Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Apache Spark VS RisingWave

Compare Apache Spark VS RisingWave and see what are their differences

Apache Spark logo Apache Spark

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

RisingWave logo RisingWave

RisingWave is a stream processing platform that utilizes SQL to enhance data analysis, offering improved insights on real-time data.
  • Apache Spark Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-12-31
  • RisingWave Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-29

Apache Spark features and specs

  • Speed
    Apache Spark processes data in-memory, significantly increasing the processing speed of data tasks compared to traditional disk-based engines.
  • Ease of Use
    Spark offers high-level APIs in Java, Scala, Python, and R, making it accessible to a broad range of developers and data scientists.
  • Advanced Analytics
    Spark supports advanced analytics, including machine learning, graph processing, and real-time streaming, which can be executed in the same application.
  • Scalability
    Spark can handle both small- and large-scale data processing tasks, scaling seamlessly from a single machine to thousands of servers.
  • Support for Various Data Sources
    Spark can integrate with a wide variety of data sources, including HDFS, Apache HBase, Apache Hive, Cassandra, and many others.
  • Active Community
    Spark has a vibrant and active community, providing a wealth of extensions, tools, and support options.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Spark

  • Memory Consumption
    Spark's in-memory processing can be resource-intensive, requiring substantial amounts of RAM, which can drive up costs for large-scale deployments.
  • Complexity in Configuration
    To optimize performance, Spark requires careful configuration and tuning, which can be complex and time-consuming.
  • Learning Curve
    Despite its ease of use, mastering the full range of Spark's features and best practices can take considerable time and effort.
  • Latency for Small Data
    For smaller datasets or low-latency requirements, Spark might not be the most efficient choice, as other technologies could offer better performance.
  • Integration Overhead
    Though Spark integrates with many systems, incorporating it into an existing data infrastructure can introduce additional overhead and complexity.
  • Community Support Variability
    While the community is active, the support and quality of third-party libraries and tools can be inconsistent, leading to potential challenges in implementation.

RisingWave features and specs

No features have been listed yet.

Apache Spark videos

Weekly Apache Spark live Code Review -- look at StringIndexer multi-col (Scala) & Python testing

More videos:

  • Review - What's New in Apache Spark 3.0.0
  • Review - Apache Spark for Data Engineering and Analysis - Overview

RisingWave videos

RisingWave: Reinventing(?!) Stream Processing in the Cloud Era (Yingjun Wu)

More videos:

  • Review - Building Cost Effective Stream Processing Applications with RisingWave and Pulsar
  • Review - RISINGWAVE REBOOT

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Apache Spark and RisingWave)
Databases
88 88%
12% 12
Big Data
93 93%
7% 7
Stream Processing
72 72%
28% 28
Big Data Analytics
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Apache Spark and RisingWave

Apache Spark Reviews

15 data science tools to consider using in 2021
Apache Spark is an open source data processing and analytics engine that can handle large amounts of data -- upward of several petabytes, according to proponents. Spark's ability to rapidly process data has fueled significant growth in the use of the platform since it was created in 2009, helping to make the Spark project one of the largest open source communities among big...
Top 15 Kafka Alternatives Popular In 2021
Apache Spark is a well-known, general-purpose, open-source analytics engine for large-scale, core data processing. It is known for its high-performance quality for data processing – batch and streaming with the help of its DAG scheduler, query optimizer, and engine. Data streams are processed in real-time and hence it is quite fast and efficient. Its machine learning...
5 Best-Performing Tools that Build Real-Time Data Pipeline
Apache Spark is an open-source and flexible in-memory framework which serves as an alternative to map-reduce for handling batch, real-time analytics and data processing workloads. It provides native bindings for the Java, Scala, Python, and R programming languages, and supports SQL, streaming data, machine learning and graph processing. From its beginning in the AMPLab at...

RisingWave Reviews

We have no reviews of RisingWave yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Apache Spark should be more popular than RisingWave. It has been mentiond 70 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 Spark mentions (70)

  • Every Database Will Support Iceberg — Here's Why
    Apache Iceberg defines a table format that separates how data is stored from how data is queried. Any engine that implements the Iceberg integration — Spark, Flink, Trino, DuckDB, Snowflake, RisingWave — can read and/or write Iceberg data directly. - Source: dev.to / 12 days ago
  • How to Reduce Big Data Analytics Costs by 90% with Karpenter and Spark
    Apache Spark powers large-scale data analytics and machine learning, but as workloads grow exponentially, traditional static resource allocation leads to 30–50% resource waste due to idle Executors and suboptimal instance selection. - Source: dev.to / 13 days ago
  • Unveiling the Apache License 2.0: A Deep Dive into Open Source Freedom
    One of the key attributes of Apache License 2.0 is its flexible nature. Permitting use in both proprietary and open source environments, it has become the go-to choice for innovative projects ranging from the Apache HTTP Server to large-scale initiatives like Apache Spark and Hadoop. This flexibility is not solely legal; it is also philosophical. The license is designed to encourage transparency and maintain a... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • The Application of Java Programming In Data Analysis and Artificial Intelligence
    [1] S. Russell and P. Norvig, Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach. Pearson, 2020. [2] F. Chollet, Deep Learning with Python. Manning Publications, 2018. [3] C. C. Aggarwal, Data Mining: The Textbook. Springer, 2015. [4] J. Dean and S. Ghemawat, "MapReduce: Simplified Data Processing on Large Clusters," Communications of the ACM, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 107-113, 2008. [5] Apache Software Foundation, "Apache... - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • Automating Enhanced Due Diligence in Regulated Applications
    If you're designing an event-based pipeline, you can use a data streaming tool like Kafka to process data as it's collected by the pipeline. For a setup that already has data stored, you can use tools like Apache Spark to batch process and clean it before moving ahead with the pipeline. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
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RisingWave mentions (13)

  • Every Database Will Support Iceberg — Here's Why
    RisingWave started as a distributed streaming database with a PostgreSQL interface. We wanted to make it easy to process real-time data using standard SQL. But we quickly realized that many teams don’t just want to process streaming data — they want to store it in a way that’s reusable by other tools downstream. - Source: dev.to / 12 days ago
  • Be Water, Ride the Wave: What Time Taught Me About Building Infra
    This month (April 2025) marks 4 years and 1 month since I started building RisingWave. - Source: dev.to / 14 days ago
  • RisingWave Turns Four: Our Journey Beyond Democratizing Stream Processing
    When we started RisingWave four years ago, we set out with a bold mission: to democratize stream processing (check our original blog here). Back then, building real-time streaming applications felt like climbing a mountain. It required specialized infrastructure, deep engineering know-how, and a hefty operational commitment. Stream processing had incredible potential, but its sheer complexity kept it locked away... - Source: dev.to / 16 days ago
  • Detect Spoofing in Real Time Using Just SQL and Open-Source Tools
    RisingWave is a unified real-time data processing and management platform. It allows users to ingest, process, and query streaming data using familiar SQL. For this demonstration, we'll particularly leverage RisingWave's materialized views, which continuously and incrementally compute results as new data arrives, enabling real-time analysis without constant re-computation. Additionally, its Python SDK simplifies... - Source: dev.to / 17 days ago
  • How to Pitch Your Boss to Adopt Apache Iceberg?
    Real-time pipelines might need RisingWave or Apache Kafka. - Source: dev.to / 23 days ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Apache Spark and RisingWave, you can also consider the following products

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

Materialize - A Streaming Database for Real-Time Applications

Hadoop - Open-source software for reliable, scalable, distributed computing

Timeplus - An innovative streaming SQL database and real-time analytics platform. Fast, powerful and intuitive

Apache Hive - Apache Hive data warehouse software facilitates querying and managing large datasets residing in distributed storage.

Apache Storm - Apache Storm is a free and open source distributed realtime computation system.