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Spring Framework VS Apache Flink

Compare Spring Framework VS Apache Flink and see what are their differences

Spring Framework logo Spring Framework

The Spring Framework provides a comprehensive programming and configuration model for modern Java-based enterprise applications - on any kind of deployment platform.

Apache Flink logo Apache Flink

Flink is a streaming dataflow engine that provides data distribution, communication, and fault tolerance for distributed computations.
  • Spring Framework Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-18
  • Apache Flink Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-03

Spring Framework features and specs

  • Comprehensive Ecosystem
    Spring Framework provides a vast array of tools and modules which address various aspects of application development such as security, data access, and messaging. This helps in building robust enterprise applications.
  • Inversion of Control (IoC) Container
    Spring's IoC container promotes loose coupling by managing object lifecycles and dependencies, making the code more modular and testable.
  • Aspect-Oriented Programming (AOP)
    Spring's AOP module allows for separating cross-cutting concerns like logging, transaction management, and security, making the code cleaner and more maintainable.
  • Spring Boot
    Spring Boot streamlines the setup and development of new Spring applications with built-in configurations and convention over configuration, reducing boilerplate code and speeding up development time.
  • Large Community and Support
    Spring has a large and active community, extensive documentation, and a wide selection of online resources which make it easier to find support and solutions to common problems.
  • Integration Capabilities
    Spring Framework offers seamless integration with various other technologies and frameworks, including Hibernate for ORM, Apache Kafka for messaging, and more.

Possible disadvantages of Spring Framework

  • Complexity
    Spring Framework can be complex and have a steep learning curve, especially for newcomers who are not familiar with its extensive set of features and configurations.
  • Configuration Overhead
    Although Spring Boot reduces the configuration burden, traditional Spring applications may still require extensive XML or annotation-based configurations, which can be cumbersome.
  • Performance Overhead
    The flexibility and the modular nature of Spring can introduce some performance overhead compared to more lightweight solutions, which could be a concern in highly performance-sensitive applications.
  • Version Incompatibility
    Upgrading between different versions of the Spring Framework and its associated projects can sometimes lead to compatibility issues and necessitate significant code changes.
  • Dependency Management
    Managing dependencies in a large Spring application can become complicated, particularly when dealing with multiple modules and third-party libraries, potentially leading to dependency conflicts.

Apache Flink features and specs

  • Real-time Stream Processing
    Apache Flink is designed for real-time data streaming, offering low-latency processing capabilities that are essential for applications requiring immediate data insights.
  • Event Time Processing
    Flink supports event time processing, which allows it to handle out-of-order events effectively and provide accurate results based on the time events actually occurred rather than when they were processed.
  • State Management
    Flink provides robust state management features, making it easier to maintain and query state across distributed nodes, which is crucial for managing long-running applications.
  • Fault Tolerance
    The framework includes built-in mechanisms for fault tolerance, such as consistent checkpoints and savepoints, ensuring high reliability and data consistency even in the case of failures.
  • Scalability
    Apache Flink is highly scalable, capable of handling both batch and stream processing workloads across a distributed cluster, making it suitable for large-scale data processing tasks.
  • Rich Ecosystem
    Flink has a rich set of APIs and integrations with other big data tools, such as Apache Kafka, Apache Hadoop, and Apache Cassandra, enhancing its versatility and ease of integration into existing data pipelines.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Flink

  • Complexity
    Flink’s advanced features and capabilities come with a steep learning curve, making it more challenging to set up and use compared to simpler stream processing frameworks.
  • Resource Intensive
    The framework can be resource-intensive, requiring substantial memory and CPU resources for optimal performance, which might be a concern for smaller setups or cost-sensitive environments.
  • Community Support
    While growing, the community around Apache Flink is not as large or mature as some other big data frameworks like Apache Spark, potentially limiting the availability of community-contributed resources and support.
  • Ecosystem Maturity
    Despite its integrations, the Flink ecosystem is still maturing, and certain tools and plugins may not be as developed or stable as those available for more established frameworks.
  • Operational Overhead
    Running and maintaining a Flink cluster can involve significant operational overhead, including monitoring, scaling, and troubleshooting, which might require a dedicated team or additional expertise.

Analysis of Spring Framework

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Spring Framework is generally considered a good framework with robust features, strong community support, and extensive documentation, making it a reliable choice for Java developers working on complex, enterprise-level applications.

Why this product is good

  • Features
    Spring provides a wide range of features including dependency injection, aspect-oriented programming, transaction management, and integration with various tools and technologies.
  • Community
    Spring has a large and active community, which contributes to a wealth of resources, documentation, and third-party extensions.
  • Popularity
    Spring Framework is one of the most popular frameworks for Java development, widely used in building enterprise applications.
  • Versatility
    It offers a comprehensive programming and configuration model for modern Java-based enterprise applications, on any kind of deployment platform.

Recommended for

  • Developers building large-scale, enterprise-grade applications.
  • Teams looking for a mature and well-supported framework with a large ecosystem.
  • Projects that require integration with popular Java technologies and tools.
  • Developers focusing on microservices architecture, as Spring Boot simplifies the development of microservices.

Analysis of Apache Flink

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Apache Flink is considered a good distributed stream processing framework.

Why this product is good

  • Rich api
    Flink offers a rich set of APIs for various levels of abstraction, catering to different needs of developers.
  • Scalability
    Flink provides excellent horizontal scalability, making it suitable for handling large data streams and high-throughput applications.
  • Fault tolerance
    Flink's checkpointing mechanism ensures fault-tolerance, maintaining data state consistency even after failures.
  • Ease of integration
    Flink integrates well with other big data tools and ecosystems, facilitating broader data architecture designs.
  • Real-time processing
    It excels at processing data in real-time, allowing for immediate insights and action on streaming data.
  • Community and support
    Being a part of the Apache Software Foundation, Flink benefits from a large community and comprehensive documentation.
  • Complex event processing
    It supports complex event processing, which is essential for many real-time applications.

Recommended for

  • real-time analytics
  • stream data processing
  • complex event processing
  • machine learning in streaming applications
  • applications requiring high-throughput and low-latency processing
  • companies looking for robust fault-tolerance in distributed systems

Spring Framework videos

What is the Spring framework really all about?

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Spring Framework Tutorial | Full Course

Apache Flink videos

GOTO 2019 • Introduction to Stateful Stream Processing with Apache Flink • Robert Metzger

More videos:

  • Tutorial - Apache Flink Tutorial | Flink vs Spark | Real Time Analytics Using Flink | Apache Flink Training
  • Tutorial - How to build a modern stream processor: The science behind Apache Flink - Stefan Richter

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Spring Framework and Apache Flink)
Developer Tools
81 81%
19% 19
Big Data
0 0%
100% 100
Web Frameworks
100 100%
0% 0
Stream Processing
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 Spring Framework and Apache Flink

Spring Framework Reviews

Top 9 best Frameworks for web development
Spring offers a wide range of frameworks, such as an MVC framework, a data access framework and a transaction management framework. With its focus on scalability and security, Spring is an excellent choice.
Source: www.kiwop.com
17 Popular Java Frameworks for 2023: Pros, cons, and more
Therefore, the configuration, setup, build, and deployment processes all require multiple steps you might not want to deal with, especially if you’re working on a smaller project. Spring Boot (a micro framework that runs on top of the Spring Framework) is a solution for this problem, as it allows you to set up your Spring application faster, with much less configuration.
Source: raygun.com
Top 10 Phoenix Framework Alternatives
Spring Framework is an open-source app framework and inversion of control container for the Java platform, providing the infrastructure required to develop Java and web apps on top of the Java EE platform.
10 Best Java Frameworks You Should Know
Spring Framework is one of the most extensively used, top-notch, lightweight software application frameworks built for software design, development, and deployment in Java.

Apache Flink Reviews

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

Based on our record, Apache Flink should be more popular than Spring Framework. It has been mentiond 42 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.

Spring Framework mentions (13)

  • March 2025 Java Key Updates in Boot, Security, and More
    The release of Spring Framework 6.2.5 includes:. - Source: dev.to / 3 months ago
  • Getting Started with Spring Boot 3 for .NET Developers
    Spring Framework 6: https://spring.io/projects/spring-framework. - Source: dev.to / 6 months ago
  • Want to Get Better at Java? Go Old School.
    We had to write our own frameworks (uphill, both ways) but most current frameworks will have similar documentation pages as well. Both Apache and Spring are especially good at that. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
  • Best Frameworks For Web Development
    Framework link: https://spring.io/projects/spring-framework Github Link: https://github.com/spring-projects/spring-framework. - Source: dev.to / almost 3 years ago
  • What to you do now?
    A common used Java framework is Spring framework (ie https://spring.io/projects/spring-framework and short tutorials at https://www.baeldung.com/spring-intro). Source: almost 3 years ago
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Apache Flink mentions (42)

  • When plans change at 500 feet: Complex event processing of ADS-B aviation data with Apache Flink
    I wrote a python based aircraft monitor which polls the adsb.fi feed for aircraft transponder messages, and publishes each location update as a new event into an Apache Kafka topic. I used Apache Flink — and more specially Flink SQL, to transform and analyse my flight data. The TL;DR summary is I can write SQL for my real-time data processing queries — and get the scalability, fault tolerance, and low latency... - Source: dev.to / 2 days ago
  • What is Apache Flink? Exploring Its Open Source Business Model, Funding, and Community
    Continuous Learning: Leverage online tutorials from the official Flink website and attend webinars for deeper insights. - Source: dev.to / about 1 month ago
  • Is RisingWave the Next Apache Flink?
    Apache Flink, known initially as Stratosphere, is a distributed stream processing engine initiated by a group of researchers at TU Berlin. Since its initial release in May 2011, Flink has gained immense popularity in both academia and industry. And it is currently the most well-known streaming system globally (challenge me if you think I got it wrong!). - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
  • 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 / about 2 months ago
  • 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 / 2 months ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Spring Framework and Apache Flink, you can also consider the following products

Django - The Web framework for perfectionists with deadlines

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

Grails - An Open Source, full stack, web application framework for the JVM

Amazon Kinesis - Amazon Kinesis services make it easy to work with real-time streaming data in the AWS cloud.

Laravel - A PHP Framework For Web Artisans

Spark Mail - Spark helps you take your inbox under control. Instantly see what’s important and quickly clean up the rest. Spark for Teams allows you to create, discuss, and share email with your colleagues