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AWS Lambda vs Google Cloud Dataflow 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

AWS Lambda
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
Compute Service (1st)
Google Cloud Dataflow
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
Streaming Analytics (7th)
 

Mindshare comparison

AWS Lambda and Google Cloud Dataflow aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. AWS Lambda is designed for Compute Service and holds a mindshare of 20.7%, up 19.5% compared to last year.
Google Cloud Dataflow, on the other hand, focuses on Streaming Analytics, holds 6.5% mindshare, down 7.5% since last year.
Compute Service
Streaming Analytics
 

Featured Reviews

Andrew-Wong - PeerSpot reviewer
Convenience in deployment process with room for code preview improvement
Having a better preview would be helpful. Sometimes, if my Lambda code is too big, it can be inconvenient as I'm unable to see my code when it exceeds a certain size. AWS has a limit, like a three-megabyte limit, beyond which I cannot view or edit the code easily.
Jana Polianskaja - PeerSpot reviewer
Build Scalable Data Pipelines with Apache Beam and Google Cloud Dataflow
As a data engineer, I find several features of Google Cloud Dataflow particularly valuable. The ability to test solutions locally using Direct Runner is crucial for development, allowing me to validate pipelines without incurring the costs of full Dataflow jobs. The unified programming model for both batch and streaming processing is exceptional - requiring only minor code adjustments to optimize for either mode. This flexibility extends to language support, with robust implementations in both Java and Python, allowing teams to leverage their existing expertise. The platform's comprehensive monitoring capabilities are another standout feature. The intuitive interface, Grafana integration, and extensive service connectivity make troubleshooting and performance tracking highly efficient. Furthermore, seamless integration with Google Cloud Composer (managed Airflow) enables sophisticated orchestration of data pipelines.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We have no issues with the technical support."
"It is serverless and scalable. It can scale infinitely. You don't have to worry about the size of the servers that you're pre-allocating. You don't have to build server scale-out models. Auto scale and other similar features are just inherent in Lambda. So, for atomic and fairly non-persistent transactional units of work, Lambda works very well."
"AWS Lambda's event-driven architecture is highly valuable."
"The solution offers good performance."
"The most valuable feature of AWS Lambda is that you can trigger and run jobs instantly, and after you complete the job, that function is either destroyed or stopped automatedly."
"I have used AWS Lambda for simple messaging for SQS, creating a cron job, and delay messaging."
"We moved our users into the Amazon Cognito pool, so it helps us to standardize our security practices, approaches, etc. We can customize Lambda for authentication to integrate it with API Gateway and other services."
"The most valuable feature is that it scans the cloud system and if they are any security anomalies it triggers an email."
"The product's installation process is easy...The tool's maintenance part is somewhat easy."
"I don't need a server running all the time while using the tool. It is also easy to setup. The product offers a pay-as-you-go service."
"It is a scalable solution."
"It allows me to test solutions locally using runners like Direct Runner without having to start a Dataflow job, which can be costly."
"The service is relatively cheap compared to other batch-processing engines."
"The most valuable features of Google Cloud Dataflow are scalability and connectivity."
"Google's support team is good at resolving issues, especially with large data."
"The best feature of Google Cloud Dataflow is its practical connectedness."
 

Cons

"I would like to see more integration with other platforms."
"The runtime for the solution can be improved."
"AWS Lambda could be improved by increasing the size of the payload. Also, sometimes Lambda doesn't implement well for bigger solutions."
"The product needs some updating as far as ease-of-customization and configuration opportunities to work with solutions outside of the cloud."
"Lambda could be improved in the sense that some of the things done with Lambda function take some time. So the performance could be better and faster."
"Lambda would benefit from a debugging feature as well."
"It can be a bit difficult to switch between accounts when creating services for customers."
"A very minor improvement would be to simplify the instructions on setting a trigger, as I had to read through them multiple times at the start."
"Promoting the technology more broadly would help increase its adoption."
"The deployment time could also be reduced."
"I would like Google Cloud Dataflow to be integrated with IT data flow and other related services to make it easier to use as it is a complex tool."
"There are certain challenges regarding the Google Cloud Composer which can be improved."
"Google Cloud Data Flow can improve by having full simple integration with Kafka topics. It's not that complicated, but it could improve a bit. The UI is easy to use but the experience could be better. There are other tools available that do a better job."
"Google Cloud Dataflow should include a little cost optimization."
"When I deploy the product in local errors, a lot of errors pop up which are not always caught. The solution's error logging is bad. It can take a lot of time to debug the errors. It needs to have better logs."
"Occasionally, dealing with a huge volume of data causes failure due to array size."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"Its pricing is on the higher side."
"AWS Lambda is a cheap solution."
"I think the price is okay. However, if they add more functionality, they can have better prices. In fact, they should have better and more flexible packages for clients who have greater consumption of Lambda."
"The cost is based on runtime."
"The solution is part of the AWS subscription model that is paid annually."
"It computes by the cycle, and it's very cheap."
"The pricing varies based on the specific solution you're implementing, and in comparison to the value it provides, the overall cost is reasonable."
"The pricing is on-demand and based on runs or times that are billed out monthly."
"The solution is not very expensive."
"Google Cloud Dataflow is a cheap solution."
"The price of the solution depends on many factors, such as how they pay for tools in the company and its size."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate Google Cloud Dataflow's pricing a four out of ten."
"Google Cloud is slightly cheaper than AWS."
"On a scale from one to ten, where one is cheap, and ten is expensive, I rate the solution's pricing a seven to eight out of ten."
"The tool is cheap."
"The solution is cost-effective."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Educational Organization
29%
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
9%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Financial Services Firm
18%
Manufacturing Company
12%
Retailer
11%
Computer Software Company
10%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

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?
The pricing of AWS Lambda is reasonable. It's beneficial and cost-effective for users regardless of the number of instances used.
What do you like most about Google Cloud Dataflow?
The product's installation process is easy...The tool's maintenance part is somewhat easy.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Dataflow?
Pricing is normal. It is part of a package received from Google, and they are not charging us too high.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Dataflow?
I am not sure, as we built only one job, and it is running on a daily basis. Everything else is managed using BigQuery schedulers and Talend. However, occasionally, dealing with a huge volume of da...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Google Dataflow
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Netflix
Absolutdata, Backflip Studios, Bluecore, Claritics, Crystalloids, Energyworx, GenieConnect, Leanplum, Nomanini, Redbus, Streak, TabTale
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apache, Oracle and others in Compute Service. Updated: July 2025.
861,524 professionals have used our research since 2012.