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AWS Lambda vs Apache NiFi 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

Apache NiFi
Ranking in Compute Service
8th
Average Rating
7.8
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
7.5
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of May 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of Apache NiFi is 8.4%, up from 7.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Lambda is 21.3%, up from 21.4% 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.
Wai L Lin O - PeerSpot reviewer
A serverless solution with easy integration features
We use AWS Lambda because it provides a solution for our needs without requiring us to manage our infrastructure. With the tool, we only pay for the resources we use. Additionally, it is straightforward to implement and integrates with other services like API Gateway. The tool's serverless nature has had the most significant impact on our workflow. I find it particularly attractive because it eliminates the need for managing servers. In my previous experience, managing upgrades and updates was quite challenging. The solution's integration process with other AWS services was relatively easy. We primarily use AWS services such as EventBridge for scheduling processes and log management.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"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."
"Visually, this is a good product."
"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."
"We can integrate the tool with other applications easily."
"The user interface is good and makes it easy to design very popular workflows."
"It's a fairly easy solution to learn."
"I think the most valuable feature is the agility of the solution."
"The most valuable feature is that there is no need to implement it in a server because it is a service."
"Because AWS Lambda is serverless, server configuration is not required, and we can run it directly anywhere."
"AWS Lambda is cost-effective, providing noticeable cost savings."
"Thanks to this solution, we do not need to worry about hardware or resource utilization. It saves us time."
"AWS Lambda is a stable solution."
"AWS Lambda's event-driven architecture is highly valuable."
 

Cons

"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 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."
"More features must be added to the product."
"There are some claims that NiFi is cloud-native but we have tested it, and it's not."
"There should be a better way to integrate a development environment with local tools."
"There is room for improvement in integration with SSO. For example, NiFi does not have any integration with SSO. And if I want to give some kind of rollback access control across the organization. That is not possible."
"The use case templates could be more precise to typical business needs."
"The quality of JSON data processing could be improved, as JSON workloads require manual conversions without a specific process."
"There are sometimes issues following an update."
"AWS Lambda should improve its compatibility with the language used to write the code."
"AWS Lambda could improve by having no-code or low-code options because currently, you need to be able to write code well to use it."
"It can be a bit difficult to switch between accounts when creating services for customers."
"AWS Lambda is a bit difficult to set up if someone doesn't know how to code."
"There were some timeout issues with AWS Lambda as the options provided didn't suit our business cases."
"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."
"What could be improved in AWS Lambda is a tricky question because I base the area for improvement on a specific matrix, for example, latency, so I'm still determining if I can be the judge on that. However, room for improvement could be when you're using AWS Lambda as a backend, it can be challenging to use it for monitoring. Monitoring is critical in development, and I don't have much expertise in the area, but you can use other services such as Xray. I found that monitoring on AWS Lambda is a challenge. The tool needs better monitoring. Another area for improvement in AWS Lambda is the cold start, where it takes some time to invoke a function the first time, but after that, invoking it becomes swift. Still, there's room for improvement in that AWS Lambda process. In the next release of AWS Lambda, I'd like AWS to improve monitoring so that I can monitor codes better."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"The solution is open-source."
"It's an open-source solution."
"We use the free version of Apache NiFi."
"I used the tool's free version."
"AWS Lambda is not expensive for micro testing but is expensive if used for long deployment or long services."
"AWS Lambda's cloud version isn't expensive, and I'd rate its pricing as five out of five."
"The solution is free of cost for the first year, and after that, it becomes expensive."
"Lambda is an affordable solution. They offer free requests every month and charge per the compute time. If you are working in a big organization, usually AWS offer a savings plan where you get approximately 70% discount on pricing."
"The price of the solution is reasonable and it is a pay-per-use model. It is very good for cost optimization."
"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."
"AWS is slightly more expensive than Azure."
"The price of the solution is reasonable."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
16%
Computer Software Company
14%
Manufacturing Company
10%
Retailer
7%
Educational Organization
68%
Financial Services Firm
8%
Computer Software Company
5%
Manufacturing Company
3%
 

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: April 2025.
851,491 professionals have used our research since 2012.