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AWS Lambda vs Google Cloud Dataflow comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive Summary

Review summaries and opinions

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

ROI

Sentiment score
6.8
AWS Lambda increases ROI by reducing costs through pay-per-use, auto-scaling, and eliminating infrastructure expenses, boosting efficiency.
Sentiment score
4.7
Google Cloud Dataflow offers significant cost and time savings, proving to be an efficient investment for data architecture.
 

Customer Service

Sentiment score
6.8
AWS Lambda support is mixed; excellent for some but criticized for delays and costs, with reliance on documentation.
Sentiment score
6.1
Google Cloud Dataflow's support is effective for large issues but experiences mixed feedback on response times and service consistency.
When we raise a ticket or have an issue, the support team is responsive.
Co Founder And CTO at Gamucopia Creatives
If it is a priority issue, they will give the response quicker, but if it is moderate, they take some time.
Consultant at Deloitte
The fact that no interaction is needed shows their great support since I don't face issues.
Data Engineer at Accenture
Google's support team is good at resolving issues, especially with large data.
Senior Data Engineer at Accruent
Compared to other support systems, such as those in Braze, Tealium, Google, and others like Adobe, Google Cloud takes more time because it is a bigger company.
Senior Customer Data Platform Specialist at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Scalability Issues

Sentiment score
7.7
AWS Lambda efficiently scales automatically, integrates seamlessly with AWS, and adapts to varying traffic, minimizing costs and manual intervention.
Sentiment score
6.9
Google Cloud Dataflow excels in scalability, resource optimization, and autoscaling, effectively supporting varying data volumes across departments.
Whenever the number of requests increases, the system automatically scales up to the target we have set and scales down once the requests are resolved.
Co Founder And CTO at Gamucopia Creatives
When it comes to the increased needs of my customers trying to grow, AWS Lambda is not an issue to grow with them.
Assistant Manager at a tech vendor with 10,001+ employees
As a team lead, I'm responsible for handling five to six applications, but Google Cloud Dataflow seems to handle our use case effectively.
Senior Software Engineer at Dun & Bradstreet
Google Cloud Dataflow can handle large data processing for real-time streaming workloads as they grow, making it a good fit for our business.
Senior Data Engineer at Accruent
Google Cloud Dataflow has auto-scaling capabilities, allowing me to add different machine types based on pace and requirements.
Data Engineer at Accenture
 

Stability Issues

Sentiment score
8.1
AWS Lambda is stable and reliable, managing scaling and uptime well, with minor latency issues and strong service integration.
Sentiment score
8.3
Google Cloud Dataflow is stable and reliable, praised for automatic scaling, despite occasional errors with complex tasks.
I have not encountered any issues with the performance of Dataflow, as it is stable and backed by Google services.
Data Engineer at Accenture
The job we built has not failed once over six to seven months.
Senior Software Engineer at Dun & Bradstreet
The automatic scaling feature helps maintain stability.
Senior Data Engineer at Accruent
 

Room For Improvement

AWS Lambda faces challenges with latency, execution limits, integration, monitoring, pricing, performance, deployment complexity, and supporting extensive workloads.
Improvements in error logging, support, cost, integration, scalability, and automation are needed for Google Cloud Dataflow's efficiency.
Regarding scaling, we can add up to 1,000 execution environments for every 10 seconds per function, per region.
Consultant at Deloitte
AWS Lambda needs to improve cold start time.
Co Founder And CTO at Gamucopia Creatives
Outside of Google Cloud Platform, it is problematic for others to use it and may require promotion as an actual technology.
Data Engineer at Accenture
I feel there could be something that they can introduce, such as when we have data in the tables, a feature that creates a unique persona of the user automatically, so we do not have to do that manually.
Senior Customer Data Platform Specialist at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Dealing with a huge volume of data causes failure due to array size.
Senior Software Engineer at Dun & Bradstreet
 

Setup Cost

AWS Lambda's flexible, cost-effective pricing with no upfront costs suits enterprises with low-frequency workloads and varied deployments.
Google Cloud Dataflow is seen as a cost-effective streaming solution, with affordability ratings varying widely among users.
It is part of a package received from Google, and they are not charging us too high.
Senior Software Engineer at Dun & Bradstreet
 

Valuable Features

AWS Lambda provides serverless scalability, cost efficiency, and integrates with AWS services, supporting multiple languages with high performance.
Google Cloud Dataflow offers scalable, cost-effective data processing, integrating seamlessly with Google Cloud, using Apache Beam and various tools.
Automatic scaling is a valuable feature. When the number of requests increases, the system automatically scales up to the target we have set and scales down once the requests are resolved.
Co Founder And CTO at Gamucopia Creatives
As it is serverless, AWS Lambda has more scope for building scalable architectures.
Consultant at Deloitte
It supports multiple programming languages such as Java and Python, enabling flexibility without the need to learn something new.
Data Engineer at Accenture
The integration within Google Cloud Platform is very good.
Senior Software Engineer at Dun & Bradstreet
I can see what is happening with this script, how many users are affected, whether the script is working, what is failing, and how we can rectify issues with proper monitoring.
Senior Customer Data Platform Specialist at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
 

Categories and Ranking

AWS Lambda
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
91
Ranking in other categories
Compute Service (1st)
Google Cloud Dataflow
Average Rating
8.0
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
15
Ranking in other categories
Streaming Analytics (11th)
 

Mindshare comparison

AWS Lambda and Google Cloud Dataflow aren’t in the same category and serve different purposes. AWS Lambda is designed for Compute Service and holds a mindshare of 14.2%, down 21.2% compared to last year.
Google Cloud Dataflow, on the other hand, focuses on Streaming Analytics, holds 3.7% mindshare, down 7.1% since last year.
Compute Service Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
AWS Lambda14.2%
Amazon EC213.6%
AWS Fargate10.4%
Other61.800000000000004%
Compute Service
Streaming Analytics Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Google Cloud Dataflow3.7%
Apache Flink8.9%
Databricks8.1%
Other79.3%
Streaming Analytics
 

Featured Reviews

Rajaraman Ramachandran - PeerSpot reviewer
Co Founder And CTO at Gamucopia Creatives
Has enabled us to manage compute resources efficiently while supporting multiple languages
AWS Lambda needs to improve cold start time. Some AWS Lambda functions require a cold start, and if you need AWS Lambda to provide quick responses, you need some of the AWS Lambdas to be always on, which is risky. We need AWS Lambda's cold start time to be reduced so that we can use it much faster than now. We need a better way to handle the cold start. We should be able to start AWS Lambda much before in a predictable way instead of just calling and then having it start.
reviewer2812851 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Customer Data Platform Specialist at a marketing services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees
Unified user personas have improved data workflows and support detailed monitoring and logging
Google Cloud has many streams and products. In Google Cloud, everything is translated in the backend, so we do not have to use services such as Apache Beam. When you want to use Google Cloud Functions, you write the code, and the backend talks to all the libraries or Apache, so we do not need to be concerned about those. We just need to use our functions that translate and have many tools and services readily available. Google Cloud Dataflow has made it very easy for detailed monitoring and logging features for pipeline performance assessment. For example, if I am using Google Cloud Functions, I can easily see what changes I have done and trace it properly. I can see what is happening with this script, how many users are affected, whether the script is working, what is failing, and how we can rectify issues with proper monitoring.
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
19%
Marketing Services Firm
10%
Manufacturing Company
6%
Outsourcing Company
6%
Financial Services Firm
20%
Manufacturing Company
13%
Retailer
10%
Insurance Company
5%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business35
Midsize Enterprise15
Large Enterprise44
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business3
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise11
 

Questions from the Community

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 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.
What needs improvement with AWS Lambda?
I haven't used AWS Lambda's auto-scaling feature yet, so I cannot provide a rating or evaluation. In my opinion, AWS Lambda can be improved. As it is serverless, from our end, we don't need to mana...
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Google Cloud Dataflow?
Pricing is normal. It is part of a package received from Google, and they are not charging us too high.
What needs improvement with Google Cloud Dataflow?
I feel there could be something that they can introduce, such as when we have data in the tables, a feature that creates a unique persona of the user automatically, so we do not have to do that man...
What is your primary use case for Google Cloud Dataflow?
The primary use case for Google Cloud Dataflow is when a brand has a lot of data and wants to store it in their warehouse. They can use BigQuery to store their data or use big data solutions to sto...
 

Also Known As

No data available
Google Dataflow
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Netflix
Absolutdata, Backflip Studios, Bluecore, Claritics, Crystalloids, Energyworx, GenieConnect, Leanplum, Nomanini, Redbus, Streak, TabTale
Find out what your peers are saying about Amazon Web Services (AWS), Apache, Spot - A Flexera company and others in Compute Service. Updated: April 2026.
893,221 professionals have used our research since 2012.