Stream Processing Frameworks Compared: Top Tools for Processing Data Streams

When it comes to stream processing, there are a lot of different frameworks to choose from. Each framework has its own unique set of features and benefits. This blog post will compare a selection of the most popular stream processing frameworks available today. We will start by defining stream processing and explaining how it works. Then, we will list solutions for stream processing from the Apache Foundation and the biggest cloud providers. Finally, we will give you some tips on how to choose a stream processor for your application.

What Is Stream Processing?

Stream processing means collecting and processing data in real-time as it is generated or near-real time when it is required for a particular use case, which is vital in circumstances where any delays would lead to negative results. It is one method of managing the ever-increasing volumes of data that are being generated nowadays.

The technology reads and processes a data stream continually from input sources, writes the results to an output stream, and can use multiple threads to enable parallelism. Stream processing can therefore support many applications that require real-time data analysis and decision-making, such as generating reports or triggering responses with minimal latency.

Some tasks that this complex event processing method is commonly used for are loan risk analysis, anti-fraud detection, sensor data monitoring, and target marketing.

Stream Processing Engines – How They Work

A stream processing framework will ingest streaming data from input sources, analyze it, and write the results to output streams. The processor will typically have the following four main components:

• Input sources – where data is read from (examples include Kafka, Flume, Social Media, and IoT Sensors).
• Output streams – where the processed data is written to (e.g., HDFS, Cassandra, and HBase).
• Processing logic – defines how the data is processed (this can be done with Java, Scala, or Python code).
• State management – allows the processor to keep track of its progress and maintain state information, which can be further used for exactly-once processing (i.e., when the same output is generated regardless of how many times the input stream is read).

The stream processing engine organizes data from the input source into short batches and presents them as continuous data streams output to other applications, simplifying the logic for developers who (re)combine data from different sources and time scales – which are all relative when it comes to real-time analysis.

The processing logic component is where most of the work is done, simplifying the necessary tasks in data management for consistently and securely ingesting, processing, and publishing data. This stage is where you define the transformations that are applied to the data as it is consumed from a publish-subscribe service before it is published back there or to other data storage.

Examples of processes here could be to analyze, filter, combine, transform, or clean the data. For example, you might want to extract certain fields from the data, perform some aggregations, or join different streams together.

State management is important in stream processing because, unlike batch methods, data is processed as it arrives, meaning that the processing framework needs to keep track of its progress. To provide exactly-once processing, the framework needs to store state information somewhere – typically a key-value store – where it can be restored from if necessary.

For example, if the stream processor crashes, it can be restarted from the last checkpoint and will then pick up where it left off. Likewise, if the input stream is replayed, the output stream will be generated correctly, even though the data has already been processed once.

Tools for Processing Streaming Data from Apache Software Foundation

There are various data streaming tools from Apache available.

Apache Kafka Streams

A distributed data streaming platform that comes packaged with Apache Kafka. This Java API can be used to build real-time streaming data pipelines and applications, as well as filter, join, aggregate, and group without any coding.

Kafka Streams has a low entry barrier – you can get started with just a few lines of code to write and deploy basic Java or Scala applications. It is also easy to scale and integrate with other services (yet it doesn’t have to be kept running with a particular cluster manager), is fault-tolerant, and supports exactly-once processing semantics.

Advantages:

• easy integration with other applications (without requiring multiple)
• low-latency
• replaces the need to have standard message brokers

Disadvantages:

• missing point-to-point queuing or other essential messaging paradigms
• lacking streaming data analytics features
• struggles with Kafka Cluster queues

Used by:

• Zalando
• Pinterest
• Uber
• TransferWise

Apache Spark

Apache Spark is a general-purpose cluster computing system that is suitable for large-scale stream data processing. It can be used for stream processing, batch processing, or interactive queries. Spark has a wide range of applications, including graph processing, machine learning, and SQL.

Spark Streaming is the module of Apache Spark for streaming the processing of data in real-time from various sources such as Kafka, Flume, and Twitter. This module integrates with other Spark libraries to provide a complete set of functionality for building streaming applications.

Advantages:

• fault-tolerant
• advanced streaming data analytics
• multiple languages supported
• fast performance
• simple batch processing

Disadvantages:

• difficult to learn
• high memory usage
• lack of built-in caching algorithm

Used by:

• Uber
• Shopify
• Slack

If you’re looking for a more comprehensive article on Apache Spark, head over to our recent article on this stream processing framework - What is Apache Spark? Architecture, Use Cases, and Benefits.

Apache Flink

Flink is a stream processor that can be used for batch and stream processing to compute unbounded or bounded data streams from many sources. It has a low-latency processing engine, supports event-time processing, and can handle out-of-order data.

Written in Java and Scala, Flink also includes libraries for SQL, machine learning, and graph processing. It can be deployed in standalone mode, on YARN, or Mesos, plus a streaming connector for Kafka.

Advantages:

• high throughput with low latency
• easily understandable UI
• can analyze and optimize tasks in a dynamic way

Disadvantages:

• difficult to integrate with YARN
• only supports Java and Scala (besides experimental Python API)

Used by:

• Gympass
• Lime

If you want to learn more about Apache Flink, head over to our recent article on this stream processing framework - What is Apache Flink? Architecture, Use Cases, and Benefits.

Apache Samza

A stream processing framework that can process data in real-time from multiple sources, including Apache Kafka, which Samza was developed in conjunction with. It is written in Java and Scala, uses Apache YARN for resource management, and provides exactly-once processing semantics.

Advantages:

• fault tolerance
• exactly-once processing
• stateful processing
• pluggable architecture allowing for integration with many different systems
• continuous computation and output result in sub-second response times

Disadvantages:

• not easy to use if either of Kafka and YARN aren’t in your processing data pipeline
• advanced streaming features are lacking (e.g., Watermarks, Sessions, and triggers)

Used by:

• LinkedIn

Apache Hive

Apache Hive is a data warehousing system that runs on top of a Hadoop cluster and can be used for batch or stream processing or interactive queries. It supports SQL-like queries and can be used to process structured or semi-structured data.

Hive Streaming is a feature of Apache Hive that allows real-time data processing by streaming data into Hive from various sources, such as Apache Kafka. The same SQL-like queries as batch processing are then used to process streaming data.

Advantages:

• familiar SQL interface
• scalable and efficient
• can be used for batch, streaming, or interactive queries

Disadvantages:

• poor performance for interactive queries
• complicated to update data – due to HDFS, can overwrite partitions or add records
• high latency and slow

Used by:

• Facebook (initial development)
• Netflix
• the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)

Apache Storm

Apache Storm is a distributed stream processing system that is written in Clojure and Java, using Apache Zookeeper for coordination and allowing for batch, distributed streaming data processing.

An application in Storm is designed as a “topology” acting as a data transformation pipeline in a directed acyclic graph (DAG) shape with custom “spouts” and “bolts” for vertices defining information sources and manipulations, and “streams” for edges directing data between nodes.

Advantages:

• simple API
• can process millions of records per second
• flexible and extensible

Disadvantages:

• no guaranteed message processing
• lack of built-in windowing or state management

Used by:

• Twitter (acquisition)

Apache Apex

Apache Apex is a native YARN stream framework for processing high-velocity and high-volume data streams. It is written in Java and can be deployed on Apache Hadoop YARN clusters.

Advantages:

• scalable and performant
• high flexibility
• support for multiple data sources and sinks
• minimal API for easy development

Disadvantages:

• database and platform lock
• debugging, customization, and version control are difficult
• uncached page-embedded Javascript and uploaded images

Apache Flume

Apache Flume has a simple and flexible architecture based on streaming data flows for the efficient collection, aggregation, movement, and to process massive amounts of log data.

Advantages:

• distributed, reliable, and available software
• robust and fault tolerant
• tunable reliability mechanisms
• failover and recovery mechanisms
• simple extensible model for online data analytics applications

Disadvantages:

• weak ordering guarantee
• duplicacy
• poor scalability
• unreliable
• topology is complex

Used by:

• Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

Fully-Managed Services for Stream Processing from Cloud Providers

Google Cloud Dataflow

A processing platform for developing and executing streaming data processing pipelines in a simple, serverless approach allowing developers to focus on the programming languages. Google Cloud Dataflow has accuracy control for streaming and batch data plus the Apache Beam SDK for MapReduce operations, with AI-powered processing in real-time.

Advantages:

• infinite capacity for managing workloads
• reduces operational complexities
• low latency
• native integrations with BigQuery and AI Platform
• highly-accessible stream data analytics

Disadvantages:

• limited to the service of Cloud Datastore only
• costly to use DataFlow/BigQuery in streaming mode
• custom sources incompatible with Google CDN
• experimental big data processing tasks aren’t suitable

Used by:

• Spotify
• NY Times

Amazon Kinesis Data Streams

A fully managed, durable service to ingest, process, and analyze real-time streaming data from multiple sources, including event streams, social media feeds, applications, and their logs. Amazon Kinesis is ideal for building real-time applications (e.g., for fraud detection or behavioral analysis) that require fast decision-making.

Advantages:

• simple setup and maintenance
• handles any streaming data volume
• integration with Amazon’s big data toolset

Disadvantages:

• per hour, per shard pricing of commercial cloud service
• complicated documentation
• lack of direct streaming support

Used by:

• Deliveroo
• Lyft

Azure Stream Analytics

A cloud stream processing service that analyzes high volumes of data streaming from multiple connected input and output devices and sensors to derive business insights in near real-time. Azure Stream Analytics is fully managed and serverless, making it easy to set up, use, and scale.

Advantages:

• low-cost and highly available
• integrated with Azure IoT Hub
• support for filtering, aggregating, and joining streaming data

Disadvantages:

• no support for streaming from on-premises data sources or directly to Azure Blob Storage
• limited query language support

Used by:

• Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance
• Volkswagen Group

How to Choose a Stream Processor for Your Application?

With so many stream processors on the market, it can be tough to decide which one is right for your business and specific use case. However, there are some must-have features that any stream processing tool should have:

• data ingestion with a message broker supported – for an event rate greater than that of a solitary stream processor node
• streaming SQL – for faster development times and easy maintenance
• stream processing API and query writing environment – for improved productivity
• if a system needs a throughput of less than 50K events/second, you could have major savings with a two-node High Availability (HA) deployment
• reliability and high availability (HA) – for recovery from failures with minimal interruption

You’ll often need a combination of tools to get the job done. A stream data platform for big data that will address the features mentioned above can rely on solutions like Kafka together with other frameworks - Hadoop, Spark, Flink, and Hive. If you’re relying on managed cloud services from your cloud providers, you can use stream processing solutions that are fully integrated with their ecosystems. To learn more about streaming data architecture click here.

Not sure where to start? You can always try out a few stream processing frameworks in a test environment to see which one works best for your needs. Or how about consulting with nexocode data scientists and engineers?