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AWS Lambda vs Apache NiFi comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

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
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
AWS Lambda
Ranking in Compute Service
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.5
Number of Reviews
83
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of Apache NiFi is 8.0%, up from 7.1% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Lambda is 21.0%, down from 23.2% 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.
Wai L Lin O - PeerSpot reviewer
A serverless solution with easy integration features
We use AWS Lambda because it provides a solution for our needs without requiring us to manage our infrastructure. With the tool, we only pay for the resources we use. Additionally, it is straightforward to implement and integrates with other services like API Gateway. The tool's serverless nature has had the most significant impact on our workflow. I find it particularly attractive because it eliminates the need for managing servers. In my previous experience, managing upgrades and updates was quite challenging. The solution's integration process with other AWS services was relatively easy. We primarily use AWS services such as EventBridge for scheduling processes and log management.

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."
"The user interface is good and makes it easy to design very popular workflows."
"We can integrate the tool with other applications easily."
"The most valuable feature has been the range of clients and the range of connectors that we could use."
"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."
"Visually, this is a good product."
"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."
"We are building a Twitter-like application in the boot camp. I have used Lamda for the integration of the post-confirmation page in the application. This will help you get your one-time password via mail. You can log in with the help of a post-confirmation page. We didn’t want to setup an instance specifically for confirmation. We used the Lambda function so that it goes back to sleep after pushing up."
"AWS Lambda is itself serverless, and it is connected to the API gateway, and you can directly call the API through the API gateway and connect through AWS Lambda."
"The main features of this solution are the ability to integrate multiple AWS applications or external applications very quickly and organize all of them. Additionally, it is easy to use and you can run various programming languages, such as Python, Go, and Java."
"AWS Lambda is interlinked with CloudWatch. When we have any errors we can directly go there and check the CloudWatch logs. Additionally, we can run it very fast and we can increase the RAM size and other components."
"The installation and configuration of the solution is straightforward."
"Lambda is trigger-based, which means it only activates when accessed, ensuring cost savings."
"It's a fairly easy solution to learn."
"The initial setup of AWS Lambda is very straightforward and quick."
 

Cons

"More features must be added to the product."
"The tool should incorporate more tutorials for advanced use cases. It has tutorials for simple use cases."
"I think the UI interface needs to be more user-friendly."
"The use case templates could be more precise to typical business needs."
"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."
"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."
"There are some claims that NiFi is cloud-native but we have tested it, and it's not."
"One area of improvement is to include support for more programming languages. AWS Lambda does not support a lot of programming languages. You have to write the Lambda functions in a certain programming language. We are using C++. My developer knows a couple of other languages. Python is his favorite language, but Python is not supported in AWS Lambda."
"AWS Lambda could be improved with better stability."
"The user-friendliness of the solution could be improved."
"Another challenge I've noticed is that there is a limit to the environment variables such as the 4 KB limit. Although, the advice is to use parameters or other things to store the details when the limit has exceeded the data, this adds additional intensity to the application. If the size limits for environment variables can be revealed, it would be helpful. Even if we have to pay for it, at least we would know that we are not dealing with latency. So, I would like to see the size of the environment variables increased."
"It could be cheaper."
"The runtime could be improved. There are certain use cases where I need a Lambda function to run longer."
"The product could make the process of integration easier."
"If you're running a new application with a significant load, you need to be prepared for potential bottlenecks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's an open-source solution."
"I used the tool's free version."
"We use the free version of Apache NiFi."
"The solution is open-source."
"The price of AWS Lambda is priced very low."
"Its pricing is on the higher side."
"I would rate the tool’s pricing a nine out of ten. The solution’s pricing works on a pay-as-you-go basis."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
"Price-wise, AWS Lambda is very cheap. It's not free, but it's not that expensive."
"Lambda is a good and cheap solution and I would recommend it to those without a huge payload."
"AWS Lambda is a very inexpensive solution. They charge for the number of times we run it. If you run AWS Lambda for one time, they charge around 50 cents or 25 cents for the use. I don't know the exact price, but it's less than a dollar."
"AWS is slightly more expensive than Azure."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
9%
Retailer
7%
Educational Organization
69%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
4%
Manufacturing Company
3%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with Apache NiFi?
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 conversio...
Which is better, AWS Lambda or Batch?
AWS Lambda is a serverless solution. It doesn’t require any infrastructure, which allows for cost savings. There is no setup process to deal with, as the entire solution is in the cloud. If you use...
What do you like most about AWS Lambda?
The tool scales automatically based on the number of incoming requests.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Lambda?
AWS Lambda is cheaper compared to running an instance continuously. You only pay for what you use, making it cost-effective.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Macquarie Telecom Group, Dovestech, Slovak Telekom, Looker, Hastings Group
Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Lambda vs. Apache NiFi and other solutions. Updated: March 2025.
847,625 professionals have used our research since 2012.