Triggers vs Event Sourcing

Developers should learn and use triggers when they need to ensure data consistency, automate logging or auditing of database changes, or implement complex business logic directly in the database meets 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. Here's our take.

Triggers

Nice Pick

Developers should learn and use triggers when they need to ensure data consistency, automate logging or auditing of database changes, or implement complex business logic directly in the database

Pros

• Common use cases include automatically updating timestamps, validating data before it's committed, cascading changes across related tables, or sending notifications based on data modifications
• Related to: sql, stored-procedures

Cons

• Specific tradeoffs depend on your use case

Event Sourcing

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

The Verdict

Use Triggers if: You want common use cases include automatically updating timestamps, validating data before it's committed, cascading changes across related tables, or sending notifications based on data modifications and can live with specific tradeoffs depend on your use case.

Use Event Sourcing if: You prioritize 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 over what Triggers offers.

The Bottom Line

Triggers wins

Developers should learn and use triggers when they need to ensure data consistency, automate logging or auditing of database changes, or implement complex business logic directly in the database