If your change doesn't affect end users or the exported elements of any package,
+# you should instead start your pull request title with [chore] or use the "Skip Changelog" label.
+# Optional: The change log or logs in which this entry should be included.
+# e.g. '[user]' or '[user, api]'
+# Include 'user' if the change is relevant to end users.
+# Include 'api' if there is a change to a library API.
+# Default: '[user]'
+change_logs: [user]
diff --git a/exporter/kafkaexporter/README.md b/exporter/kafkaexporter/README.md
index 126b89c677b7e..d1a2a4ebfb884 100644
--- a/exporter/kafkaexporter/README.md
+++ b/exporter/kafkaexporter/README.md
@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ processors for higher throughput and resiliency. Message payload encoding is con
 ## Configuration settings
 
 > [!NOTE]
-> You can opt-in to use [`franz-go`](https://github.com/twmb/franz-go) client by enabling the feature gate
+> You can opt out of using the [`franz-go`](https://github.com/twmb/franz-go) client by disabling the feature gate
 > `exporter.kafkaexporter.UseFranzGo` when you run the OpenTelemetry Collector. See the following page
 > for more details: [Feature Gates](https://github.com/open-telemetry/opentelemetry-collector/tree/main/featuregate#controlling-gates)
 
diff --git a/exporter/kafkaexporter/kafka_exporter.go b/exporter/kafkaexporter/kafka_exporter.go
index 2e499368f4023..b9f4be5eeab77 100644
--- a/exporter/kafkaexporter/kafka_exporter.go
+++ b/exporter/kafkaexporter/kafka_exporter.go
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ const franzGoClientFeatureGateName = "exporter.kafkaexporter.UseFranzGo"
 // will use the franz-go client, which is more performant and has better support for
 // modern Kafka features.
 var franzGoClientFeatureGate = featuregate.GlobalRegistry().MustRegister(
-	franzGoClientFeatureGateName, featuregate.StageAlpha,
+	franzGoClientFeatureGateName, featuregate.StageBeta,
 	featuregate.WithRegisterDescription("When enabled, the Kafka exporter will use the franz-go client to produce messages to Kafka."),
 	featuregate.WithRegisterFromVersion("v0.128.0"),
 )
@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ func (e *kafkaExporter[T]) Start(ctx context.Context, host component.Host) (err
 			kgo.WithHooks(kafkaclient.NewFranzProducerMetrics(tb)),
 		)
 		if ferr != nil {
-			return err
+			return ferr
 		}
 		e.producer = kafkaclient.NewFranzSyncProducer(producer,
 			e.cfg.IncludeMetadataKeys,