Architecture Intermediate
Pub/Sub vs Point-to-Point¶
Pub/SubMessagingKafka 3 min read
The difference between pub/sub and point-to-point messaging. When to use which model.
Point-to-Point¶
A message is delivered to exactly one consumer. Competing consumers.
Pub/Sub¶
A message is delivered to all subscribers. Event broadcasting.
Kafka — Both¶
# Pub/Sub — different consumer groups
Topic: order-events
Group "billing" → all events
Group "shipping" → all events
# Point-to-Point — same group
Group "processors"
→ Consumer A (partition 0)
→ Consumer B (partition 1)
Summary¶
Point-to-Point for task processing. Pub/Sub for broadcasting. Kafka elegantly handles both.
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