Figma's Data Pipeline Upgrade: From Daily Syncs to Real-Time Analytics

Figma Engineering rebuilt their data pipeline using Change Data Capture (CDC) and Apache Kafka, cutting data freshness latency from 30+ hours to under 3 hours while eliminating millions in database replica costs. The shift from daily cron jobs to incremental sync enables real-time analytics at scale. Data engineers building high-volume pipelines should study this architecture.