Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Google Cloud Dataflow VS Apache Kudu

Compare Google Cloud Dataflow VS Apache Kudu and see what are their differences

Google Cloud Dataflow logo Google Cloud Dataflow

Google Cloud Dataflow is a fully-managed cloud service and programming model for batch and streaming big data processing.

Apache Kudu logo Apache Kudu

Apache Kudu is Hadoop's storage layer to enable fast analytics on fast data.
  • Google Cloud Dataflow Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03
  • Apache Kudu Landing page
    Landing page //
    2021-09-26

Google Cloud Dataflow features and specs

  • Scalability
    Google Cloud Dataflow can automatically scale up or down depending on your data processing needs, handling massive datasets with ease.
  • Fully Managed
    Dataflow is a fully managed service, which means you don't have to worry about managing the underlying infrastructure.
  • Unified Programming Model
    It provides a single programming model for both batch and streaming data processing using Apache Beam, simplifying the development process.
  • Integration
    Seamlessly integrates with other Google Cloud services like BigQuery, Cloud Storage, and Bigtable.
  • Real-time Analytics
    Supports real-time data processing, enabling quicker insights and facilitating faster decision-making.
  • Cost Efficiency
    Pay-as-you-go pricing model ensures you only pay for resources you actually use, which can be cost-effective.
  • Global Availability
    Cloud Dataflow is available globally, which allows for regionalized data processing.
  • Fault Tolerance
    Built-in fault tolerance mechanisms help ensure uninterrupted data processing.

Possible disadvantages of Google Cloud Dataflow

  • Steep Learning Curve
    The complexity of using Apache Beam and understanding its model can be challenging for beginners.
  • Debugging Difficulties
    Debugging data processing pipelines can be complex and time-consuming, especially for large-scale data flows.
  • Cost Management
    While it can be cost-efficient, the costs can rise quickly if not monitored properly, particularly with real-time data processing.
  • Vendor Lock-in
    Using Google Cloud Dataflow can lead to vendor lock-in, making it challenging to migrate to another cloud provider.
  • Limited Support for Non-Google Services
    While it integrates well within Google Cloud, support for non-Google services may not be as robust.
  • Latency
    There can be some latency in data processing, especially when dealing with high volumes of data.
  • Complexity in Pipeline Design
    Designing pipelines to be efficient and cost-effective can be complex, requiring significant expertise.

Apache Kudu features and specs

  • Fast Analytics on Fresh Data
    Kudu is designed for fast analytical processing on up-to-date data. It allows for efficient columnar storage which enables quick read and write capabilities suitable for real-time analytics.
  • Hybrid Workloads
    Supports hybrid workloads of both analytical and transactional processing, making it versatile for use cases that require both types of operations.
  • Seamless Integration
    Integrates well with the Apache ecosystem, particularly with Apache Hadoop, Apache Impala, and Apache Spark, enabling a cohesive environment for data processing and management.
  • Fine-grained Updates
    Allows for efficient updates to individual columns and rows, which is useful for applications that require frequent updates alongside analytic capabilities.
  • Schema Evolution
    Supports schema evolution, which allows for adding, dropping, and renaming columns without costly table rewrites.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Kudu

  • Complexity in Installation and Configuration
    The setup and configuration of Kudu can be complex, requiring a good understanding of its architecture and dependencies.
  • Limited SQL Support
    While Kudu is optimized for analytical tasks, its SQL capabilities are limited compared to some traditional RDBMS systems, which might require additional tools for more complex queries.
  • Community and Ecosystem
    Although growing, the community and ecosystem around Kudu are smaller compared to more established systems, which may result in less available resources and third-party tools.
  • Memory Intensive
    Kudu can be memory-intensive, which might require more hardware resources compared to other systems, especially as data volumes grow.
  • Write Performance Limitations
    While Kudu offers fast reads, its write performance can be slower compared to systems specifically optimized for high-speed transactional processing.

Analysis of Google Cloud Dataflow

Overall verdict

  • Google Cloud Dataflow is a strong choice for users who need a flexible and scalable data processing solution. It is particularly well-suited for real-time and large-scale data processing tasks. However, the best choice ultimately depends on your specific requirements, including cost considerations, existing infrastructure, and technical skills.

Why this product is good

  • Google Cloud Dataflow is a fully managed service for stream and batch data processing. It is based on the Apache Beam model, allowing for a unified data processing approach. It is highly scalable, offers robust integration with other Google Cloud services, and provides powerful data processing capabilities. Its serverless nature means that users do not have to worry about infrastructure management, and it dynamically allocates resources based on the data processing needs.

Recommended for

  • Organizations that require real-time data processing.
  • Projects involving complex data transformations.
  • Users who already utilize Google Cloud Platform and need seamless integration with other Google services.
  • Developers and data engineers familiar with Apache Beam or those willing to learn.

Google Cloud Dataflow videos

Introduction to Google Cloud Dataflow - Course Introduction

More videos:

  • Review - Serverless data processing with Google Cloud Dataflow (Google Cloud Next '17)
  • Review - Apache Beam and Google Cloud Dataflow

Apache Kudu videos

Apache Kudu and Spark SQL for Fast Analytics on Fast Data (Mike Percy)

More videos:

  • Review - Apache Kudu (Incubating): New Hadoop Storage for Fast Analytics on Fast Data
  • Review - Apache Kudu: Fast Analytics on Fast Data | DataEngConf SF '16

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Google Cloud Dataflow and Apache Kudu)
Big Data
100 100%
0% 0
Office & Productivity
0 0%
100% 100
Data Dashboard
90 90%
10% 10
Technical Computing
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Google Cloud Dataflow and Apache Kudu

Google Cloud Dataflow Reviews

Top 8 Apache Airflow Alternatives in 2024
Google Cloud Dataflow is highly focused on real-time streaming data and batch data processing from web resources, IoT devices, etc. Data gets cleansed and filtered as Dataflow implements Apache Beam to simplify large-scale data processing. Such prepared data is ready for analysis for Google BigQuery or other analytics tools for prediction, personalization, and other purposes.
Source: blog.skyvia.com

Apache Kudu Reviews

We have no reviews of Apache Kudu yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Google Cloud Dataflow seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 14 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.

Google Cloud Dataflow mentions (14)

  • How do you implement CDC in your organization
    Imo if you are using the cloud and not doing anything particularly fancy the native tooling is good enough. For AWS that is DMS (for RDBMS) and Kinesis/Lamba (for streams). Google has Data Fusion and Dataflow . Azure hasData Factory if you are unfortunate enough to have to use SQL Server or Azure. Imo the vendored tools and open source tools are more useful when you need to ingest data from SaaS platforms, and... Source: over 2 years ago
  • Here’s a playlist of 7 hours of music I use to focus when I’m coding/developing. Post yours as well if you also have one!
    This sub is for Apache Beam and Google Cloud Dataflow as the sidebar suggests. Source: over 2 years ago
  • How are view/listen counts rolled up on something like Spotify/YouTube?
    I am pretty sure they are using pub/sub with probably a Dataflow pipeline to process all that data. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Best way to export several GCP datasets to AWS?
    You can run a Dataflow job that copies the data directly from BQ into S3, though you'll have to run a job per table. This can be somewhat expensive to do. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Why we don’t use Spark
    It was clear we needed something that was built specifically for our big-data SaaS requirements. Dataflow was our first idea, as the service is fully managed, highly scalable, fairly reliable and has a unified model for streaming & batch workloads. Sadly, the cost of this service was quite large. Secondly, at that moment in time, the service only accepted Java implementations, of which we had little knowledge... - Source: dev.to / about 3 years ago
View more

Apache Kudu mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of Apache Kudu yet. Tracking of Apache Kudu recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Google Cloud Dataflow and Apache Kudu, you can also consider the following products

Google BigQuery - A fully managed data warehouse for large-scale data analytics.

MyAnalytics - MyAnalytics, now rebranded to Microsoft Viva Insights, is a customizable suite of tools that integrates with Office 365 to drive employee engagement and increase productivity.

Amazon EMR - Amazon Elastic MapReduce is a web service that makes it easy to quickly process vast amounts of data.

Azure Databricks - Azure Databricks is a fast, easy, and collaborative Apache Spark-based big data analytics service designed for data science and data engineering.

Qubole - Qubole delivers a self-service platform for big aata analytics built on Amazon, Microsoft and Google Clouds.

IBM Cloud Pak for Data - Move to cloud faster with IBM Cloud Paks running on Red Hat OpenShift – fully integrated, open, containerized and secure solutions certified by IBM.