Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink vs Apache Spark

Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink9.3Visit Apache Spark8.6Visit

Higher score Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink #1 in Stream Processing Software 9.3/10 Paid ✓ 3 of 3 features Visit AWS

vs

Apache Spark #8 in Stream Processing Software 8.6/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 0 of 3 features Visit Apache Spark

• Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink fits best

  AWS teams wanting managed Flink

• Apache Spark fits best

  Mature teams combining batch and streaming

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Side by side

Feature	Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink 9.3/10 Visit ↗	Apache Spark 8.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.3	8.6
Ranking	#1 in Stream Processing Software	#8 in Stream Processing Software
Best for	AWS teams wanting managed Flink	Mature teams combining batch and streaming
Pricing model	Paid	Free
Starting price	$0.11/unit usage-based	Free plan
Free plan	—	✓ (best)
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Windows, macOS, Linux
Support	Docs	Community, Docs
Integrations	40+ integrations	20 integrations
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink 3/3 · Apache Spark 0/3
SQL processing	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Stateful processing	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Event-time windows	✓ (best)	Not checked yet
Specs
Deployment model	Cloud	Not checked yet
Supported languages	Java, Scala, Python, SQL	Not checked yet
Source connectors	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Automatic scaling based on throughput and processing complexity Stateful exactly-once processing with checkpoints and durable snapshots Integrations with Kinesis, MSK, S3, DynamoDB, and OpenSearch	Structured Streaming supports incremental stream processing Broad APIs across Python, SQL, Scala, Java, and R Connects to major data sources, clusters, and lakehouse systems
Cons	No free plan is available Usage starts at $0.11 per KPU-hour Storage and durable backups are billed separately	Self-hosted deployment requires cluster infrastructure Streaming is one part of a broader batch-focused platform Not a hosted ETL SaaS product with subscription tiers
Our verdict	Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink is a cloud service for building, deploying, and operating real-time stream-processing applications with Apache Flink. It supports Java, Scala, Python, and SQL, making it suitable for AWS teams… Read the review →	Apache Spark is an open-source distributed computing engine for large-scale data processing and analytics. It is aimed at developers, data engineers, analysts, and organizations processing data across clusters. Structured Streaming… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink — where it wins

  • Automatic scaling based on throughput and processing complexity
  • Stateful exactly-once processing with checkpoints and durable snapshots
  • Integrations with Kinesis, MSK, S3, DynamoDB, and OpenSearch

  Where it doesn't

  • No free plan is available
  • Usage starts at $0.11 per KPU-hour
  • Storage and durable backups are billed separately

• Apache Spark — where it wins

  • Structured Streaming supports incremental stream processing
  • Broad APIs across Python, SQL, Scala, Java, and R
  • Connects to major data sources, clusters, and lakehouse systems

  Where it doesn't

  • Self-hosted deployment requires cluster infrastructure
  • Streaming is one part of a broader batch-focused platform
  • Not a hosted ETL SaaS product with subscription tiers

• Amazon Managed Service for Apache Flink9.3/10 · Paid

  A managed Flink service for AWS teams building stateful real-time data pipelines.

  Visit AWSFull verdict →
• Apache Spark8.6/10 · Free plan

  A mature, broad engine for teams combining batch pipelines with incremental streaming.

  Visit Apache SparkFull verdict →