Event Sourcing vs State Based Persistence

Developers should use Event Sourcing when building systems that require strong auditability, temporal querying, or complex business logic with undo/redo capabilities, such as financial applications, e-commerce platforms, or collaborative tools meets developers should learn and use state based persistence when building applications that require data retention across user sessions, such as e-commerce sites saving shopping carts, note-taking apps preserving drafts, or games storing progress. Here's our take.

Event Sourcing

Nice Pick

Developers should use Event Sourcing when building systems that require strong auditability, temporal querying, or complex business logic with undo/redo capabilities, such as financial applications, e-commerce platforms, or collaborative tools

Pros

• It is particularly valuable in microservices architectures for maintaining consistency across services and enabling event-driven communication, as it decouples state storage from business logic and supports scalability through event replay
• Related to: domain-driven-design, cqrs

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

State Based Persistence

Developers should learn and use State Based Persistence when building applications that require data retention across user sessions, such as e-commerce sites saving shopping carts, note-taking apps preserving drafts, or games storing progress

Pros

• It's particularly useful for improving usability by reducing data loss on page reloads or app restarts, and in scenarios where quick state restoration is needed, like in single-page applications (SPAs) or offline-capable apps
• Related to: local-storage, redux-persist

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

The Verdict

Use Event Sourcing if: You want it is particularly valuable in microservices architectures for maintaining consistency across services and enabling event-driven communication, as it decouples state storage from business logic and supports scalability through event replay and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use State Based Persistence if: You prioritize it's particularly useful for improving usability by reducing data loss on page reloads or app restarts, and in scenarios where quick state restoration is needed, like in single-page applications (spas) or offline-capable apps over what Event Sourcing offers.

The Bottom Line

Event Sourcing wins

Developers should use Event Sourcing when building systems that require strong auditability, temporal querying, or complex business logic with undo/redo capabilities, such as financial applications, e-commerce platforms, or collaborative tools