Apache NiFi Reviews

We are a research institution and use NiFi for its easy Java extensibility, built-in provenance capturing, and graphical web interface.

We are replacing a custom built Java data ingestion system that over time had become difficult to maintain and was brittle.

NiFi allows us to organize our ingestion as the directed graphs and provides a useful GUI, that can be used to configure the system and monitor data flows.

NiFi’s provenance capturing is also a big plus, as our legacy system did not do this sufficiently.

Most of our data is binary and we frequently must write our own processors. Also, there is no support for the stateful operations that require information from other data flows or look-up tables.

I have used this solution for more than one years.

There were no stability issues.

There were no scalability issues.

It is an open-source software, but there is an active and rapidly growing contributor and user base.

We previously used custom code and switched to simplify maintenance and improve our functionality.

The initial setup was very straightforward. NiFi is very easy to install and get running.

It’s free!

We looked at some proprietary solutions and also, evaluated StreamSets. The proprietary solutions were expensive and often didn’t suit our use cases. StreamSets didn’t have the same level of adoption.

Think about your data flows as the directed graphs between low-level processing modules, so you can re-use as much of the path as possible for different data streams. Don’t create entirely separate flows for new data sources, i.e., if you can avoid it.

The most valuable feature has been the range of clients and the range of connectors that we could use. The processing ability of the solution is also really good because it allows high volumes of data to flow in real time. 

Overall, this solution is reliable. 

The overall stability of this solution could be improved. In a future release, we would like to have access to more features that could be used in a parallel way. This would provide more freedom with processing. 

I have been using this solution for one year. 

This is a stable solution although the stability can depend on the process selection and how well we apply for it. 

I have not needed to contact their customer service and support. 

The initial setup is not very complex.

We use the free version of Apache NiFi.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

It is really good when it comes to dealing with pipelines.

Visually, this is a good product.

The challenge with Apache NiFi is that it's not cloud-native. This makes it different from our workflow.

The operations are over-complicated and when you build your pipeline, it's a nightmare to follow them. Then, as your pipeline or workflow becomes more complex, the operation of it gets worse. It is not easy to use and it requires a bigger ramp-up than any other solution that we have seen.

We have been using Apache NiFi for between five and six years.

This is a very solid product.

Scaling this product means using a bigger and more powerful machine. If it were cloud-native then it would be different.

We have used similar solutions like Apache Airflow, StreamSets, and others. The ramp-up for NiFi is a lot bigger and you have to spend a lot of time to understand how to use it.

There are some claims that NiFi is cloud-native but we have tested it, and it's not.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.