# Why Kafka and Postgres Serve Different Purposes

DevFeed: [Why Kafka and Postgres Serve Different Purposes](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/you-don-t-need-kafka-just-use-postgres-considered-harmful-18892.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.morling.dev/blog/you-dont-need-kafka-just-use-postgres-considered-harmful/>)

Published: 2025-11-03T17:02:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Gunnar Morling](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/gunnar-morling.md>)

Topics: [Kafka](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/kafka.md>), [Database](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/database.md>)

Tags: [argument](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/argument.md>), [kafka](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/kafka.md>), [postgres](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/postgres.md>), [queue](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/queue.md>), [rdbms](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rdbms.md>)

## AI overview

The article argues that Postgres and Kafka serve different purposes and that choosing between them should depend on the problem being solved. It challenges advice to use Postgres instead of Kafka, noting that Kafka is not primarily a queue and that building a robust queue on Postgres can introduce operational difficulties.

## Source excerpt

Looking to make it to the front page of HackerNews? Then writing a post arguing that "Postgres is enough", or why "you don't need Kafka at your scale" is a pretty failsafe way of achieving exactly that. No matter how often it has been discussed before, this topic is always doing well. And sure, what's not to love about that? I mean, it has it all: Postgres, everybody's most favorite RDBMS--check! Keeping things lean and easy--sure, count me in! A somewhat spicy take--bring it on!