No more typing reviews! Try our Samantha, our new voice AI agent.
Atif Tariq - PeerSpot reviewer
Cloud and Big Data Engineer | Developer at Huawei
Real User
Nov 24, 2023
Easy-to-manage solutions with strong support, but faces challenges with upgrades, flexibility, and high costs
Pros and Cons
  • "Customer service and support were able to fix whatever the issue was."
  • "While the deployed product is generally functional, there are instances where it presents difficulties."

What is most valuable?

It offers a pre-build distribution. Even the support is there for the solution, whatever the issue is that you face. And apart from that, they have a platinum best practice to manage tools and all these things.  

What needs improvement?

The company is struggling to keep up with the upgrades of various components, and they are not willing to invest more in Cloudera.

The company is still switching from traditional methods to cutting-edge technology. While the deployed product is generally functional, there are instances where it presents difficulties. For example, the high SPs do not allow for metadata patching once it is created in the panel. This restriction limits our ability to make changes to the metadata.

I am aware that some companies are using open-source alternatives, which offer more flexibility. So, product maturity with cutting-edge technology will take more time.  

The primary concern is the cost. If you have the budget and are willing to pay for it, then it's fine. However, if we don't want to spend more money, it's not the best option.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've used it. 

How are customer service and support?

Customer service and support were able to fix whatever the issue was. But they haven't used the solution, so they cannot do anything in whatever is implementation. Because they are using self-managed open-source technology. There's no order or feature development by now. So wherever there's a limitation from the product, like the tool side, the kind of environment, they are not able to do anything.

Buyer's Guide
Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
902,456 professionals have used our research since 2012.

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

It is an expensive product.

What other advice do I have?

For using Cloudera, it depends on what you want to use it for. If you're looking for something easy to manage and operate in the cloud environment, then Cloudera is a good option. 

You don't need to do much; you can just deploy it and go. From my perspective, it depends on your use case and how you see your data needs, as well as how you manage cloud data technologies and work with different departments, teams, and identity features. If Cloudera satisfies your requirements and you have no issues with it, then go for it.

Overall, I would rate it a seven out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
EricLin - PeerSpot reviewer
Chairman at Athemaster co.,ltd.
Real User
Nov 1, 2023
Provides excellent data processing features and enables users to connect with other applications
Pros and Cons
  • "The product provides better data processing features than other tools."
  • "The dashboard could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

I use the solution because my data is too big. It is almost 100 TB.

What is most valuable?

The product provides many APIs to connect with other applications. The product provides better data processing features than other tools.

What needs improvement?

The dashboard could be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using the solution for seven years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The tool is stable. I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

The tool is scalable. I rate the scalability an eight out of ten. It is easy to scale the product. Almost 20 to 25 people use the tool in our organization. We maintain the solution ourselves. We have nine engineers in our maintenance team.

How are customer service and support?

The support is very, very helpful.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

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

I have worked with Oracle. Oracle is too expensive.

How was the initial setup?

It was pretty easy to install the product. It took us 20 minutes.

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

The product’s cost is higher compared to other tools. The pricing must be improved.

What other advice do I have?

I recommend the solution to others. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop
June 2026
Learn what your peers think about Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop. Get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions. Updated: June 2026.
902,456 professionals have used our research since 2012.
Sayyed Aadil - PeerSpot reviewer
Hadoop Admin at Tata Consultancy
Real User
Dec 20, 2022
A great solution for gathering, storing and processing data
Pros and Cons
  • "It is helpful to gather and process data."
  • "There are multiple bugs when we update."

What is our primary use case?

It is helpful to gather and process data.

How has it helped my organization?

We used to collect data in small cases, and with Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop, we used data on large scales. It helps to store and protect the data and is helpful for processing.

What is most valuable?

The Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is valuable.

What needs improvement?

There are multiple bugs when we update.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using this solution for three and a half years and using version 6.3. It is deployed on-premises.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It is a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. It is the best solution for larger companies. There are about 3000 users, and there are medical teams for medical data with about 1000 users. We require about six people for maintenance and deployment.

How are customer service and support?

Cloudera's support is helpful, and I rate the technical support a nine out of ten.

How would you rate customer service and support?

Positive

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was straightforward and not an issue.

What was our ROI?

We have seen a return on investment.

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution a nine out of ten, and it is a helpful solution.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Hamid M. Hamid - PeerSpot reviewer
Data architect at Banking Sector
Real User
Dec 15, 2022
A scalable solution with a straightforward setup, but the price is too high
Pros and Cons
  • "The solution is stable."
  • "The pricing needs to improve."

What is our primary use case?

We used this solution as a data platform. 

What needs improvement?

The pricing needs to improve. If the price was affordable, then we might have continued using Cloudera. We switched to HPE because of the cost.

For how long have I used the solution?

I used this solution for the last year.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

The solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

It is a scalable solution. There were about 20 users of this solution in my company. 10 people were required for the deployment and maintenance of the solution, including developers. 

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup is straightforward. 

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

The price is very high. The solution is expensive. 

What other advice do I have?

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate this solution as an eight out of ten. 

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Mohammed Hamad - PeerSpot reviewer
AI & Data Engineering Lead at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Jun 2, 2022
Flexible and comprehensive solution
Pros and Cons
  • "The most valuable feature is that I can use CDH for almost all use cases across all industries, including the financial sector, public sector, private retailers, and so on."
  • "Cloudera's support is extremely bad and cannot be relied on."

What is our primary use case?

I primarily use CDH for data storage and regular dashboard reports.

What is most valuable?

The most valuable feature is that I can use CDH for almost all use cases across all industries, including the financial sector, public sector, private retailers, and so on.

What needs improvement?

Cloudera's prices are too high and are not competitive with other solutions. They could also improve the Data Science Workbench and add some more features, like wizard activities.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

CDH is stable.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

CDH is scalable, but it's expensive to do it.

How are customer service and support?

Cloudera's support is extremely bad and cannot be relied on.

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

I wouldn't recommend CDH to others because of its high cost.

What other advice do I have?

I would rate CDH as eight out of ten.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1850319 - PeerSpot reviewer
Vice President at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
May 12, 2022
Stores large volumes of data and makes log analytics, monitoring, and management easier, but its feature list is limited
Pros and Cons
  • "We're now able to store large volumes of data through Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop. We're able to push large volumes of data to the platform, and that used to be a challenge, especially when storing a terabyte of information. This is the area where Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop improved the organization."
  • "Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop has a limited feature list and a lot of costs involved."

What is our primary use case?

In my previous organization, we used Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop
for compiling website logs and application logs. We used it for log analytics.

How has it helped my organization?

We're now able to store large volumes of data through Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop. We're able to push large volumes of data to the platform, and that used to be a challenge, especially when storing a terabyte of information. This is the area where Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop improved the organization.

What is most valuable?

The feature I found most valuable in Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is the Cloudera Manager. It's a good component because it makes log management easy. It's really useful as a management and monitoring console.

What needs improvement?

The setup and administration were not easy with Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop. They could be improved.

The solution has a limited feature list, so having more features is something I'd like to see in the next release of Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop for two years. I'm still using it.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop seems to be a stable product.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is really easy to scale. We can add more servers to it, so it's scalable.

How are customer service and support?

I don't have experience contacting the technical support team of Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup for Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop was easy for us because we outsourced the work to the vendor. All the nitty-gritty was taken care of by them.

What about the implementation team?

We implemented Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop through the vendor. Deployment was done by an integrator. It usually doesn't take a lot of time. It usually takes just a day to deploy the solution.

Our implementation strategy for Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop was more into outsourcing. For example, the hardware, including its management, was outsourced, so the admin, data management, support, etc., were also outsourced. We were looking into having the application done in-house, with the team. We were looking at a one-year implementation plan to move more and more governance and data sets into Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop. Every quarter, we planned to have other features reintroduced into the platform.

Two people did the installation and two people did the deployment. It was deployed in a single location, and we initially had ten users of Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop.

What was our ROI?

It's tricky to derive the ROI from Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop, because in analytics, it's a little difficult to determine that this is the investment, and we're increasing the footprints and the revenue. It's very difficult to evaluate.

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

Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is expensive. There are a lot of costs involved. For example: apart from the standard licensing fees, there are support costs involved, and support could be for three years, five years, etc., so support is a pretty large part of the contract.

Which other solutions did I evaluate?

We didn't evaluate other options before choosing Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop.

What other advice do I have?

I'm using Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop.

The advice I would give to others looking into implementing or using Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is for them to opt for a cloud variant, particularly something scalable for Azure, because of the ease of deployment and ease of setup. Procuring Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is also a challenge unless the customer goes for its cloud version.

I would rate Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop six out of ten because of its limited features. If they can enhance their feature list, that would improve their score.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Suresh_Srinivasan - PeerSpot reviewer
Co-Founder at FORMCEPT Technologies
Real User
Jan 13, 2022
Has a useful file system and is scalable
Pros and Cons
  • "The file system is a valuable feature."
  • "Cloudera is a great product and, overall, there are many features."
  • "The security of this solution could be improved. There should also be a way to basically have a blockchain enabled storage with the HDFS."
  • "The security of this solution could be improved."

What is our primary use case?

We use Cloudera Distribution for file storage. 

This solution is deployed on-premise. 

What is most valuable?

The file system is a valuable feature. 

What needs improvement?

The security of this solution could be improved. There should also be a way to basically have a blockchain enabled storage with the HDFS. 

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been working with Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop for 11 years. 

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

This solution is stable. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

This solution is scalable enough for us. 

We have created a product, using HDFS, and when our engineers install it for themselves or for customers, we use this solution. There are about 15 to 20 people using it at any point of time. 

How was the initial setup?

The installation is straightforward. We use command-line-based installation and we have created our own way of installing with our product. 

Depending on the customer or depending on internal usage, our DevOps engineer will install it or my development team will install it. 

What about the implementation team?

We are very well-versed on these tools, so we implemented it ourselves. 

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

I haven't bought a license for this solution. I'm only using the Apache license version. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate this solution an eight out of ten. Cloudera is a great product and, overall, there are many features. 

We actually use Cloudera HDFS underneath, and we build our product on top of it. So, we don't use the Cloudera versions of all the other products, we just use the Cloudera HDFS, nothing else.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
Thishen Govender - PeerSpot reviewer
BI Manager at Discovery Health
Real User
Oct 24, 2021
Includes several useful proprietary tools
Pros and Cons
  • "CDH has a wide variety of proprietary tools that we use, like Impala, and from that perspective, it's quite useful as opposed to something open-source, as we get a lot of value from Cloudera's proprietary tools."
  • "It would be useful if Cloudera had more tools like SQL Engines that offer the traditional relational database. We have to do a lot of work preparing the data outside Cloudera before getting it into the platform."

How has it helped my organization?

CDH has a wide variety of proprietary tools that we use, like Impala. So from that perspective, it's quite useful as opposed to something open-source. We get a lot of value from Cloudera's proprietary tools. 

What needs improvement?

Integration is one of the main things we struggle with because we're working with several other environments. For example, we've got an MPP environment outside the Hadoop environment. Many cloud-based platforms like Azure are fully integrated with technology that gives you MPP machine learning and data lakes all in one environment. We've got on-premises IBM solutions and Cloudera, so it isn't easy to integrate. It would be useful if Cloudera had more tools like SQL Engines that offer the traditional relational database. We have to do a lot of work preparing the data outside Cloudera before getting it into the platform. And ideally, we should get as much raw data as possible into the platform before we can do the engineering, so we have machine learning and model training.

For how long have I used the solution?

I've been using CDH for about two years, or rather, I manage the team that uses it.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

We haven't had any issues with Cloudera. It's a solid product. 

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Cloudera is dependable, and it's completely scalable.

How are customer service and support?

We have engaged the technical support based in the UK. My team hasn't worked with them directly, but the administration team has. To my knowledge, they're fairly responsive. 

What other advice do I have?

I rate Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop eight out of 10.

Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
reviewer1272822 - PeerSpot reviewer
AD - Associate Director at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees
Real User
Sep 19, 2020
Feature rich and scalable with good support, but there are performance issues and the security could be improved
Pros and Cons
  • "The main advantage is the storage is less expensive."
  • "It has been helpful in allowing data storage in one centralized location with data lakes and all of the surrounding applications."
  • "Currently, we are using many other tools such as Spark and Blade Job to improve the performance."
  • "The performance can be improved. We have experienced some performance issues."

What is our primary use case?

We are using this solution for storing Big Data in one centralized location.

How has it helped my organization?

It has been helpful in allowing data storage in one centralized location with data lakes and all of the surrounding applications.

All of the data processes are being stored into the Big Data Lake.

What is most valuable?

It allows us to store huge amounts of data, which is an advantage.

They have BI (Business Intelligence) tools. There are many AI tools.

We are able to connect and analyze the data to get reports. The reports are very good.

The main advantage is the storage is less expensive.

What needs improvement?

The performance can be improved. We have experienced some performance issues. It is not as sophisticated as Oracle Sybase.

Currently, we are using many other tools such as Spark and Blade Job to improve the performance.

The setup could be simplified, it's complex.

The security needs to be improved.

For how long have I used the solution?

I have been using this solution since 2015.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

It's a stable solution.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

Scalability is good. It's replicated and by default, with Big Data there is a replication factor.

Over the years we have grown, when we started we had 10 nodes now we have increased to a large number of nodes.

How are customer service and technical support?

Technical support is good. I have been able to learn from them. As a developer, I am learning every day.

I would rate the technical support a ten out of ten.

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

Previously we were using Oracle Sybase SQL. We switched because now, we have introduced Big Data.

How was the initial setup?

The initial setup was complex.

It's not as simple as Oracle Sybase.

It's a complex architecture because you have raw data and many engines.

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

When comparing with Oracle Sybase and SQL, it's cheaper. It's not expensive.

What other advice do I have?

I am a part of security and software development. 

We are currently considering migrating to the cloud, and planning on using Microsoft Azure, mainly for the Big Data component.

I would rate this solution a five out of ten.

Which deployment model are you using for this solution?

On-premises
Disclosure: My company does not have a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer.
PeerSpot user
CEO at AM-BITS LLC
Real User
Aug 8, 2023
Good enterprise platform with good stability
Pros and Cons
  • "It has the best proxy, security, and support features compared to open-source products."
  • "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."

What is most valuable?

It is a good enterprise platform. It is easier and more stable. Additionally, it has the best proxy, security, and support features compared to open-source products.

What needs improvement?

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.

For how long have I used the solution?

We have been using Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop for a few years.

What do I think about the stability of the solution?

I rate the product’s stability a ten out of ten.

What do I think about the scalability of the solution?

We have ten customers using the product. They include data engineers, performance engineers, and environment engineers.

I rate its stability a ten out of ten.

How are customer service and support?

The product has a support subscription for one year. We use technical support only for complex use cases. We work with their team as we have direct and quick access to contact them. It helps us better understand the technical and business-related queries of the customers.

How was the initial setup?

The on-cloud version is easy to set up. Although, it is complicated to process a large amount of data for on-premises or hybrid setup. It is not a ready-to-use solution for telecom or finance technology. It requires the deployment of robust technology relying on network infrastructure.

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

The product’s price depends from project to project. It is more expensive than open-source solutions and could be cheaper. However, in some cases, it is less costly than open-source.

What other advice do I have?

It is the best solution in the world at the moment. I advise others to go for it if you have an enterprise customer. I rate it a ten out of ten.

Disclosure: My company has a business relationship with this vendor other than being a customer. Partner
PeerSpot user
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.
Updated: June 2026
Product Categories
Hadoop NoSQL Databases
Buyer's Guide
Download our free Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop Report and get advice and tips from experienced pros sharing their opinions.