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AWS Lambda vs Apache NiFi 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
AWS Lambda
Ranking in Compute Service
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.2
Number of Reviews
89
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of August 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of Apache NiFi is 9.3%, up from 8.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Lambda is 19.4%, up from 19.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
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.
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"We can integrate the tool with other applications easily."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"It's an automated flow, where you can build a flow from source to destination, then do the transformation in between."
"Visually, this is a good product."
"The user interface is good and makes it easy to design very popular workflows."
"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 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 features of this solution are ease of use and implementation."
"The most valuable feature is that there is no need to implement it in a server because it is a service."
"The most valuable features of AWS Lambda are a serverless and event-driven architecture."
"The solution runs on the latest cloud technology so it is easy to deploy cloud-native projects."
"AWS Lambda's most valuable feature is serverless architecture."
"I can use the solution to configure and set up all the requirements for testing the application and test code."
"Because AWS Lambda is serverless, server configuration is not required, and we can run it directly anywhere."
"It's a serverless solution which is the best feature. It helps us because it offers free aspects. From the infrastructure perspective, it helps us manage costs. There is no overhead of estimating how much infrastructure we're going to need. We can focus on building the business functionality that we want to build."
"The most valuable feature of this solution is the API Gateway."
 

Cons

"More features must be added to the product."
"The use case templates could be more precise to typical business needs."
"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."
"The tool should incorporate more tutorials for advanced use cases. It has tutorials for simple use cases."
"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."
"There should be a better way to integrate a development environment with local tools."
"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."
"It could be cheaper."
"The setup was pretty complex because there were many steps. For me, it was complex because I was somewhat new at it. It could be easier for someone who has done it a bunch of times. I just found that it was a very dense user experience. There's a lot going on during setup."
"I think that perhaps Lambda could explore its functionality more."
"The first time Lambda is started up, it takes some time to spin up an instance for serving the consumer requests. AWS has been trying to solve this in a variety of ways but have not yet managed to do so."
"I would like to see the five zero four AWS Lambda invocation fixed. This is basically a time-out error."
"Regarding layers, you need to manually zip and install them. This step needs practice, and you might need to do it three to four times to get a hang of it."
"They should work on the solution's stability and pricing."
"I wish to see better execution time in the next release."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We use the free version of Apache NiFi."
"The solution is open-source."
"It's an open-source solution."
"I used the tool's free version."
"AWS Lambda is cost-effective, with a minimal maintenance cost."
"AWS Lambda license is paid on a monthly basis."
"The fees are volume-based."
"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."
"We only need to pay for the compute time our code consumes."
"The price of AWS Lambda is priced very low."
"The solution's price is average."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
8%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Educational Organization
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

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 ...
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.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Macquarie Telecom Group, Dovestech, Slovak Telekom, Looker, Hastings Group
Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Lambda vs. Apache NiFi and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
865,164 professionals have used our research since 2012.