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Apache Parquet VS Materialize

Compare Apache Parquet VS Materialize and see what are their differences

Apache Parquet logo Apache Parquet

Apache Parquet is a columnar storage format available to any project in the Hadoop ecosystem.

Materialize logo Materialize

A Streaming Database for Real-Time Applications
  • Apache Parquet Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-06-17
  • Materialize Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-27

Apache Parquet features and specs

  • Columnar Storage
    Apache Parquet uses columnar storage, which allows for efficient retrieval of only the data you need, reducing I/O and improving query performance on large datasets.
  • Compression
    Parquet files support efficient compression and encoding schemes, resulting in significant storage savings and less data to transfer over the network.
  • Compatibility
    It is compatible with the Hadoop ecosystem, including tools like Apache Spark, Hive, and Impala, making it versatile for big data processing.
  • Schema Evolution
    Parquet supports schema evolution, allowing changes to the schema without breaking existing data, which helps in maintaining long-lived data pipelines.
  • Efficient Read Performance for Aggregations
    Due to its columnar layout, Parquet is highly efficient for processing queries that aggregate data across columns, such as SUM and AVERAGE.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Parquet

  • Write Performance
    Writing data to Parquet can be slower compared to row-based formats, particularly for small inserts or updates, due to the overhead of encoding and compression.
  • Complexity in File Management
    Managing and partitioning Parquet files to optimize performance can become complex, particularly as datasets grow in size and complexity.
  • Not Ideal for All Workloads
    Workloads that require frequent row-level updates or involve small queries might be less efficient with Parquet due to its columnar nature.
  • Learning Curve
    The need to understand the nuances of columnar storage, encoding, and compression can pose a learning curve for teams new to Parquet.

Materialize features and specs

  • Real-time Analytics
    Materialize offers real-time stream processing and materialized views, which allow users to get instant results from their data without the need for batch processing. This is particularly useful for applications that require immediate insights.
  • SQL Support
    Materialize supports SQL, making it easy for users familiar with SQL databases to adopt the platform without needing to learn a new language or framework.
  • Consistency
    Materialize maintains strict consistency for its materialized views, ensuring that users always get accurate and up-to-date information from their streams.
  • Integration with Kafka
    It integrates smoothly with Kafka, allowing for easy handling of streaming data and simplifying the process of working with real-time data feeds.

Possible disadvantages of Materialize

  • Scaling Limitations
    Materialize may face challenges when scaling to handle very large data sets compared to some distributed systems designed for big data processing.
  • Limited Language Support
    While SQL is supported, some users may find the lack of alternative query language support limiting, especially if they're accustomed to more expressive query options available in other systems.
  • Complexity in Use Cases
    For more complex use cases involving intricate data transformations or processing, Materialize might require additional configuration and optimization, posing a challenge for less experienced users.
  • Resource Intensive
    The real-time nature of Materialize, especially with maintaining materialized views, can be resource-intensive, potentially leading to higher operational costs.

Apache Parquet videos

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Materialize videos

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More videos:

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Apache Parquet and Materialize)
Databases
44 44%
56% 56
Big Data
58 58%
42% 42
Database Tools
0 0%
100% 100
Data Management
100 100%
0% 0

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Materialize should be more popular than Apache Parquet. It has been mentiond 74 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Apache Parquet mentions (25)

  • ๐Ÿ”ฅ Simulating Course Schedules 600x Faster with Web Workers in CourseCast
    If there was a way to package and compress the Excel spreadsheet in a web-friendly format, then there's nothing stopping us from loading the entire dataset in the browser!1 Sure enough, the Parquet file format was specifically designed for efficient portability. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • How to Pitch Your Boss to Adopt Apache Iceberg?
    Iceberg decouples storage from compute. That means your data isnโ€™t trapped inside one proprietary system. Instead, it lives in open file formats (like Apache Parquet) and is managed by an open, vendor-neutral metadata layer (Apache Iceberg). - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Processing data with โ€œData Prep Kitโ€ (part 2)
    Data prep kit github repository: https://github.com/data-prep-kit/data-prep-kit?tab=readme-ov-file Quick start guide: https://github.com/data-prep-kit/data-prep-kit/blob/dev/doc/quick-start/contribute-your-own-transform.md Provided samples and examples: https://github.com/data-prep-kit/data-prep-kit/tree/dev/examples Parquet: https://parquet.apache.org/. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • ๐Ÿ”ฌPublic docker images Trivy scans as duckdb datas on Kaggle
    Deliver nice ready-to-use data as duckdb, parquet and csv. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Introducing Promptwright: Synthetic Dataset Generation with Local LLMs
    Push the dataset to hugging face in parquet format. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
View more

Materialize mentions (74)

  • Materialized views are obviously useful
    Did I miss in the article where OP reveals the magic database that actually does this? 3rd party solutions like https://readyset.io/ and https://materialize.com/ exist specifically because databases donโ€™t actually have what we all want materialized views to be. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
  • The Missing Manual for Signals: State Management for Python Developers
    This triggered some associations for me. Strongest was Cells[0], a library for Common Lisp CLOS. The earliest reference I can find is 2002[1], making it over 20 years old. Second is incremental view maintenance systems like Feldera[2] or Materialize[3]. These use sophisticated theories (z-sets and differential dataflow) to apply efficient updates over sets of data, which generalizes the case of single variables.... - Source: Hacker News / 4 months ago
  • Category Theory in Programming
    It's hard to write something that is both accessible and well-motivated. The best uses of category theory is when the morphisms are far more exotic than "regular functions". E.g. It would be nice to describe a circuit of live queries (like https://materialize.com/ stuff) with proper caching, joins, etc. Figuring this out is a bit of an open problem. Haskell's standard library's Monad and stuff are watered down to... - Source: Hacker News / 10 months ago
  • Building Databases over a Weekend
    > [...] `https://materialize.com/` to solve their memory issues [...] Disclaimer: I work at Materialize Recently there have been major improvements in Materialize's memory usage as well as using disk to swap out some data. I find it pretty easy to hook up to Postgres/MySQL/Kafka instances: https://materialize.com/blog/materialize-emulator/. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Building Databases over a Weekend
    I agree. So many disparate solutions. The streaming sql primitives are by themselves good enough (e.g. `tumble`, `hop` or `session` windows), but the infrastructural components are always rough in real life use cases. Crossing fingers for solutions like `https://github.com/feldera/feldera` to solve their memory issues, or `https://clickhouse.com/docs/en/materialized-view` to solve reliable streaming consumption.... - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Apache Parquet and Materialize, you can also consider the following products

Apache Arrow - Apache Arrow is a cross-language development platform for in-memory data.

Apache Flink - Flink is a streaming dataflow engine that provides data distribution, communication, and fault tolerance for distributed computations.

Apache Spark - Apache Spark is an engine for big data processing, with built-in modules for streaming, SQL, machine learning and graph processing.

OctoSQL - OctoSQL is a query tool that allows you to join, analyse and transform data from multiple databases and file formats using SQL. - cube2222/octosql

DuckDB - DuckDB is an in-process SQL OLAP database management system

RisingWave - RisingWave is a stream processing platform that utilizes SQL to enhance data analysis, offering improved insights on real-time data.