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Samza VS Apache Storm

Compare Samza VS Apache Storm and see what are their differences

Samza logo Samza

Application and Data, Data Stores, and Message Queue

Apache Storm logo Apache Storm

Apache Storm is a free and open source distributed realtime computation system.
  • Samza Landing page
    Landing page //
    2020-02-21
  • Apache Storm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-03-11

Samza features and specs

  • Scalability
    Samza is designed to handle large-scale data processing with ease, making it suitable for incidents where processing a high volume of data streams is necessary.
  • Integration with Kafka
    Samza provides seamless integration with Apache Kafka, allowing it to efficiently process and manage Kafka streams for reliable data handling.
  • Fault-Tolerance
    Samza supports fault-tolerant processing of streams, ensuring data is not lost and is processed reliably even in case of failures.
  • Isolation and Security
    It offers good process isolation and security by managing each stream task in its own process and sandbox, protecting against failures and vulnerabilities.
  • Efficient State Management
    Samza offers efficient state management with a local state stored on disk and synchronized with checkpoints, helping in consistent stateful stream processing.

Possible disadvantages of Samza

  • Complexity of Setup
    Setting up and managing an Apache Samza cluster can be complex and require sufficient knowledge of distributed systems and the technologies involved.
  • Limited Language Support
    Samza primarily supports Java and Scala, which may not be ideal for teams that prefer or require other programming languages for their stream processing applications.
  • Documentation and Community
    Compared to other similar projects like Apache Spark or Flink, Samza has less extensive documentation and community support, which might make it harder to find resources and troubleshoot issues.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running Samza jobs can be resource-intensive, which might lead to higher operational costs especially when dealing with large volumes of data and tasks.
  • Performance Overhead
    Samza's reliance on YARN for resource management might lead to performance overheads due to the additional layer of management.

Apache Storm features and specs

  • Real-Time Processing
    Apache Storm is designed for processing data in real-time, which makes it ideal for applications like fraud detection, recommendation systems, and monitoring tools.
  • Scalability
    Storm is capable of scaling horizontally, allowing it to handle increasing amounts of data by adding more nodes, making it suitable for large-scale applications.
  • Fault Tolerance
    Storm provides robust fault-tolerance mechanisms by rerouting tasks from failed nodes to operational ones, ensuring continuous processing.
  • Broad Language Support
    Apache Storm supports multiple programming languages, including Java, Python, and Ruby, allowing developers to use the language they are most comfortable with.
  • Open Source Community
    Being an Apache project, Storm benefits from a strong open-source community, which contributes to its development and offers abundant resources and support.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Storm

  • Complex Setup
    Setting up and configuring Apache Storm can be complex and time-consuming, requiring detailed knowledge of its architecture and the underlying infrastructure.
  • High Learning Curve
    The architecture and components of Storm can be difficult for new users to grasp, leading to a steeper learning curve compared to some other streaming platforms.
  • Maintenance Overhead
    Managing and maintaining a Storm cluster can require significant effort, including monitoring, troubleshooting, and scaling the infrastructure.
  • Error Handling
    While Storm is fault-tolerant, its error handling at the application level can sometimes be challenging, requiring careful design to manage failures effectively.
  • Resource Intensive
    Storm can be resource-intensive, particularly in terms of memory and CPU usage, which can lead to increased costs and necessitate powerful hardware.

Analysis of Samza

Overall verdict

  • Apache Samza is a solid, battle-tested distributed stream processing framework that excels at large-scale, stateful stream processing, particularly for organizations already invested in the Kafka and Hadoop YARN ecosystems.

Why this product is good

  • Tight integration with Apache Kafka for messaging and stream ingestion
  • Strong support for large-scale stateful stream processing with local state and fault tolerance
  • Proven at scale in production at companies like LinkedIn, where it originated
  • Offers both a high-level streams API and a lower-level API for flexibility
  • Supports both batch and streaming through a unified processing model
  • Pluggable architecture that works with YARN as well as standalone deployment
  • Provides at-least-once processing guarantees with durable state via changelog to Kafka

Recommended for

  • Organizations already using Apache Kafka and Hadoop YARN infrastructure
  • Large-scale stateful stream processing workloads
  • Companies needing high-throughput, low-latency real-time data pipelines
  • Teams building event-driven applications and real-time analytics
  • Use cases requiring durable local state and fault-tolerant recovery

Samza videos

Stream Processing with Apache Kafka & Apache Samza

Apache Storm videos

Apache Storm Tutorial For Beginners | Apache Storm Training | Apache Storm Example | Edureka

More videos:

  • Review - Developing Java Streaming Applications with Apache Storm
  • Review - Atom Text Editor Option - Real-Time Analytics with Apache Storm

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Samza and Apache Storm)
Stream Processing
19 19%
81% 81
Big Data
17 17%
83% 83
Workflow Automation
100 100%
0% 0
Databases
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 Samza and Apache Storm

Samza Reviews

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Apache Storm Reviews

Top 15 Kafka Alternatives Popular In 2021
Apache Storm is a recognized, distributed, open-source real-time computational system. It is free, simple to use, and helps in easily and accurately processing multiple data streams in real-time. Because of its simplicity, it can be utilized with any programming language and that is one reason it is a developerโ€™s preferred choice. It is fast, scalable, and integrates well...
5 Best-Performing Tools that Build Real-Time Data Pipeline
Apache Storm is an open-source distributed real-time computational system for processing data streams. Similar to what Hadoop does for batch processing, Apache Storm does for unbounded streams of data in a reliable manner. Built by Twitter, Apache Storm specifically aims at the transformation of data streams. Storm has many use cases like real-time analytics, online machine...

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Apache Storm should be more popular than Samza. It has been mentiond 11 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.

Samza mentions (3)

  • RisingWave Turns Four: Our Journey Beyond Democratizing Stream Processing
    The last decade saw the rise of open-source frameworks like Apache Flink, Spark Streaming, and Apache Samza. These offered more flexibility but still demanded significant engineering muscle to run effectively at scale. Companies using them often needed specialized stream processing engineers just to manage internal state, tune performance, and handle the day-to-day operational challenges. The barrier to entry... - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Insights after 11 years with the functional database Datomic [video]
    What about stuff like Apache Samza[1], which is specifically built to maintain database-shaped views on top of event logsโ€”do people run it? Or is the infra overhead from it requiring Kafka and a Java runtime and so on too much? [1] https://samza.apache.org/. - Source: Hacker News / almost 2 years ago
  • LinkedIn's new "distributed firewall"
    Samza, strem processing platform (developed by LinkedIn in 2016, joined Apache in 2014). Source: almost 5 years ago

Apache Storm mentions (11)

  • Data Engineering and DataOps: A Beginner's Guide to Building Data Solutions and Solving Real-World Challenges
    There are several frameworks available for batch processing, such as Hadoop, Apache Storm, and DataTorrent RTS. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • Real Time Data Infra Stack
    Although this article lists a lot of targets for technical selection, there are definitely others that I haven't listed, which may be either outdated, less-used options such as Apache Storm or out of my radar from the beginning, like JAVA ecosystem. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • In One Minute : Hadoop
    Storm, a system for real-time and stream processing. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
  • Elon Musk reportedly wants to fire 75% of Twitterโ€™s employees
    Google has scaled well and has helped others scale, Twitter has always been behind by years. I think the only thing they did well was Twitter Storm, now taken up by Apache Foundation. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • Spark for beginners - and you
    Streaming: Sparks Streamings's latency is at least 500ms, since it operates on micro-batches of records, instead of processing one record at a time. Native streaming tools like Storm, Apex or Flink might be better for low-latency applications. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Samza and Apache Storm, 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.

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

Kafka Streams - Apache Kafka: A Distributed Streaming Platform.

Apache NiFi - An easy to use, powerful, and reliable system to process and distribute data.

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

Confluent - Confluent offers a real-time data platform built around Apache Kafka.