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Apache Spark vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop 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 Spark
Ranking in Hadoop
1st
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
7.7
Number of Reviews
65
Ranking in other categories
Compute Service (3rd), Java Frameworks (2nd)
Cloudera Distribution for H...
Ranking in Hadoop
2nd
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.4
Number of Reviews
50
Ranking in other categories
NoSQL Databases (8th)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2025, in the Hadoop category, the mindshare of Apache Spark is 17.7%, down from 20.8% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is 25.7%, up from 22.7% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Hadoop
 

Featured Reviews

Ilya Afanasyev - PeerSpot reviewer
Reliable, able to expand, and handle large amounts of data well
We use batch processing. It works well with our formats and file versions. There's a lot of functionality. In our pipeline each hour, we make a copy of data from MongoDB, of the changes from MongoDB to some specific file. Each time pipeline copied all of the data, it would do it each time without changes to all of the tables. Tables have a lot of data, and in the last MongoDB version, there is a possibility to read only changed data. This reduced the cost and configuration of the cluster, and we saved about $150,000. The solution is scalable. It's a stable product.
Rok Dolinsek - PeerSpot reviewer
Enables on-premise implementation with powerful data processing capabilities
This is the only solution that is possible to install on-premise. Cloudera provides a hybrid solution that combines compute on cloud or on-premises. It includes all machine learning algorithms in the Spark machine learning library. All functionalities needed for a big data platform and ETL are on the platform, eliminating the need for other tools. It is scalable, ready for vertical scaling, and very powerful, offering numerous functionalities and configurations for generative AI.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"Spark is used for transformations from large volumes of data, and it is usefully distributed."
"The most significant advantage of Spark 3.0 is its support for DataFrame UDF Pandas UDF features."
"It is highly scalable, allowing you to efficiently work with extensive datasets that might be problematic to handle using traditional tools that are memory-constrained."
"One of Apache Spark's most valuable features is that it supports in-memory processing, the execution of jobs compared to traditional tools is very fast."
"The most valuable feature of Apache Spark is its flexibility."
"I found the solution stable. We haven't had any problems with it."
"The most valuable feature of Apache Spark is its ease of use."
"The most valuable feature is Impala, the querying engine, which is very fast."
"The tool can be deployed using different container technologies, which makes it very scalable."
"The main advantage is the storage is less expensive."
"The product provides better data processing features than other tools."
"We experienced many issues when we started working with Hadoop 3.0 in the Cloudera 6.0 version, so there are a lot of things that need to improve. I believe they are working on that."
"In terms of scalability, if you have enough hardware you can scale out. Scalability doesn't have any issues."
"Cloudera is a very manageable solution with good support."
"Customer service and support were able to fix whatever the issue was."
 

Cons

"Stream processing needs to be developed more in Spark. I have used Flink previously. Flink is better than Spark at stream processing."
"Apache Spark's GUI and scalability could be improved."
"One limitation is that not all machine learning libraries and models support it."
"At times during the deployment process, the tool goes down, making it look less robust. To take care of the issues in the deployment process, users need to do manual interventions occasionally."
"Dynamic DataFrame options are not yet available."
"The solution must improve its performance."
"There could be enhancements in optimization techniques, as there are some limitations in this area that could be addressed to further refine Spark's performance."
"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."
"I would like to see an improvement in how the solution helps me to handle the whole cluster."
"We experienced many issues when we started working with Hadoop 3.0 in the Cloudera 6.0 version, so there is a lot of things that need to improve."
"The Cloudera training has deteriorated significantly."
"The tool's ability to be deployed on a cloud model is an area of concern where improvements are required."
"The areas of improvement depend on the scale of the project. For banking customers, security features and an essential budget for commercial licenses would be the top priority. Data regulation could be the most crucial for a project with extensive data or an extra use case."
"The initial setup of Cloudera is difficult."
"The tool doesn't support reporting, and relational databases are still the major source of reporting data. Apache Iceberg will be launched soon within the Cloudera cluster for analytical purposes. The Cloudera Machine Learning aspect could be tuned and enhanced to enable us to host some predictive analytics machine learning and AI use cases."
"The competitors provide better functionalities."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Licensing costs can vary. For instance, when purchasing a virtual machine, you're asked if you want to take advantage of the hybrid benefit or if you prefer the license costs to be included upfront by the cloud service provider, such as Azure. If you choose the hybrid benefit, it indicates you already possess a license for the operating system and wish to avoid additional charges for that specific VM in Azure. This approach allows for a reduction in licensing costs, charging only for the service and associated resources."
"It is quite expensive. In fact, it accounts for almost 50% of the cost of our entire project."
"Apache Spark is an open-source tool."
"It is an open-source platform. We do not pay for its subscription."
"Considering the product version used in my company, I feel that the tool is not costly since the product is available for free."
"On the cloud model can be expensive as it requires substantial resources for implementation, covering on-premises hardware, memory, and licensing."
"They provide an open-source license for the on-premise version."
"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."
"The price could be better for the product."
"The tool is not expensive."
"The tool is expensive...For the SMB market or customers whose environments are not that complex and do not have multiple systems running, Cloudera might not be a good option."
"Cloudera requires a license to use."
"I believe we pay for a three-year license."
"I haven't bought a license for this solution. I'm only using the Apache license version."
"When comparing with Oracle Sybase and SQL, it's cheaper. It's not expensive."
"I wouldn't recommend CDH to others because of its high cost."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
27%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
5%
Financial Services Firm
24%
Computer Software Company
14%
Educational Organization
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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?
Compared to other solutions like Doc DB, Spark is more costly due to the need for extensive infrastructure. It requires significant investment in infrastructure, which can be expensive. While cloud...
What needs improvement with Apache Spark?
The Spark solution could improve in scheduling tasks and managing dependencies. Spark alone cannot handle sequential tasks, requiring environments like Airflow scheduler or scripts. For instance, o...
What do you like most about Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?
The tool can be deployed using different container technologies, which makes it very scalable.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?
The price for Cloudera is average, yet it is very good compared to other solutions. It can be deployed on-premises, unlike competitors' cloud-only solutions.
What needs improvement with Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?
It is quite complicated to configure and install. Integrating the platform into an information system is always a challenge, especially when starting with on-premise implementation. Integrating wit...
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

NASA JPL, UC Berkeley AMPLab, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, UC Santa Cruz, TripAdvisor, Taboola, Agile Lab, Art.com, Baidu, Alibaba Taobao, EURECOM, Hitachi Solutions
37signals, Adconion,adgooroo, Aggregate Knowledge, AMD, Apollo Group, Blackberry, Box, BT, CSC
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache Spark vs. Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop and other solutions. Updated: January 2025.
838,640 professionals have used our research since 2012.