Apache Flink vs Apache Beam - Choose Your Champion
Choosing the right framework for data processing is vital for any business. It can determine whether you can extract the insights you need from your data quickly or not. Apache Flink and Apache Beam are two of the most powerful frameworks available today. Here is a comparison between Apache Flink and Apache Beam.
Overview
Both Apache Beam and Apache Flink are open-source, unified, and distributed data processing frameworks that are designed to perform batch, stream, and SQL processing. They offer powerful APIs in various programming languages, which makes it easier for developers to work on them.
Apache Flink
Apache Flink is one of the most popular frameworks for data processing. It offers a distributed and fault-tolerant data stream processing system, which provides consistent and low-latency data flow. Apache Flink claims to deliver massive parallelism and fault tolerance out of the box.
Apache Beam
Apache Beam is another powerful data processing framework that focuses on portability, flexible programming models, and SDKs for implementing batch and streaming jobs. Apache Beam is based on a model-agnostic programming language that helps to separate the logical data processing layer from the execution engine. This separation increases reusability and portability across various platforms.
Comparison
Both Apache Flink and Apache Beam are powerful frameworks designed for different purposes. However, here are some of the key differences between the two.
Architecture
Apache Flink features a distributed streaming architecture and is designed for data stream processing, whereas Apache Beam's architecture is based on a unified model for batch and stream processing.
Language Support
Apache Flink supports various programming languages, including Java, Scala, Kotlin, and Python. On the other hand, Apache Beam offers support for many programming languages, including Java, Python, Go, and others.
Performance
Apache Flink has a massive advantage over Apache Beam in terms of speed. Flink is designed for high-performance processing, which makes it perform better than Beam when it comes to speed. Apache Beam, on the other hand, is designed to offer portability and has a broader software ecosystem.
Scalability
Apache Flink offers impressive scalability with its advanced streaming architecture, which can handle a large number of tasks performing in parallel. Apache Beam can also scale well, but the portability features limit the resources that it can use.
Fault Tolerance
Both Apache Flink and Apache Beam offer fault tolerance. However, Flink offers a more reliable fault tolerance model, which is an essential feature for distributed systems.
Conclusion
Choosing between Apache Flink and Apache Beam depends on the particular data processing requirements for your business. Both frameworks offer unique features that can benefit different business models. While Apache Flink is more suited for data stream processing and offers impressive scalability, speed, and fault tolerance, Apache Beam offers portability, unified batch and stream processing, and broad language support.