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Data Engineer at Tata Consultancy
Real User
Good integration with other AWS services but 30-minute runtime is limiting for large data sets
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution integrates well with other AWS products or services."
  • "On occasion, the solution's dashboard reports that a project failed due to runtime but it actually succeeded."

What is our primary use case?

Our company has five data engineers who use the solution for metadata catalogs and ETL pipelines that are built in S3 or EC2.  

What is most valuable?

The solution integrates well with other AWS products or services. 

What needs improvement?

The solution needs to expand its 30-minute query or runtime. Sometimes it fails with certain data types such as Athena due to the limited runtime. Some large data sets run overtime during busy hours so we try to avoid failures by running data at idle times or at night. 

On occasion, the solution's dashboard reports that a project failed due to runtime but it actually succeeded. This can be quite confusing. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for one year. 

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AWS Glue
May 2025
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What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable 99% of the time but is somewhat dependent on workloads. Heavy workloads or bigger data sets sometimes fail. Improvements are needed for stability to be consistent. 

How are customer service and support?

I have not needed technical support but my colleagues have used it. I do not have relevant feedback to report. 

How was the initial setup?

The setup requires some knowledge and understanding of how the solution works. 

What about the implementation team?

We implemented the solution in-house. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I rate pricing an eight out of ten. 

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

There are other options that offer equivalent service such as SRA and GCP but the solution is fully integrated with AWS where our data resides so we take full advantage of that. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate the solution a five out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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Suraj-Sachdeva - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Developer for cloud services at Coforge Growth Agency
Real User
Top 20
Efficiently handles and moves data around, contributing to streamlined operations
Pros and Cons
  • "One aspect that I would like to highlight is the Glue Crawler, which we utilize when working with large datasets to ensure the schema updates seamlessly without requiring end-team knowledge."
  • "The point for improvement in AWS Glue would be the dynamic allocation of resources while utilizing Lambda functions."

What is our primary use case?

I use AWS Glue mostly for data ingestion or data extraction from multiple sources.

How has it helped my organization?

AWS Glue plays a central role in AI-based solutions and machine learning workflows by efficiently handling and moving data around, contributing to streamlined operations.

What is most valuable?

One aspect that I would like to highlight is the Glue Crawler, which we utilize when working with large datasets to ensure the schema updates seamlessly without requiring end-team knowledge. 

Additionally, the pipeline orchestration and scheduling of ETL pipelines in AWS Glue are also highly effective. AWS Glue supports AI-driven projects and DAG transformations by facilitating efficient data handling required for machine learning workflows.

What needs improvement?

The point for improvement in AWS Glue would be the dynamic allocation of resources while utilizing Lambda functions. Currently, Lambda functions encounter a time-out error after fifteen minutes, necessitating an improvement in this area. Moreover, more practical examples and resources for advanced features would be beneficial for users.

For how long have I used the solution?

With AWS Glue, I have one year of experience.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

In terms of stability, there are areas that could be improved, particularly with Lambda functions and step functions. There should be better scaling for parallel computation. Despite this, AWS's overall stability is quite good.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

AWS Glue receives a nine out of ten for scalability, although we feel certain functions should scale better for enhanced parallel computation.

How are customer service and support?

I would rate the technical support for AWS Glue as ten out of ten. The support is high-quality.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of AWS Glue could be straightforward for new users of AWS services, but there should be more practical examples and guides for advanced features to assist newcomers in learning complex concepts.

What about the implementation team?

Currently, I work on the implementation within our development team, focusing on cloud services.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I find the pricing for AWS Glue quite affordable. For students or new users, AWS offers free credits, and as usage increases, the pay-as-you-go model provides flexibility without being expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend AWS Glue to others and rate the overall solution nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Hybrid Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Implementer
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AWS Glue
May 2025
Learn what your peers think about AWS Glue. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: May 2025.
851,604 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Nitish Kumar Mahatha - PeerSpot reviewer
Site Reliability Engineer (AWS) at KFin Technologies Ltd
Real User
Top 10
Boosts efficiency with enhanced data processing and seamless integration
Pros and Cons
  • "The AWS Glue Data Catalog provides metadata management and schema discovery. AWS Glue simplifies data transformation with automatic schema detection, incremental data updates, and integration with other AWS services."
  • "AWS Glue should be more reliable and faster in processing. Enhancing the speed of data processing would be beneficial."

What is our primary use case?

We use AWS Glue for handling data-intensive tasks such as data lake creation, log analysis, machine learning pipelines, data warehouse population for analytics, and real-time data integration with AWS Lambda.

How has it helped my organization?

AWS Glue has increased efficiency and time saving. It simplifies and automates data pipeline processes, enabling faster data processing and analysis.

What is most valuable?

The AWS Glue Data Catalog provides metadata management and schema discovery. AWS Glue simplifies data transformation with automatic schema detection, incremental data updates, and integration with other AWS services.

It enables us to analyze data stored in Amazon S3 using SQL, which is manageable and cost-effective.

What needs improvement?

AWS Glue should be more reliable and faster in processing. Enhancing the speed of data processing would be beneficial.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using AWS Glue for more than one year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

AWS Glue is generally considered stable and reliable for data integration, especially for larger scale production environments. Its serverless architecture and integration with other AWS services contribute to its stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

AWS Glue is scalable because of its serverless nature, which allows for easy scaling without needing to manage any infrastructure.

How are customer service and support?

The technical support from AWS is very reliable. I would rate it nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

I did not use any other cloud data integration solutions before AWS Glue.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup process for AWS Glue involved setting up Glue resources, creating roles and permissions, and developing ETL scripts and jobs. It took about half an hour.

What about the implementation team?

The deployment process required three developers.

What was our ROI?

While specific data on time and cost savings was not provided, AWS Glue's benefits include increased efficiency and time-saving.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The approximate cost for ETL jobs is about 0.44 USD, which is mostly covered by the company. Employees do not purchase AWS Glue solutions individually.

What other advice do I have?

AWS Glue is highly recommended for data engineers due to its ability to build and maintain data pipelines, ensure data quality and integrity, and its integration with UI tools. It offers data preparation, machine learning integration, and governance.

I would rate it a ten out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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reviewer2543349 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Vice President & Global Head AWS BU at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Boosts data integration with serverless architecture and advanced compatibility
Pros and Cons
  • "Its ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and highly secure architecture are some of the most valuable features."
  • "There could be an enhanced way of managing pure metadata management or data cataloging."

What is our primary use case?

In my role as the global lead for AWS solutions and offerings, we work with various clients, including large-scale clients, to adopt and implement AWS cloud offerings. 

Our primary focus revolves around cloud lift-and-shift migration, modernization, re-platforming, rehosting, data architecture, design strategy, and implementing generative AI-specific solutions across different industries such as banking, capital insurance, energy utilities, manufacturing, automotive, semiconductor, and aerospace and defense. 

For example, we have implemented AWS Glue at several client locations, utilizing its serverless data integration capabilities during the data discovery process, enterprise transformation, cleansing, transforming, and centralizing data.

How has it helped my organization?

AWS Glue has significantly improved our data quality, enhancing the data by removing duplicates and providing timely and efficient insights. 

It also aids in real-time data processing, reducing effort and cost due to its serverless architecture. These features ensure we maintain the highest level of scalability, reliability, and security compliance.

What is most valuable?

AWS Glue is fully managed, providing an easy-to-use integration environment to create, run, and monitor ETL jobs. It's broadly compatible and seamlessly integrates with other AWS services like Amazon S3, Redshift, and Athena. It's flexible with data integration, manages various data formats (JSON, ORC, CSV, etc.), and is serverless, eliminating the need for infrastructure management.

Its ease of use, cost-effectiveness, and highly secure architecture are some of the most valuable features.

What needs improvement?

There could be an enhanced way of managing pure metadata management or data cataloging. 

Additionally, while it covers a wide range of integrations with AWS services, integrating with certain additional or legacy products is not seamless and can be complex. 

Increasing support for more programming languages and improving advanced analytics capabilities could also be beneficial.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been working with AWS Glue for almost three-plus years now.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven't faced any stability issues with AWS Glue. It is a scalable solution, provided that the right design principles and workload management are implemented.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

AWS Glue is a scalable solution due to its serverless architecture and efficient design.

How are customer service and support?

My team handles interactions with AWS for technical support, ensuring our design architectures are scalable, flexible, and well-integrated. We often reach out to the AWS team to double-check our implementation mechanisms and guidelines.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of AWS Glue is straightforward due to its serverless architecture and fully managed nature. Specific prerequisites need to be followed, such as setting up data sources, configuring IAM permissions, creating crawlers, and running ETL jobs.

What about the implementation team?

My team escalates technical questions to AWS support, ensuring our design architectures are optimal. We have a partnership with AWS, and the technical team frequently reaches out to AWS for guidance on scalability, flexibility, and integration mechanisms.

What was our ROI?

We have seen an efficient process with AWS Glue, providing the right return on investment at the right time. It ensures efficiency for our clients, giving them the desired ROI within their expected timelines.

What other advice do I have?

Follow the right design principles and involve AWS at the right time to leverage the most current features and offerings from AWS Glue. Ensuring the right architecture will mitigate any issues. I'd rate the solution eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: Partner
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reviewer1412730 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Software Engineer at a consumer goods company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
It comes with its own data catalog and supports triggers for scheduling the ETL process
Pros and Cons
  • "Data catalog and triggers are the two best features for me. AWS Glue has its own data catalog, which makes it great and really easy to use. Triggers are also really good for scheduling the ETL process."
  • "The start-up time is really high right now. For instance, when you start up a new job, you have to wait for five or eight minutes before it starts. If the start-up time is reduced to one or two minutes, it will be great. It will be better to have a direct linkage to Redshift in AWS. If we can use data catalogs from Redshift, it will be so easy to create some data catalogs. Currently, we can only use data catalogs from S3."

What is our primary use case?

We are collecting some TV audience data and analyzing it.

What is most valuable?

Data catalog and triggers are the two best features for me. 

AWS Glue has its own data catalog, which makes it great and really easy to use. Triggers are also really good for scheduling the ETL process. 

What needs improvement?

The start-up time is really high right now. For instance, when you start up a new job, you have to wait for five or eight minutes before it starts. If the start-up time is reduced to one or two minutes, it will be great.

It will be better to have a direct linkage to Redshift in AWS. If we can use data catalogs from Redshift, it will be so easy to create some data catalogs. Currently, we can only use data catalogs from S3.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using the AWS Glue for approximately one and a half years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

There is no problem related to stability.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is good. I can reduce or increase the number of DPUs, which I find very useful.

We are trying to increase the usage of AWS Glue because of customer needs. When the data increases, our application needs some more analyzers and user interfaces. We will increase our data analyzer and user interfaces.

How are customer service and technical support?

I didn't take any technical support because I didn't have a big problem or issue. I just used some information from various communities and forums about the maintenance. 

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

The pricing is a bit higher than other solutions like Athena and EC2. If the pricing becomes more scaled or flexible, it will be good because you have to pay 44 cents just for one DPU for an hour. If you increase DPUs to 5 or 10, the pricing gets multiplied. 

There are also some time limits like 0 to 10 minutes or 10 to 20 minutes. If the pricing is according to the minutes, it would be better because you have to limit your job to 10 minutes or 20 minutes.

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend AWS Glue. It is a great choice. 

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer: partner
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Andre Luis Tiago Soares - PeerSpot reviewer
Developer-Data Engineer at Collab
Real User
Top 20
Good large data processing and scalable but must overcome pipeline challenges
Pros and Cons
  • "The best thing about AWS Glue is its scalability and how easy it is to process a large amount of data."
  • "Setting up pipelines is challenging, especially with version control and testing requirements."

What is our primary use case?

I use AWS Glue primarily for ETL jobs. In my organization, it's just me using it as we are a small company. The IT team consists of four people, and I am the data engineering specialist.

What is most valuable?

The best thing about AWS Glue is its scalability and how easy it is to process a large amount of data. It integrates well with Redshift, S3, and AWS Glue catalog. 

For processing extensive data, having a managed Spark service fulfills that role. If you're already working on AWS and you need to process a lot of data that can't be handled on a single node or server, AWS Glue will serve you well. While it's quite expensive, it's valuable for large data processing needs.

What needs improvement?

Setting up pipelines is challenging, especially with version control and testing requirements. While the initial setup is easy, it doesn't accommodate more complex development needs. You might feel hesitant about changing pipelines that are already running and processing business-critical data due to limited versioning and testing capabilities.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using AWS Glue since 2022, so for two years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The stability of AWS Glue is fine. I haven't had any problems with it.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The scalability of AWS Glue is commendable.

Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?

Previously, in different jobs, I have worked with Databricks for ETL processes. I've also utilized Lambda functions for handling smaller data. I didn’t switch to AWS Glue, but used it in a different context.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup of AWS Glue is easy, yet not adequate for more complex requirements. If you need to do something robust, like creating a notebook, it is straightforward. 

However, when dealing with complex pipelines handling critical business data, it's hard to set up versioning and testing.

What other advice do I have?

AWS Glue receives a hesitant five out of ten from me. I recommend it if you're already on AWS and need to process large data sets. However, for smaller data volumes, I would suggest Airflow because AWS Glue can be quite expensive.

Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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UjjwalGupta - PeerSpot reviewer
Module Lead at Mphasis
Real User
Top 5
Provides inbuilt data quality and cataloging features, but it is costly compared to other tools
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature of AWS Glue is that it provides a GUI format with a drag-and-drop feature."
  • "AWS Glue is more costly compared to other tools like Airflow."

What is our primary use case?

We use AWS Glue for building ETL pipelines.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature of AWS Glue is that it provides a GUI format with a drag-and-drop feature. The solution provides a codeless feature or no code feature, where you can write a pipeline without adding code in AWS Glue.

If you are working on AWS services for your pipeline, AWS Glue better interacts with the AWS services than other third-party tools. The solution provides inbuilt data quality and cataloging features. AWS Glue provides a complete package, and you can do all things in one place.

What needs improvement?

AWS Glue is more costly compared to other tools like Airflow. It would be better if the solution's pricing could be reduced. The default scheduling that AWS Glue provides is not as good as Airflow. The scheduler of AWS Glue could be improved because you cannot customize it.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using AWS Glue for more than three years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

AWS Glue is a stable product because it's an AWS-managed service. We can directly contact AWS for any issues we face. If there are any glitches in the version, AWS solves the issue by creating patches or version upgrades to the solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Around 100 to 200 people are using the solution in our organization.

How was the initial setup?

As AWS Glue is a SaaS product, you don't have to set up anything. You can just create a new job, write your script, and run your job. You have to select the particular cluster or nodes you want to run and write the code. Not much admin part is required for the solution's setup.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

AWS Glue is a paid service that doesn't come under the free trial of AWS. You have to pay a charge for using the solution.

What other advice do I have?

If you are doing a job once or twice a day, AWS Glue will not cost you much. If you run jobs for four to five times a day or hourly jobs, it will be costlier compared to other tools. If you are required to run hourly jobs five to six times a day, then using other tools would be a better option. You can choose AWS Glue if you are running jobs only one or two times a day.

Our company decided to go with AWS Glue because the tools we were using in the pipeline were AWS services only. AWS Glue easily interacts with AWS services. The jobs we were running were also not frequent.

You can use AWS Glue for learning purposes. AWS Glue is a paid service that doesn't come under the free trial of AWS. You have to pay a charge for using the solution. You can learn the code by directly testing the basic spark code in any local system. Once you are comfortable that your code is working fine, then you can run your code in AWS Glue jobs. You should test the code in the local system first and then run it in AWS Glue. Testing on AWS Glue will be costly.

If a person is familiar with Spark jobs or Python jobs, they can easily learn AWS Glue. A new user will take the same amount of time to learn AWS Glue as he takes to get comfortable with Spark. Since it provides the GUI and no code thing, users can directly start using AWS Glue without having to learn any code. It's much easier to learn to use the solution.

Overall, I rate the solution a seven out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Public Cloud

If public cloud, private cloud, or hybrid cloud, which cloud provider do you use?

Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
PeerSpot user
AmitMataghare - PeerSpot reviewer
Associate Director at a consultancy with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Top 10
A scalable tool to build data engineering pipelines
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution's technical support is good. Whenever we raise a use case where we face an issue in our company, we get a response from the solution's technical team."
  • "Only people who can code, either in Java or Python, can use the product freely. Those who don't know Java or Python might find using AWS Glue difficult."

What is our primary use case?

In my company, we use AWS Glue to build data engineering pipelines, so we ingest data from either S3 or other sources and put it back into Redshift, where we have a data lake or data warehouse.

What is most valuable?

With AWS Glue, there have been a lot of updates over the past couple of years. The feature which I like the most is that AWS Glue has now integrated Jupyter Notebook into it, causing AWS Glue to become interactive and develop new use cases. The fact that we don't have to worry about the resources required for any particular job since it gets taken care of by AWS Glue adds to the valuable feature set of the product.

What needs improvement?

AWS Glue Studio has undergone a lot of enhancements in the last couple of months. An improvement that can help the solution is if the user interface can become more user-friendly and allow for features like drag and drop, allowing it to build transformations. There can be a good improvement if the product itself supports different kinds of transformations so that the pipeline, which we want to create, can be done easily since right now, we have to write a code to do so in our company. Only people who can code, either in Java or Python, can use the product freely. Those who don't know Java or Python might find using AWS Glue difficult.

AWS has pricing for spot instances that reduces the cost substantially, but that is not available for AWS Glue AWS pricing for spot instances comes for products like EC2, and if the same gets introduced for AWS Glue, then the pricing can substantially reduce.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using AWS Glue for five years. I am an end user of the product.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a very scalable solution. In our company, we don't have to bother about the latest features implemented by the solution since the solution itself allocates resources, causing the product to scale up or down as the job progresses.

How are customer service and support?

The solution's technical support is good. Whenever we raise a use case where we face an issue in our company, we get a response from the solution's technical team.

How was the initial setup?

AWS Glue is a platform as a service from AWS, so there is no setup required. It's very simple since you can just go into the UI and start using it.

The solution is deployed on a private cloud.

I am a part of the development team, which doesn't have access to all the different sets of features and has a different backup. There is a team that does the initial setup, user access, and all those things. Once the product is ready, my team takes it over, so the setup is done by someone else.

What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?

I rate the product's pricing a five on a scale of one to ten, where one is a high price, and ten is a low price.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

AWS Glue can be compared to the database provided by Azure which has a lot of extra features or capabilities compared to AWS Glue which is only useful for processing.

What other advice do I have?

I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

Private Cloud
Disclosure: I am a real user, and this review is based on my own experience and opinions.
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Updated: May 2025
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Buyer's Guide
Download our free AWS Glue Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.