Try our new research platform with insights from 80,000+ expert users

Apache NiFi vs Apache Spark comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

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
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Apache Spark
Ranking in Compute Service
4th
Average Rating
8.4
Reviews Sentiment
6.9
Number of Reviews
67
Ranking in other categories
Hadoop (2nd), Java Frameworks (2nd)
 

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of Apache NiFi is 9.1%, up from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Apache Spark is 11.6%, up from 11.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Compute Service Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Apache Spark11.6%
Apache NiFi9.1%
Other79.3%
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.
Omar Khaled - PeerSpot reviewer
Empowering data consolidation and fast decision-making with efficient big data processing
I can improve the organization's functions by taking less time to make decisions. To make the right decision, you need the right data, and a solution can provide this by hiring talent and employees who can consolidate data from different sources and organize it. Not all solutions can make this data fast enough to be used, except for solutions such as Apache Spark Structured Streaming. To make the right decision, you should have both accurate and fast data. Apache Spark itself is similar to the Python programming language. Python is a language with many libraries for mathematics and machine learning. Apache Spark is the solution, and within it, you have PySpark, which is the API for Apache Spark to write and run Python code. Within it, there are many APIs, including SQL APIs, allowing you to write SQL code within a Python function in Apache Spark. You can also use Apache Spark Structured Streaming and machine learning APIs.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"Visually, this is a good product."
"We can integrate the tool with other applications easily."
"It is highly effective for handling real-time data by working with APIs for immediate and continuous data extraction."
"The user interface is good and makes it easy to design very popular workflows."
"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."
"The most valuable feature has been the range of clients and the range of connectors that we could use."
"The most valuable features of this solution are ease of use and implementation."
"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."
"The most valuable feature of Apache Spark is its ease of use."
"Apache Spark provides a very high-quality implementation of distributed data processing."
"Apache Spark can do large volume interactive data analysis."
"Apache Spark resolves many problems in the MapReduce solution and Hadoop, such as the inability to run effective Python or machine learning algorithms."
"I feel the streaming is its best feature."
"Spark can handle small to huge data and is suitable for any size of company."
"The product's initial setup phase was easy."
"The most crucial feature for us is the streaming capability. It serves as a fundamental aspect that allows us to exert control over our operations."
 

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."
"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."
"There are some claims that NiFi is cloud-native but we have tested it, and it's not."
"The quality of JSON data processing could be improved, as JSON workloads require manual conversions without a specific process."
"I think the UI interface needs to be more user-friendly."
"The use case templates could be more precise to typical business needs."
"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."
"The solution needs to optimize shuffling between workers."
"It requires overcoming a significant learning curve due to its robust and feature-rich nature."
"Apache Spark can improve the use case scenarios from the website. There is not any information on how you can use the solution across the relational databases toward multiple databases."
"It's not easy to install."
"Apart from the restrictions that come with its in-memory implementation. It has been improved significantly up to version 3.0, which is currently in use."
"The basic improvement would be to have integration with these solutions."
"Dynamic DataFrame options are not yet available."
"I would like to see integration with data science platforms to optimize the processing capability for these tasks."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I used the tool's free version."
"It's an open-source solution."
"We use the free version of Apache NiFi."
"The solution is open-source."
"It is an open-source platform. We do not pay for its subscription."
"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."
"Considering the product version used in my company, I feel that the tool is not costly since the product is available for free."
"It is an open-source solution, it is free of charge."
"Apache Spark is an open-source tool."
"Spark is an open-source solution, so there are no licensing costs."
"We are using the free version of the solution."
"Apache Spark is not too cheap. You have to pay for hardware and Cloudera licenses. Of course, there is a solution with open source without Cloudera."
report
Use our free recommendation engine to learn which Compute Service solutions are best for your needs.
868,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.
 

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Computer Software Company
14%
Financial Services Firm
13%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
9%
Financial Services Firm
26%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Comms Service Provider
7%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Large Enterprise10
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business27
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise32
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache NiFi?
Apache NiFi is open-source and free. Its integration with systems like Cloudera can be expensive, but Apache NiFi itself presents the best pricing as a standalone tool.
What needs improvement with Apache NiFi?
The logging system of Apache NiFi needs improvement. It is difficult to debug compared to Airflow ( /products/apache-airflow-reviews ), where task details and issues are clear. With Apache NiFi, I ...
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?
Apache Spark is open-source, so it doesn't incur any charges.
What needs improvement with Apache Spark?
Regarding Apache Spark, I have only used Apache Spark Structured Streaming, not the machine learning components. I am uncertain about specific improvements needed today. However, after five years, ...
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Macquarie Telecom Group, Dovestech, Slovak Telekom, Looker, Hastings Group
NASA JPL, UC Berkeley AMPLab, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo!, UC Santa Cruz, TripAdvisor, Taboola, Agile Lab, Art.com, Baidu, Alibaba Taobao, EURECOM, Hitachi Solutions
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache NiFi vs. Apache Spark and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
868,706 professionals have used our research since 2012.