Why Server-Sent Events Beat WebSockets for Most Modern Web Apps

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A technical analysis argues that Server-Sent Events (SSE) are a more practical choice than WebSockets for roughly 90% of modern web applications, including AI chat streaming, live dashboards, and notification feeds. WebSockets establish a full-duplex TCP connection that introduces infrastructure challenges such as stateful scaling, proxy compatibility issues, higher memory usage, and the need for custom reconnection logic. SSE, by contrast, operates over standard HTTP as a one-way server-to-client stream, requiring no protocol upgrade and working seamlessly with conventional load balancers. The browser's built-in EventSource API also handles automatic reconnection natively, sending a Last-Event-ID header so servers can resume streams without custom code. Developers are advised to reserve WebSockets for genuinely bidirectional, high-frequency use cases like multiplayer games or collaborative editing tools, and default to SSE for simpler server-push scenarios.

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