diff --git a/source-kafka/src/configuration.rs b/source-kafka/src/configuration.rs
index d7efbc0b3..e2f900f2f 100644
--- a/source-kafka/src/configuration.rs
+++ b/source-kafka/src/configuration.rs
@@ -3,14 +3,14 @@ use rdkafka::client::{ClientContext, OAuthToken};
 use rdkafka::consumer::{BaseConsumer, ConsumerContext};
 use rdkafka::ClientConfig;
 use schemars::{schema::RootSchema, JsonSchema};
-use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
+use serde::{de, Deserialize, Deserializer, Serialize};
 
-#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Default)]
+#[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
 pub struct EndpointConfig {
     bootstrap_servers: String,
     credentials: Option<Credentials>,
     tls: Option<TlsSettings>,
-    pub schema_registry: Option<SchemaRegistryConfig>,
+    pub schema_registry: SchemaRegistryConfig,
 }
 
 #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize, Clone)]
@@ -55,10 +55,31 @@ pub enum TlsSettings {
 }
 
 #[derive(Serialize, Deserialize)]
-pub struct SchemaRegistryConfig {
-    pub endpoint: String,
-    pub username: String,
-    pub password: String,
+#[serde(tag = "schema_registry_type")]
+#[serde(rename_all = "snake_case")]
+pub enum SchemaRegistryConfig {
+    ConfluentSchemaRegistry {
+        endpoint: String,
+        username: String,
+        password: String,
+    },
+    NoSchemaRegistry {
+        #[serde(deserialize_with = "validate_json_only_true")]
+        enable_json_only: bool,
+    },
+}
+
+fn validate_json_only_true<'de, D>(deserializer: D) -> Result<bool, D::Error>
+where
+    D: Deserializer<'de>,
+{
+    if bool::deserialize(deserializer)? {
+        Ok(true)
+    } else {
+        Err(de::Error::custom(
+            "'enable_json_only' must be set to true when no schema registry is configured",
+        ))
+    }
 }
 
 impl JsonSchema for EndpointConfig {
@@ -73,7 +94,8 @@ impl JsonSchema for EndpointConfig {
             "type": "object",
             "required": [
                 "bootstrap_servers",
-                "credentials"
+                "credentials",
+                "schema_registry"
             ],
             "properties": {
                 "bootstrap_servers": {
@@ -113,7 +135,6 @@ impl JsonSchema for EndpointConfig {
                             },
                             "username": {
                                 "order": 2,
-                                "secret": true,
                                 "title": "Username",
                                 "type": "string"
                             },
@@ -176,35 +197,66 @@ impl JsonSchema for EndpointConfig {
                 },
                 "schema_registry": {
                     "title": "Schema Registry",
-                    "description": "Connection details for interacting with a schema registry. This is necessary for processing messages encoded with Avro.",
+                    "description": "Connection details for interacting with a schema registry.",
                     "type": "object",
-                    "properties": {
-                        "endpoint": {
-                            "type": "string",
-                            "title": "Schema Registry Endpoint",
-                            "description": "Schema registry API endpoint. For example: https://registry-id.us-east-2.aws.confluent.cloud",
-                            "order": 0 
+                    "order": 3,
+                    "discriminator": {
+                        "propertyName": "schema_registry_type"
+                    },
+                    "oneOf": [{
+                        "title": "Confluent Schema Registry",
+                        "properties": {
+                            "schema_registry_type": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "default": "confluent_schema_registry",
+                                "const": "confluent_schema_registry",
+                                "order": 0
+                            },
+                            "endpoint": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "title": "Schema Registry Endpoint",
+                                "description": "Schema registry API endpoint. For example: https://registry-id.us-east-2.aws.confluent.cloud",
+                                "order": 1
+                            },
+                            "username": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "title": "Schema Registry Username",
+                                "description": "Schema registry username to use for authentication. If you are using Confluent Cloud, this will be the 'Key' from your schema registry API key.",
+                                "order": 2
+                            },
+                            "password": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "title": "Schema Registry Password",
+                                "description": "Schema registry password to use for authentication. If you are using Confluent Cloud, this will be the 'Secret' from your schema registry API key.",
+                                "order": 3,
+                                "secret": true
+                            }
                         },
-                        "username": {
-                            "type": "string",
-                            "title": "Schema Registry Username",
-                            "description": "Schema registry username to use for authentication. If you are using Confluent Cloud, this will be the 'Key' from your schema registry API key.",
-                            "order": 1
+                        "required": [
+                            "endpoint",
+                            "username",
+                            "password"
+                        ],
+                    }, {
+                        "title": "No Schema Registry",
+                        "properties": {
+                            "schema_registry_type": {
+                                "type": "string",
+                                "default": "no_schema_registry",
+                                "const": "no_schema_registry",
+                                "order": 0
+                            },
+                            "enable_json_only": {
+                                "type": "boolean",
+                                "title": "Capture Messages in JSON Format Only",
+                                "description": "If no schema registry is configured the capture will attempt to parse all data as JSON, and discovered collections will use a key of the message partition & offset. All available topics will be discovered, but if their messages are not encoded as JSON attempting to capture them will result in errors. If your topics contain messages encoded with a schema, you should configure the connector to use the schema registry for optimal results.",
+                                "order": 1
+                            }
                         },
-                        "password": {
-                            "type": "string",
-                            "title": "Schema Registry Password",
-                            "description": "Schema registry password to use for authentication. If you are using Confluent Cloud, this will be the 'Secret' from your schema registry API key.",
-                            "order": 2,
-                            "secret": true
-                        }
-                    },
-                    "required": [
-                        "endpoint",
-                        "username",
-                        "password"
-                    ],
-                    "order": 3
+                        "required": [
+                            "enable_json_only",
+                        ],
+                    }],
                 }
             }
         }))
diff --git a/source-kafka/src/discover.rs b/source-kafka/src/discover.rs
index 4b488129e..231e9907e 100644
--- a/source-kafka/src/discover.rs
+++ b/source-kafka/src/discover.rs
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ use schemars::schema::RootSchema;
 use serde_json::json;
 
 use crate::{
-    configuration::{EndpointConfig, Resource},
+    configuration::{EndpointConfig, Resource, SchemaRegistryConfig},
     schema_registry::{
         RegisteredSchema::{Avro, Json, Protobuf},
         SchemaRegistryClient, TopicSchema,
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ pub async fn do_discover(req: Discover) -> Result<Vec<discovered::Binding>> {
 
     let meta = consumer
         .fetch_metadata(None, KAFKA_TIMEOUT)
-        .context("could not fetch cluster metadata - double check your configuration")?;
+        .context("Could not connect to bootstrap server with the provided configuration. This may be due to an incorrect configuration for authentication or bootstrap servers. Double check your configuration and try again.")?;
 
     let mut all_topics: Vec<String> = meta
         .topics()
@@ -47,14 +47,18 @@ pub async fn do_discover(req: Discover) -> Result<Vec<discovered::Binding>> {
     all_topics.sort();
 
     let registered_schemas = match config.schema_registry {
-        Some(cfg) => {
-            let client = SchemaRegistryClient::new(cfg.endpoint, cfg.username, cfg.password);
+        SchemaRegistryConfig::ConfluentSchemaRegistry {
+            endpoint,
+            username,
+            password,
+        } => {
+            let client = SchemaRegistryClient::new(endpoint, username, password);
             client
                 .schemas_for_topics(&all_topics)
                 .await
-                .context("fetching topic schemas from schema registry")?
+                .context("Could not connect to the configured schema registry. Double check your configuration and try again.")?
         }
-        None => HashMap::new(),
+        SchemaRegistryConfig::NoSchemaRegistry { .. } => HashMap::new(),
     };
 
     all_topics
diff --git a/source-kafka/src/lib.rs b/source-kafka/src/lib.rs
index a080750a4..3b4f07dc1 100644
--- a/source-kafka/src/lib.rs
+++ b/source-kafka/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use std::io::Write;
 
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
-use configuration::{schema_for, EndpointConfig, Resource};
+use configuration::{schema_for, EndpointConfig, Resource, SchemaRegistryConfig};
 use discover::do_discover;
 use proto_flow::capture::{
     request::Validate,
@@ -12,6 +12,7 @@ use proto_flow::capture::{
 };
 use pull::do_pull;
 use rdkafka::consumer::Consumer;
+use schema_registry::SchemaRegistryClient;
 use tokio::io::{self, AsyncBufReadExt};
 
 pub mod configuration;
@@ -129,7 +130,22 @@ async fn do_validate(req: Validate) -> Result<Vec<ValidatedBinding>> {
 
     consumer
         .fetch_metadata(None, KAFKA_TIMEOUT)
-        .context("could not fetch cluster metadata - double check your configuration")?;
+        .context("Could not connect to bootstrap server with the provided configuration. This may be due to an incorrect configuration for authentication or bootstrap servers. Double check your configuration and try again.")?;
+
+    match config.schema_registry {
+        SchemaRegistryConfig::ConfluentSchemaRegistry {
+            endpoint,
+            username,
+            password,
+        } => {
+            let client = SchemaRegistryClient::new(endpoint, username, password);
+            client
+                .schemas_for_topics(&[])
+                .await
+                .context("Could not connect to the configured schema registry. Double check your configuration and try again.")?;
+        }
+        SchemaRegistryConfig::NoSchemaRegistry { .. } => (),
+    };
 
     req.bindings
         .iter()
diff --git a/source-kafka/src/main.rs b/source-kafka/src/main.rs
index 3531828ff..214079f37 100644
--- a/source-kafka/src/main.rs
+++ b/source-kafka/src/main.rs
@@ -11,14 +11,13 @@ fn main() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
     let result = runtime.block_on(run_connector(stdin, stdout));
 
     if let Err(err) = result.as_ref() {
-        tracing::error!(error = %err, "operation failed");
+        tracing::error!(error = ?err, "operation failed");
     } else {
         tracing::debug!("connector run successful");
     }
 
     runtime.shutdown_background();
 
-    tracing::info!(success = %result.is_ok(), "connector exiting");
     result
 }
 
@@ -47,7 +46,6 @@ fn start_runtime() -> anyhow::Result<tokio::runtime::Runtime> {
         .with_target(false)
         .init();
 
-    // These bits about the runtime and shutdown were cargo-culted over from connector-init
     let runtime = tokio::runtime::Builder::new_multi_thread()
         .enable_all()
         .build()
diff --git a/source-kafka/src/pull.rs b/source-kafka/src/pull.rs
index 51379fef7..7121d9877 100644
--- a/source-kafka/src/pull.rs
+++ b/source-kafka/src/pull.rs
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 use crate::{
-    configuration::{EndpointConfig, FlowConsumerContext, Resource},
+    configuration::{EndpointConfig, FlowConsumerContext, Resource, SchemaRegistryConfig},
     schema_registry::{RegisteredSchema, SchemaRegistryClient},
     write_capture_response,
 };
@@ -85,12 +85,12 @@ pub async fn do_pull(req: Open, mut stdout: std::io::Stdout) -> Result<()> {
     let config: EndpointConfig = serde_json::from_str(&spec.config_json)?;
     let mut consumer = config.to_consumer().await?;
     let schema_client = match config.schema_registry {
-        Some(cfg) => Some(SchemaRegistryClient::new(
-            cfg.endpoint,
-            cfg.username,
-            cfg.password,
-        )),
-        None => None,
+        SchemaRegistryConfig::ConfluentSchemaRegistry {
+            endpoint,
+            username,
+            password,
+        } => Some(SchemaRegistryClient::new(endpoint, username, password)),
+        SchemaRegistryConfig::NoSchemaRegistry { .. } => None,
     };
     let mut schema_cache: HashMap<u32, RegisteredSchema> = HashMap::new();
 
diff --git a/source-kafka/src/schema_registry.rs b/source-kafka/src/schema_registry.rs
index f879f19eb..0d302586c 100644
--- a/source-kafka/src/schema_registry.rs
+++ b/source-kafka/src/schema_registry.rs
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 use anyhow::{Context, Result};
 use futures::stream::{self, StreamExt};
 use reqwest::Client;
-use serde::Deserialize;
+use serde::{de::DeserializeOwned, Deserialize};
 use std::collections::{HashMap, HashSet};
 
 const TOPIC_KEY_SUFFIX: &str = "-key";
@@ -73,12 +73,7 @@ impl SchemaRegistryClient {
         let applicable_topics: HashSet<String> = topics.iter().cloned().collect();
 
         let subjects: Vec<String> = self
-            .http
-            .get(format!("{}/subjects", self.endpoint))
-            .basic_auth(&self.username, Some(&self.password))
-            .send()
-            .await?
-            .json()
+            .make_request(format!("{}/subjects", self.endpoint).as_str())
             .await?;
 
         let filter_by_suffix = |s: &str, suffix: &str| {
@@ -137,13 +132,7 @@ impl SchemaRegistryClient {
 
     pub async fn fetch_schema(&self, id: u32) -> Result<RegisteredSchema> {
         let fetched: FetchedSchema = self
-            .http
-            .get(format!("{}/schemas/ids/{}", self.endpoint, id))
-            .basic_auth(&self.username, Some(&self.password))
-            .send()
-            .await
-            .context("fetching schema")?
-            .json()
+            .make_request(format!("{}/schemas/ids/{}", self.endpoint, id).as_str())
             .await?;
 
         if fetched.references.is_some() {
@@ -167,16 +156,9 @@ impl SchemaRegistryClient {
 
     async fn fetch_latest_version(&self, subject: &str) -> Result<u32> {
         let fetched: FetchedLatestVersion = self
-            .http
-            .get(format!(
-                "{}/subjects/{}/versions/latest",
-                self.endpoint, subject
-            ))
-            .basic_auth(&self.username, Some(&self.password))
-            .send()
-            .await
-            .context("fetching latest schema version for subject")?
-            .json()
+            .make_request(
+                format!("{}/subjects/{}/versions/latest", self.endpoint, subject).as_str(),
+            )
             .await?;
         Ok(fetched.id)
     }
@@ -194,4 +176,29 @@ impl SchemaRegistryClient {
         let version = self.fetch_latest_version(subject.as_str()).await?;
         self.fetch_schema(version).await
     }
+
+    async fn make_request<T>(&self, url: &str) -> Result<T>
+    where
+        T: DeserializeOwned,
+    {
+        let res = self
+            .http
+            .get(url)
+            .basic_auth(&self.username, Some(&self.password))
+            .send()
+            .await?;
+
+        if !res.status().is_success() {
+            let status = res.status();
+            let body = res.text().await?;
+            anyhow::bail!(
+                "request GET {} failed with status {}: {}",
+                url,
+                status,
+                body
+            );
+        }
+
+        Ok(res.json().await?)
+    }
 }
diff --git a/source-kafka/tests/snapshots/test__spec.snap b/source-kafka/tests/snapshots/test__spec.snap
index efd0605cf..83e3558f9 100644
--- a/source-kafka/tests/snapshots/test__spec.snap
+++ b/source-kafka/tests/snapshots/test__spec.snap
@@ -46,7 +46,6 @@ expression: "serde_json::to_string_pretty(&got).unwrap()"
               },
               "username": {
                 "order": 2,
-                "secret": true,
                 "title": "Username",
                 "type": "string"
               }
@@ -98,34 +97,68 @@ expression: "serde_json::to_string_pretty(&got).unwrap()"
         "type": "object"
       },
       "schema_registry": {
-        "description": "Connection details for interacting with a schema registry. This is necessary for processing messages encoded with Avro.",
-        "order": 3,
-        "properties": {
-          "endpoint": {
-            "description": "Schema registry API endpoint. For example: https://registry-id.us-east-2.aws.confluent.cloud",
-            "order": 0,
-            "title": "Schema Registry Endpoint",
-            "type": "string"
-          },
-          "password": {
-            "description": "Schema registry password to use for authentication. If you are using Confluent Cloud, this will be the 'Secret' from your schema registry API key.",
-            "order": 2,
-            "secret": true,
-            "title": "Schema Registry Password",
-            "type": "string"
+        "description": "Connection details for interacting with a schema registry.",
+        "discriminator": {
+          "propertyName": "schema_registry_type"
+        },
+        "oneOf": [
+          {
+            "properties": {
+              "endpoint": {
+                "description": "Schema registry API endpoint. For example: https://registry-id.us-east-2.aws.confluent.cloud",
+                "order": 1,
+                "title": "Schema Registry Endpoint",
+                "type": "string"
+              },
+              "password": {
+                "description": "Schema registry password to use for authentication. If you are using Confluent Cloud, this will be the 'Secret' from your schema registry API key.",
+                "order": 3,
+                "secret": true,
+                "title": "Schema Registry Password",
+                "type": "string"
+              },
+              "schema_registry_type": {
+                "const": "confluent_schema_registry",
+                "default": "confluent_schema_registry",
+                "order": 0,
+                "type": "string"
+              },
+              "username": {
+                "description": "Schema registry username to use for authentication. If you are using Confluent Cloud, this will be the 'Key' from your schema registry API key.",
+                "order": 2,
+                "title": "Schema Registry Username",
+                "type": "string"
+              }
+            },
+            "required": [
+              "endpoint",
+              "password",
+              "username"
+            ],
+            "title": "Confluent Schema Registry"
           },
-          "username": {
-            "description": "Schema registry username to use for authentication. If you are using Confluent Cloud, this will be the 'Key' from your schema registry API key.",
-            "order": 1,
-            "title": "Schema Registry Username",
-            "type": "string"
+          {
+            "properties": {
+              "enable_json_only": {
+                "description": "If no schema registry is configured the capture will attempt to parse all data as JSON, and discovered collections will use a key of the message partition & offset. All available topics will be discovered, but if their messages are not encoded as JSON attempting to capture them will result in errors. If your topics contain messages encoded with a schema, you should configure the connector to use the schema registry for optimal results.",
+                "order": 1,
+                "title": "Capture Messages in JSON Format Only",
+                "type": "boolean"
+              },
+              "schema_registry_type": {
+                "const": "no_schema_registry",
+                "default": "no_schema_registry",
+                "order": 0,
+                "type": "string"
+              }
+            },
+            "required": [
+              "enable_json_only"
+            ],
+            "title": "No Schema Registry"
           }
-        },
-        "required": [
-          "endpoint",
-          "password",
-          "username"
         ],
+        "order": 3,
         "title": "Schema Registry",
         "type": "object"
       },
@@ -142,7 +175,8 @@ expression: "serde_json::to_string_pretty(&got).unwrap()"
     },
     "required": [
       "bootstrap_servers",
-      "credentials"
+      "credentials",
+      "schema_registry"
     ],
     "title": "Kafka Source Configuration",
     "type": "object"
diff --git a/source-kafka/tests/test.flow.yaml b/source-kafka/tests/test.flow.yaml
index 054348c68..fe8a4d91c 100644
--- a/source-kafka/tests/test.flow.yaml
+++ b/source-kafka/tests/test.flow.yaml
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ captures:
         config:
           bootstrap_servers: "localhost:9092"
           schema_registry:
+            schema_registry_type: confluent_schema_registry
             endpoint: http://localhost:8081
             username: user
             password: password
diff --git a/tests/source-kafka/setup.sh b/tests/source-kafka/setup.sh
index d0fa1e339..7ce7d4595 100755
--- a/tests/source-kafka/setup.sh
+++ b/tests/source-kafka/setup.sh
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ set -e
 
 export TEST_STREAM="estuary-test-$(shuf -zer -n6 {a..z} | tr -d '\0')"
 export RESOURCE="{\"topic\": \"${TEST_STREAM}\"}"
-export CONNECTOR_CONFIG='{"bootstrap_servers": "source-kafka-db-1.flow-test:9092"}'
+export CONNECTOR_CONFIG='{"bootstrap_servers": "source-kafka-db-1.flow-test:9092", "schema_registry": {"schema_registry_type": "no_schema_registry", "enable_json_only": true}}'
 
 LISTENER_HOST="source-kafka-db-1.flow-test" docker compose -f source-kafka/docker-compose.yaml up --wait --detach