AWS Lake Formation Reviews

Name: AWS Lake Formation
Brand: Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Rating: 3.8 (8 reviews)

3.8 out of 5

8 reviews
71% willing to recommend

What is AWS Lake Formation?

AWS Lake Formation is a service that makes it easy to set up a secure data lake in days. A data lake is a centralized, curated, and secured repository that stores all your data, both in its original form and prepared for analysis.

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AWS Lake Formation is the #13 ranked solution in top Cloud Data Warehouse solutions. PeerSpot users give AWS Lake Formation an average rating of 7.6 out of 10. AWS Lake Formation is most commonly compared to Azure Data Factory: AWS Lake Formation vs Azure Data Factory. AWS Lake Formation is popular among the large enterprise segment, accounting for 72% of users researching this solution on PeerSpot. The top industry researching this solution are professionals from a financial services firm, accounting for 21% of all views.

Helped 832,138 peers since 2012

Featured reviews

Ramesh Raghavan

US South Lead, Accenture AWS Business Group at Accenture

There are a couple of areas for improvement with Lake Formation. One of the main challenges, especially when dealing with rich media content, like in MarTech (Marketing Technology) or ad agencies, is its versatility. Some clients feel that Lake Formation doesn’t meet their needs and they tend to prefer competitor products for those specific use cases. The second area for improvement is in data governance. Specifically, Lake Formation could enhance its capabilities in audit logs, real-time monitoring, and advanced data governance. This includes managing the entire data lineage—where the data originated, how it moves, and where it’s currently stored. The visibility of the data as it evolves is crucial, and that’s where more advanced governance capabilities would be beneficial.

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Maxwell Seefeld

President & CEO at Y12

The most valuable features of AWS Lake Formation are its reliability and the ability to make a backup of the data lake. I can easily move data from cold storage to regular storage. I also like its stability, as I have not had a single downtime in a year and a half.

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Vishal Dhamke

Vice President Application Security North America at BNP Paribas

The solution could make improvements around orchestration and doing some automation stuff on AWS front automation. It would be useful if we could use automation to build images and use hardened images which are CIS compliant. For AWS, currently, we are facing the challenge when previewing. On AWS, we have set up a scanner instance with a Nexus scanner. For some reason, the scanner instance has been set up on AWS so that if it's in one region or maybe if it is deployed on one subnet, the other subnet is not reachable within the same region. The scanner is not reachable to the different subnets. For example, if there is a subnet A where the scanner is deployed, and if we want to scan the subnet B within the same region, the scanner is not reachable due to the fact that it's in Subnet A. That's a problem we are currently facing and trying to troubleshoot that.

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AWS Lake Formation mindshare

As of February 2025, the mindshare of AWS Lake Formation in the Cloud Data Warehouse category stands at 5.1%, down from 6.6% compared to the previous year, according to calculations based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Cloud Data Warehouse

PeerAnalyst reports

Type	Title	Date
Category	Cloud Data Warehouse	Feb 1, 2025	Download
Product	Reviews, tips, and advice from real users	Feb 1, 2025	Download
Comparison	AWS Lake Formation vs Snowflake	Feb 1, 2025	Download
Comparison	AWS Lake Formation vs Microsoft Azure Synapse Analytics	Feb 1, 2025	Download
Comparison	AWS Lake Formation vs Azure Data Factory	Feb 1, 2025	Download

Title	Rating	Mindshare	Recommending
Azure Data Factory	4.0	9.1%	92%	89 interviews Add to research
Snowflake	4.2	22.0%	97%	99 interviews Add to research

Valuable Features

AWS Lake Formation offers robust security and extensive documentation useful for audits. It seamlessly integrates within AWS, enhancing data lake connectivity. Its ability to centralize analytics and display data comprehensively on one screen is appreciated. Users value its reliability, stability, and backup capabilities. It supports data movement between storage types efficiently and simplifies ETL processes from S3 buckets, making AWS Lake Formation a preferred cloud-based choice without needing on-premises investments.

"I can easily move data from cold storage to regular storage."
"AWS Lake Formation works hand in hand with other products."
"AWS Lake Formation lets you see all your data and tables on one screen."

Room for Improvement

AWS Lake Formation could improve orchestration and automation, enhance integration with third-party services, and lower costs. The current limitations include difficulties with subnet communication and lack of user-friendliness. More complete data visualization tools and seamless hybrid cloud strategies are needed. Challenges in data governance, auditing, and real-time monitoring should be addressed. Better integration with SageMaker and built-in data statistics in the GUI are also desired.

"If I could improve AWS Lake Formation, I would add more integrations with SageMaker."
"Lake Formation could enhance its capabilities in audit logs, real-time monitoring, and advanced data governance."
"You need to have data experience to use the product."

Pricing

AWS Lake Formation's pricing varies based on several factors, including the type of contract and additional services like S3, Glue, and Athena, which are integral for full functionality. Enterprise users find it more expensive than OpenStack, yet cheaper than other cloud solutions. Its cost-effectiveness shines with Amazon Glacier for data, though complexity arises from the need for interconnected services, mirroring its value as part of a comprehensive data strategy.

"AWS Lake Formation is a bit expensive."

Popular Use Cases

Users primarily utilize AWS Lake Formation for managing cloud data warehouses and enabling raw data storage. It facilitates creating a centralized repository, scaling structured or unstructured data, and enhancing data control and governance. The platform assists with managing data permissions via AWS IAM, streamlining ETL jobs, and transforming data strategies. Clients implement data lakes, execute advanced analytics, and secure back-end repositories, while managing infrastructure and data duplication issues.

Service and Support

AWS Lake Formation's customer service can be slow in assigning the right specialist due to the complexity of their services. While response time via support tickets is efficient, taking only a few hours to a day, finding the root issue is often a challenge. Despite this, users find the technical support satisfactory. Major AWS users may benefit from regular calls with account managers to discuss roadmaps and feature enhancements.

Deployment

Most users find AWS Lake Formation's initial setup straightforward, though some encounter a learning curve. The deployment is generally easy, especially with AWS-certified staff, though experience helps. Automated deployment strategies are still developing, and maintenance varies by team size. As more people adopt Lake Formation, there is a call for democratization, enabling business users to access features without technical help. Pre-configured templates could further improve accessibility for those retrieving complex queries.

Scalability

Several users indicate AWS Lake Formation is scalable, particularly for medium to enterprise-level businesses. Organizations mention using it across different teams without immediate challenges in scaling. Although some are still working on the process, engineering teams find the CLI facilitates easy scaling. Users primarily engaged in backend infrastructure observe its scalable nature.

Stability

Users express confidence in AWS Lake Formation's stability. Initially, stability challenges and a learning curve were noted, but over time, it has become more dependable. Many have not dealt with issues such as bugs, glitches, or crashes. Some attest to the absence of downtime for extended periods. AWS demonstrates impressive performance reliability, helping users experience a stable environment.

These insights are based on the in-depth reviews provided by peers to help you make a better buying decision.

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