Model events are lifecycle hooks raised around Eloquent operations, including creating, created, updating, updated, saving, saved, deleting, deleted, restoring, and restored. They allow code to react when a model changes.

Observers are dedicated classes that group event handlers for a model, keeping models smaller when event behavior is substantial. They are useful for focused side effects such as maintaining a derived field or dispatching a domain action, but they should not hide critical business workflows. For transaction-sensitive side effects, ensure queued work runs after a successful commit.