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Apache NiFi vs Apache Spark comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Apache NiFi
Ranking in Compute Service
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Apache Spark
Ranking in Compute Service
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
66
Ranking in other categories
Hadoop (1st), Java Frameworks (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of Apache NiFi is 8.9%, up from 7.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Apache Spark is 11.5%, up from 11.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Compute Service
 

Featured Reviews

Bharghava Raghavendra Beesa - PeerSpot reviewer
The tool enables effective data transformation and integration
There are some areas for improvement, particularly with record-level tasks that take a bit of time. The quality of JSON data processing could be improved, as JSON workloads require manual conversions without a specific process. Enhancing features related to alerting would be helpful, including mobile alerts for pipeline issues. Integration with mobile devices for error alerts would simplify information delivery.
Dunstan Matekenya - PeerSpot reviewer
Open-source solution for data processing with portability
Apache Spark is known for its ease of use. Compared to other available data processing frameworks, it is user-friendly. While many choices now exist, Spark remains easy to use, particularly with Python. You can utilize familiar programming styles similar to Pandas in Python, including object-oriented programming. Another advantage is its portability. I can prototype and perform some initial tasks on my laptop using Spark without needing to be on Databricks or any cloud platform. I can transfer it to Databricks or other platforms, such as AWS. This flexibility allows me to improve processing even on my laptop. For instance, if I'm processing large amounts of data and find my laptop becoming slow, I can quickly switch to Spark. It handles small and large datasets efficiently, making it a versatile tool for various data processing needs.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable features of this solution are ease of use and implementation."
"It's an automated flow, where you can build a flow from source to destination, then do the transformation in between."
"It is highly effective for handling real-time data by working with APIs for immediate and continuous data extraction."
"We can integrate the tool with other applications easily."
"The initial setup is very easy. I would rate my experience with the initial setup a ten out of ten, where one point is difficult, and ten points are easy."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"Apache NiFi is user-friendly. Its most valuable features for handling large volumes of data include its multitude of integrated endpoints and clients and the ability to create cron jobs to run tasks at regular intervals."
"The most valuable feature has been the range of clients and the range of connectors that we could use."
"The tool's most valuable feature is its speed and efficiency. It's much faster than other tools and excels in parallel data processing. Unlike tools like Python or JavaScript, which may struggle with parallel processing, it allows us to handle large volumes of data with more power easily."
"The product's deployment phase is easy."
"It is useful for handling large amounts of data. It is very useful for scientific purposes."
"The fault tolerant feature is provided."
"Spark helps us reduce startup time for our customers and gives a very high ROI in the medium term."
"The most valuable feature is the Fault Tolerance and easy binding with other processes like Machine Learning, graph analytics."
"ETL and streaming capabilities."
"The solution is scalable."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement in integration with SSO. For example, NiFi does not have any integration with SSO. And if I want to give some kind of rollback access control across the organization. That is not possible."
"More features must be added to the product."
"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."
"We run many jobs, and there are already large tables. When we do not control NiFi on time, all reports fail for the day. So it's pretty slow to control, and it has to be improved."
"I think the UI interface needs to be more user-friendly."
"There should be a better way to integrate a development environment with local tools."
"There are some claims that NiFi is cloud-native but we have tested it, and it's not."
"The quality of JSON data processing could be improved, as JSON workloads require manual conversions without a specific process."
"The management tools could use improvement. Some of the debugging tools need some work as well. They need to be more descriptive."
"It would be beneficial to enhance Spark's capabilities by incorporating models that utilize features not traditionally present in its framework."
"The Spark solution could improve in scheduling tasks and managing dependencies."
"They could improve the issues related to programming language for the platform."
"It needs a new interface and a better way to get some data. In terms of writing our scripts, some processes could be faster."
"I would like to see integration with data science platforms to optimize the processing capability for these tasks."
"One limitation is that not all machine learning libraries and models support it."
"Apache Spark could potentially improve in terms of user-friendliness, particularly for individuals with a SQL background. While it's suitable for those with programming knowledge, making it more accessible to those without extensive programming skills could be beneficial."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I used the tool's free version."
"The solution is open-source."
"It's an open-source solution."
"We use the free version of Apache NiFi."
"Apache Spark is an open-source tool."
"The solution is affordable and there are no additional licensing costs."
"The tool is an open-source product. If you're using the open-source Apache Spark, no fees are involved at any time. Charges only come into play when using it with other services like Databricks."
"Apache Spark is an expensive solution."
"Apache Spark is open-source. You have to pay only when you use any bundled product, such as Cloudera."
"It is an open-source platform. We do not pay for its subscription."
"Apache Spark is an open-source solution, and there is no cost involved in deploying the solution on-premises."
"It is an open-source solution, it is free of charge."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
8%
Financial Services Firm
27%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache NiFi?
Apache NiFi is open-source and free. Its integration with systems like Cloudera can be expensive, but Apache NiFi itself presents the best pricing as a standalone tool.
What needs improvement with Apache NiFi?
The logging system of Apache NiFi needs improvement. It is difficult to debug compared to Airflow ( /products/apache-airflow-reviews ), where task details and issues are clear. With Apache NiFi, I ...
What do you like most about Apache Spark?
We use Spark to process data from different data sources.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache Spark?
Apache Spark is open-source, so it doesn't incur any charges.
What needs improvement with Apache Spark?
There is complexity when it comes to understanding the whole ecosystem, especially for beginners. I find it quite complex to understand how a Spark job is initiated, the roles of driver nodes, work...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Macquarie Telecom Group, Dovestech, Slovak Telekom, Looker, Hastings Group
NASA JPL, UC Berkeley AMPLab, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, UC Santa Cruz, TripAdvisor, Taboola, Agile Lab, Art.com, Baidu, Alibaba Taobao, EURECOM, Hitachi Solutions
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache NiFi vs. Apache Spark and other solutions. Updated: June 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.