How to Choose the Right Real-Time Architecture: SSE, WebSockets, or Polling
Building real-time features requires selecting the right transport based on data flow direction: Server-Sent Events (SSE) suit one-way server-to-client updates like dashboards and notifications, while WebSockets are better for bidirectional use cases such as chat and collaborative editing. Polling remains a fallback only for infrequent updates in constrained environments and should not be the default choice. Scaling real-time systems beyond a single server requires a pub/sub backbone, typically Redis, to route messages across multiple connection servers. Managed services like Supabase Realtime, Pusher, and Ably handle this complexity, making custom implementations necessary only for specific requirements or scale economics. Robust real-time features must also account for reconnection with backoff, missed messages, presence detection, conflict resolution, and connection-level authentication.
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