SQS · RabbitMQ · Kafka

A practical decision guide for when to use Amazon SQS, RabbitMQ, or Apache Kafka — task queues vs brokers vs event streams.

Use Sqs When

Background jobs / workers

Use Rabbitmq When

Complex routing (exchanges / keys)

Use Kafka When

Event stream + retain / replay

Quick Tradeoffs

SQS — simplest AWS; limited routing