AWS EventBridge vs SQS | Let’s Compare
While both AWS EventBridge and Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS) facilitate asynchronous communication, they differ significantly in their functionalities and use cases. In this article, we’ll thoroughly examine the features of each service and provide insights into when to opt for EventBridge over SQS, and vice versa.
What Is EventBridge?
EventBridge, launched in July 2019, is a dynamic addition to the AWS ecosystem. It shares similarities with AWS SNS but extends its capabilities with additional features. At its core, EventBridge enables the broadcasting of messages to subscribers, allowing downstream processing at the recipient’s discretion.
Message Bus: EventBridge operates on the concept of Message Buses, akin to SNS topics, where events requiring distribution to downstream consumers are received.
Events: Events, analogous to messages in SNS and SQS, are JSON blobs containing information about the event source and payload. They can also be scheduled to run periodically using cron expressions, facilitating timed batch jobs.
Targets: These are the recipients of events published to the message bus, similar to SNS consumers.
Rules: Rules define the routing logic for Message Buses. They ensure that messages are dispatched to specific targets based on predefined conditions within the message data itself. Event Patterns, defined by the user, match message content to specific targets.
What Is AWS SQS?
SQS, standing for Simple Queue Service, predates many AWS services, having been launched in July 2006. It serves the fundamental purpose of facilitating asynchronous communication between services by enabling the publishing of messages to a queue for subsequent processing.
Traditional methods of inter-application communication, such as direct HTTP requests, introduce tight coupling between applications. SQS mitigates this by providing a decoupled messaging solution, reducing latency overhead.
What Is the Difference Between SQS and EventBridge?
While both services enable asynchronous communication, they cater to different scenarios.
| Feature | AWS EventBridge | AWS SQS |
| Launch Date | July 2019 | July 2006 |
| Message Format | Events (JSON blobs) | Messages (Text-based payloads) |
| Message Broadcasting | Message Buses | Queues |
| Event Processing | Targets (Subscribers) | Consumers (Polling or Long Polling) |
| Event Routing | Rules (Based on conditions) | N/A (Messages are retrieved directly from the queue) |
| Integration | Integration with SaaS providers, cron expressions | N/A (Direct integration with AWS services possible) |
When Should I Use EventBridge?
EventBridge is the preferable choice when:
- You need to publish messages to multiple subscribers and utilize event data for targeting specific patterns.
- Integration with various SaaS providers like Shopify, Datadog, or PagerDuty is required.
- Easy discovery and incorporation of schemas from other teams into your application are needed.
- Regularly scheduled events, using cron-like expressions, are essential for periodic message dispatch.
- One-time events that need to occur at specific times are necessary.
When Should I Use SQS?
SQS is more suitable when:
- Reliable one-to-one asynchronous communication is required to decouple applications.
- Rate limiting message consumption is necessary, perhaps due to database bottlenecks or other constraints.
- Ordered message processing is critical for event handling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is EventBridge a message queue?
EventBridge reads messages in batches and invokes your pipeline once for each batch. When processed successfully, EventBridge deletes the messages from the queue. By default, EventBridge polls up to 10 messages simultaneously and sends them to your pipeline.
Can EventBridge trigger SQS?
Yes, an AWS SAM template can deploy an SQS queue triggered by an EventBridge rule. The SQS queue policy grants permission for EventBridge to send messages to the queue.
Conclusion
Choosing between AWS EventBridge and SQS depends on the specific requirements of your application architecture. While EventBridge offers advanced features for event-driven architectures and seamless integrations with various services, SQS provides reliable and decoupled message queuing capabilities.
