Event Sourcing vs. CRUD: Which One Should You Choose?

Let's get real for a second. You're working on a new app. You're about to design how it stores data. You have two paths in front of you: CRUD (the classic, tried-and-true method) and Event Sourcing (the futuristic, history-preserving approach).

Go with CRUD, and it's simple. Direct. Just store, update, delete, and retrieve. No complications. But then you hear about Event Sourcing—it doesn’t just store the latest data; it keeps a record of every single change that ever happened.

So, which one is actually the right pick for your project? Well, that depends on what you’re building, how data flows in your app, and what kind of problems you might face later. Let’s break it all down so you can make the right choice.

CRUD: The Classic Approach

CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) is the backbone of traditional databases. It’s what most applications run on. You store data in a relational database like MySQL or PostgreSQL, and whenever users make changes, you update or delete records.

CRUD is everywhere. Your favorite apps, from social media platforms to e-commerce stores, use it to handle everything from user profiles to transactions. Why? Because it’s:

Simple and familiar – Everyone knows how to work with it. No fancy concepts, just straightforward database operations.

Quick to develop – Need a new feature? Just create a table, add some CRUD operations, and you’re done.

Optimized for direct access – Fetching data is simple. Need to get a user’s balance? Just run a query:
```
SELECT balance FROM users WHERE id = 1;
```
Fast. Efficient. No unnecessary steps.

Let’s say you’re tracking customer orders in a database. With CRUD, you’d store something like this:

Order ID	Customer	Product	Price	Status
1	John Doe	Laptop	$999	Shipped
2	Sarah K	Smartphone	$699	Pending

Everything looks fine, right? But what if John cancels his order? You update the status to “Canceled”, and the previous status (Shipped) is lost forever.

Where CRUD Starts to Fall Apart

CRUD works well when data changes don’t matter over time. But what happens if you actually need to track changes?

You need historical records – Who made this change? When did it happen? What was the previous state?

Undoing mistakes is tricky – If you overwrite a record by accident, it’s gone.

Debugging issues is painful – If a bug corrupts your data, you can’t trace back what happened.

Imagine you’re running an e-commerce store and suddenly see that a product’s stock count is incorrect. How did it happen? Who changed it? Without historical data, you’re guessing.

That’s where Event Sourcing changes the game.

What is Event Sourcing?

Instead of just storing the latest data, Event Sourcing records every action that happens as an event. Think of it like keeping a ledger of transactions instead of just storing a final balance.

Every time something changes, a new event is added to the log. Instead of updating a record, you append an event to history.

Let’s go back to our bank account example. With CRUD, if John deposits $500, you’d just update his balance. But with Event Sourcing, you record each deposit as an event:

Event ID	User	Event Type	Amount	Timestamp
1	John	Deposited	$300	2025-02-10 10:05
2	John	Withdrawn	$100	2025-02-10 12:15
3	John	Deposited	$500	2025-02-11 09:30

If you want to know John’s current balance, you replay the events:

Deposited $300
Withdrew $100
Deposited $500
Final balance = $700

No data is lost. You have the full history of John’s transactions.

Why Event Sourcing Can Be a Game-Changer

So, what’s the big deal? Why would anyone want to store data this way?

Perfect for Auditing – Since every action is logged, you can always answer questions like “Who made this change?” and “What was the previous value?”. Great for banks, healthcare, and legal systems.

Undo Any Change – If something goes wrong, you can just replay events up to a certain point and restore a previous state.

Scales Well with Microservices – If you’re building a distributed system, storing data as events makes it easier to synchronize multiple services.

Debugging and Analytics Become Easy – Want to understand how a bug affected your data? Just replay the events and see exactly what happened.

But Event Sourcing Isn't Magic

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Event Sourcing brings a lot of complexity:

Harder to query – You can’t just do SELECT * FROM users WHERE id = 1; anymore. Instead, you have to reconstruct the state by replaying all events.

Storage grows fast – Every tiny action creates a new event, so databases can get huge over time.

Steeper learning curve – Developers used to CRUD need to completely change how they think about data.

Because of this, you won’t see Event Sourcing used in every project. It’s great for systems where data history matters, but for simple applications, CRUD is often the better choice.

When to Use CRUD vs. Event Sourcing?

So, what should you pick?

Go with CRUD if:

Your app doesn’t need to track every single change.
Simplicity and fast development are priorities.
Your team is comfortable with relational databases.

Use Event Sourcing if:

You need to track historical changes (finance, inventory, logs).
Your system has strict audit and compliance requirements.
You’re working with distributed microservices that need to stay in sync.

That said, you don’t have to choose one or the other. You can actually combine both:

Use CRUD for things like user profiles, product catalogs, and blog posts.

Use Event Sourcing for critical business logic, financial transactions, and logs.

That way, you get the simplicity of CRUD where you need it and the power of Event Sourcing where history matters.

Final Words

CRUD is easy, fast, and practical. But it loses historical data.

Event Sourcing tracks every change, but it’s more complex and requires extra storage.

So ask yourself: Do you need a snapshot of reality or a full-time machine?

If you just need the latest state of data, CRUD is enough. But if history, auditability, and event replay are important, Event Sourcing wins hands down.

Pick the right tool, build something awesome, and keep pushing boundaries! 🚀