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Event-Driven Architecture Patterns: Kafka, RabbitMQ, SQS, and EventBridge Compared

Event-driven architecture (EDA) is the pattern behind the most scalable systems — from Netflix's microservices to Stripe's payment processing. Instead of services calling each other directly (request-response), they communicate through events (messages about things that happened). This guide covers the patterns, message brokers, and practical implementation of event-driven systems.

Core Event-Driven Patterns

Pattern How It Works Use Case Complexity

Event Notification "Order #123 was placed" — fire and forget, subscribers react Send email on signup, update search index on content change Low

Event-Carried State Transfer Events contain all data subscribers need (no callback to source) Catalog service publishes full product data — search, pricing, and inventory consume it…