Kafka vs RabbitMQ

The choice between Kafka and RabbitMQ depends on one question: must a message stay readable after it has been handled? Kafka keeps every event in a log, and each reader moves its own position through it. RabbitMQ routes each message through an exchange into queues, and a queue deletes the message once a consumer acknowledges it.

Choose Kafka when several readers need the same events, or when any reader needs history. Choose RabbitMQ when the broker should decide where each message goes, and when each message is a piece of work that one worker finishes and nobody reads again.