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AWS Lambda vs Apache NiFi comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on May 21, 2025

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Apache NiFi
Ranking in Compute Service
8th
Average Rating
7.8
Reviews Sentiment
7.4
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
AWS Lambda
Ranking in Compute Service
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.3
Number of Reviews
88
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of July 2025, in the Compute Service category, the mindshare of Apache NiFi is 8.9%, up from 7.7% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of AWS Lambda is 20.7%, up from 19.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Compute Service
 

Featured Reviews

Bharghava Raghavendra Beesa - PeerSpot reviewer
The tool enables effective data transformation and integration
There are some areas for improvement, particularly with record-level tasks that take a bit of time. The quality of JSON data processing could be improved, as JSON workloads require manual conversions without a specific process. Enhancing features related to alerting would be helpful, including mobile alerts for pipeline issues. Integration with mobile devices for error alerts would simplify information delivery.
Andrew-Wong - PeerSpot reviewer
Convenience in deployment process with room for code preview improvement
Having a better preview would be helpful. Sometimes, if my Lambda code is too big, it can be inconvenient as I'm unable to see my code when it exceeds a certain size. AWS has a limit, like a three-megabyte limit, beyond which I cannot view or edit the code easily.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The most valuable features of this solution are ease of use and implementation."
"It's an automated flow, where you can build a flow from source to destination, then do the transformation in between."
"We can integrate the tool with other applications easily."
"It is highly effective for handling real-time data by working with APIs for immediate and continuous data extraction."
"The initial setup is very easy. I would rate my experience with the initial setup a ten out of ten, where one point is difficult, and ten points are easy."
"The initial setup is very easy."
"The user interface is good and makes it easy to design very popular workflows."
"The most valuable feature has been the range of clients and the range of connectors that we could use."
"What I like most about AWS Lambda is that it's very easy to deploy."
"I like that it's easy to use and maintain. Lambda is good and supports different platforms, so you don't need to worry about language or maintenance."
"AWS Lambda is serverless."
"The solution integrates well with API gateways and S3 events via its AWS ecosystem."
"We use AWS Lambda because it provides a solution for our needs without requiring us to manage our infrastructure. With the tool, we only pay for the resources we use. Additionally, it is straightforward to implement and integrates with other services like API Gateway."
"The most valuable feature is that there is no need to implement it in a server because it is a service."
"Because AWS Lambda is serverless, server configuration is not required, and we can run it directly anywhere."
"The initial setup of AWS Lambda is very straightforward and quick."
 

Cons

"There is room for improvement in integration with SSO. For example, NiFi does not have any integration with SSO. And if I want to give some kind of rollback access control across the organization. That is not possible."
"The use case templates could be more precise to typical business needs."
"I think the UI interface needs to be more user-friendly."
"The quality of JSON data processing could be improved, as JSON workloads require manual conversions without a specific process."
"We run many jobs, and there are already large tables. When we do not control NiFi on time, all reports fail for the day. So it's pretty slow to control, and it has to be improved."
"The overall stability of this solution could be improved. In a future release, we would like to have access to more features that could be used in a parallel way. This would provide more freedom with processing."
"There should be a better way to integrate a development environment with local tools."
"More features must be added to the product."
"We've had to revamp the way that it works due to that 15-minute timeout limitation."
"The runtime could be improved. There are certain use cases where I need a Lambda function to run longer."
"There are other similar solutions, such as Google Cloud Platform or Microsoft Azure. They might be better for small tasks."
"The 60 seconds limitation with the consumption of the service is really restrictive for a service and the solution can be improved by eliminating that."
"I would like to see improvements in AWS Lambda's stability and setup processes, as there were some complexities encountered initially."
"AWS Lambda has a maximum execution timeout of 15 minutes, which is unsuitable for long-running tasks."
"The metrics and reporting for this solution could be improved."
"The product could make the process of integration easier."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"It's an open-source solution."
"I used the tool's free version."
"The solution is open-source."
"We use the free version of Apache NiFi."
"The fees are volume-based."
"The solution is free of cost for the first year, and after that, it becomes expensive."
"It costs maybe less than $10 per month in my use case."
"We only need to pay for the compute time our code consumes."
"The pricing is on-demand and based on runs or times that are billed out monthly."
"AWS is slightly more expensive than Azure."
"The cost is based on runtime."
"AWS Lambda is cheap."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
11%
Manufacturing Company
11%
Retailer
8%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Computer Software Company
12%
Manufacturing Company
8%
University
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
 

Questions from the Community

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Apache NiFi?
Apache NiFi is open-source and free. Its integration with systems like Cloudera can be expensive, but Apache NiFi itself presents the best pricing as a standalone tool.
What needs improvement with Apache NiFi?
The logging system of Apache NiFi needs improvement. It is difficult to debug compared to Airflow ( /products/apache-airflow-reviews ), where task details and issues are clear. With Apache NiFi, I ...
Which is better, AWS Lambda or Batch?
AWS Lambda is a serverless solution. It doesn’t require any infrastructure, which allows for cost savings. There is no setup process to deal with, as the entire solution is in the cloud. If you use...
What do you like most about AWS Lambda?
The tool scales automatically based on the number of incoming requests.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for AWS Lambda?
The pricing of AWS Lambda is reasonable. It's beneficial and cost-effective for users regardless of the number of instances used.
 

Comparisons

 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Macquarie Telecom Group, Dovestech, Slovak Telekom, Looker, Hastings Group
Netflix
Find out what your peers are saying about AWS Lambda vs. Apache NiFi and other solutions. Updated: July 2025.
864,053 professionals have used our research since 2012.