Amazon EventBridge vs Amazon SNS: Which Solution to Choose?
Posted on March 11, 2025 • 3 min read • 616 wordsWhen designing event-driven architectures on AWS, two major services often come into play: Amazon EventBridge and Amazon SNS (Simple Notification Service). While they may seem similar at first glance, their use cases and features differ.
Introduction
In this article, we will compare these two services, explore their use cases, and see how to integrate them effectively into an AWS architecture.
I. Comparison of Amazon EventBridge vs Amazon SNS
| Feature | Amazon EventBridge | Amazon SNS |
|---|---|---|
| Communication Type | Event-Driven | Publish-Subscribe (Pub/Sub) |
| Use Cases | Event routing between AWS services and SaaS applications | Sending notifications to subscribers (emails, SMS, Lambda, SQS, etc.) |
| Message Sources | AWS Services, SaaS applications, custom applications | Applications, users, AWS services |
| Targeting Consumers | Advanced filtering rules to send an event to one or multiple targets | Sends the same message to all topic subscribers |
| Supported Protocols | AWS Lambda, SQS, API Gateway, Kinesis, Step Functions, etc. | Emails, SMS, Lambda, SQS, HTTP(S) endpoints, mobile applications (FCM, APN) |
| Message Filtering | Advanced filtering based on JSON rules | Limited filtering based on message attributes |
| Architecture | Event-driven and integrates with other AWS services | Notification-based messaging between producers and consumers |
| Durability & Message Retention | No native storage (events are routed immediately) | Messages stored for 4 days (up to 14 days with Extended Retention) |
| Message Ordering | Not guaranteed (messages may arrive out of order) | FIFO ordering available with SNS FIFO |
II. Detailed Use Cases
A. Amazon EventBridge Use Case: Orchestrating Events Between Services
EventBridge is ideal for connecting different AWS services and SaaS applications.
🔹 Example:
- A file is uploaded to an Amazon S3 bucket.
- EventBridge detects the event and routes it to AWS Lambda for processing.
- Lambda triggers a Step Function to start a workflow.
🔹 Diagram:
S3 -> EventBridge -> Lambda -> Step FunctionB. Amazon SNS Use Case: Broadcasting Notifications to Multiple Subscribers
SNS is ideal for sending instant messages to multiple subscribers.
🔹 Example:
- An order is shipped on an e-commerce site.
- SNS publishes a message to notify about the order shipment.
- Subscribers (SMS, emails, Lambda, SQS) receive the notification immediately.
🔹 Diagram:
E-commerce Application -> SNS -> (SMS, Email, SQS, Lambda)III. Integration with Other AWS Services
| AWS Service | EventBridge | SNS |
|---|---|---|
| AWS Lambda | ✅ Routes events for asynchronous execution | ✅ Immediate serverless execution |
| Amazon SQS | ✅ Queues filtered events | ✅ Fan-out pattern for queuing |
| AWS Step Functions | ✅ Workflow orchestration | ❌ Not supported |
| API Gateway | ✅ Routes events to HTTP API | ✅ Sends HTTP notifications |
| Amazon Kinesis | ✅ Stream processing | ❌ Not supported |
| SMS / Email | ❌ Not supported | ✅ Native support |
IV. Implementation with AWS CLI
🔹 Create an EventBridge Bus and Routing Rule
aws events put-rule --name "Rule-S3-Upload" --event-pattern '{ "source": ["aws.s3"] }' --event-bus-name default🔹 Create an SNS Topic and Email Subscription
aws sns create-topic --name "OrderNotifications"
aws sns subscribe --topic-arn arn:aws:sns:us-east-1:123456789012:OrderNotifications --protocol email --notification-endpoint user@example.comV. When to Use Each?
✅ Amazon EventBridge if:
- You want to connect multiple AWS services in an event-driven manner.
- You need advanced filtering and dynamic routing.
- You want to integrate with a SaaS application (e.g., Zendesk, Shopify, Datadog).
✅ Amazon SNS if:
- You want to broadcast notifications to multiple subscribers or at scale.
- You want to alert users via emails, SMS, or mobile push notifications.
- You need a simple and effective Pub/Sub model.
VI. Common Pitfalls
Latency & Costs: EventBridge can have higher latency and incur additional costs if misconfigured.
Excessive Orchestration: If you just need simple notifications, SNS is often a better choice.
Limited Filtering: SNS provides basic filtering by attributes, whereas EventBridge is more flexible.
Conclusion
Amazon EventBridge and SNS are both powerful services but serve distinct purposes.
- EventBridge is ideal for event-driven architectures with advanced routing.
- SNS is perfect for quickly notifying multiple subscribers.
Understanding their differences will help you design an efficient and scalable AWS architecture!
Do you already use EventBridge or SNS? Share your experience in the comments!