Kafka vs RabbitMQ vs AWS SQS -- UK Event Streaming (2026)
AWS SQS (+ SNS) is ClickMasters default for most UK regulated applications: native AWS integration (CloudTrail audit, IAM permissions, CloudWatch monitoring), no infrastructure to manage, and sufficient for 99% of UK regulated use cases. Apache Kafka is right for high-throughput event streaming (10M+ messages/day) where replay and consumer groups are essential. RabbitMQ is legacy for new UK builds. Message queue choice affects NHS DTAC audit trail, FCA PS21/3 resilience (dead letter queues), and UK GDPR data retention on queued messages.
| Factor | AWS SQS + SNS | Apache Kafka | RabbitMQ |
|---|---|---|---|
| UK GDPR data residency | eu-west-2 -- native AWS, no third party | AWS MSK -- eu-west-2 available | Self-hosted -- full control |
| NHS DTAC audit trail | CloudTrail -- immutable SQS operations log | Kafka audit log -- available | RabbitMQ management plugin -- less robust |
| FCA PS21/3 dead letter queue | Native SQS DLQ -- automatic failed message routing | Kafka DLQ pattern -- more complex | RabbitMQ dead letter exchange -- available |
| Infrastructure management | BEST -- fully managed, no ops overhead | High -- Kafka cluster management complex | Medium -- RabbitMQ cluster ops |
| Message replay (re-process history) | SQS FIFO -- limited replay | BEST -- Kafka log compaction, infinite replay | Not designed for replay |
| Throughput | Up to 3,000/sec standard, 300/sec FIFO | BEST -- millions/sec horizontal scale | Moderate -- adequate for most workloads |
| Fan-out (broadcast) | BEST -- SNS topic + multiple SQS subscriptions | Consumer groups -- different pattern | Exchange routing -- more complex |
| Cost at medium scale | Low -- GBP0.40 per million messages | Higher -- MSK cluster cost | Self-hosted cost + ops time |
| ClickMasters default | All UK regulated applications | NHS bulk analytics, FinTech trade data (10M+/day) | Legacy projects only |
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