Kafka vs. RabbitMQ: Comparing Node.js message brokers

A message broker is a software tool that facilitates communication and data exchange between software, systems, and services by managing incoming messages and performing actions on them. It uses message queues to store messages until they can be processed by consumer services, allowing producers and consumers to communicate using standard protocols without managing state or tracking message delivery. This text provides a detailed comparison of two Node.js message brokers, Apache Kafka and RabbitMQ, highlighting their architectures, performance, message retention, routing, monitoring, consumer modes, and topology. Apache Kafka is described as an open-source distributed streaming platform ideal for real-time, event-driven applications with features such as data persistence and scalable high-volume publish/subscribe messaging. In contrast, RabbitMQ is a traditional message broker that implements the advanced message queuing protocol (AMQP) model, offering complex routing, support for legacy protocols, and easier microservices communication. The text concludes that Kafka is more suitable for larger distributed systems, while RabbitMQ is better suited for systems requiring low latency, emphasizing their differing designs and use cases.