Realtime or Pipelines? How to choose the right tool

Supabase Realtime and Supabase Pipelines are two distinct tools that interact with Postgres databases to address different needs, each utilizing logical replication. Realtime is designed for live experiences by broadcasting database changes directly to user interfaces like browsers and apps through WebSocket connections, offering features such as Broadcast, Presence, and Postgres Changes, but it does not guarantee delivery if connections are lost. On the other hand, Pipelines focuses on reliable data movement to analytical systems, ensuring at-least-once delivery of every database change to supported destinations, which is ideal for analytics and reporting. Realtime excels in providing immediate updates for human users, while Pipelines is suited for maintaining a complete and reliable data copy in analytical environments. Although both tools read from Postgres databases, Realtime is optimized for speed and low latency, whereas Pipelines prioritizes data integrity and reliability, making them complementary in scenarios where both real-time updates and robust data replication are needed.