Request-Response with REST/HTTP vs. Data Streaming with Apache Kafka

Request-response communication with REST / HTTP is simple, well understood, and supported by most technologies, products, and SaaS cloud services. Contrarily, data streaming with Apache Kafka is a fundamental change to process data continuously. HTTP and Kafka complement each other in various ways. This post explores the architectures and use cases to leverage request-response together with data streaming in the control plane for management or in the data plane for producing and consuming events.

(Originally posted on Kai Waehner’s blog: “Request-Response with REST/HTTP vs. Data Streaming with Apache Kafka”… Stay informed about new blog posts by subscribing to my newsletter)

Request-response (HTTP) versus data streaming (Apache Kafka)

Prior to discussing the relationship between HTTP/REST and Apache Kafka, let’s explore the concepts behind both. Traditionally, request-response and data streaming are two different paradigms.

Request-response with REST/HTTP

The following characteristics make HTTP so prevalent in software engineering for request-response (aka request-reply) communication:

• The foundation of data communication for the World Wide…