Apache Spark for Azure HDInsight Alternatives (September 2025)

This article provides an introduction to Spark in HDInsight and the different scenarios in which you can use Spark cluster in HDInsight.

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1.
Azure HDInsight - Hadoop, Spark, and Kafka | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/hdinsight/

Get HDInsight, an open-source analytics service that runs Hadoop, Spark, Kafka, and more. Integrate HDInsight with big data processing by Azure for even more insights.

2.
Data Lake Analytics | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/data-lake-analytics/

Easily develop and run massively parallel data transformation and processing programs in U-SQL, R, Python, and .NET over petabytes of data.

3.
Big Data Platform - Amazon EMR - AWS
https://aws.amazo
.com/emr/

Amazon EMR is a cloud big data platform for running large-scale distributed data processing jobs, interactive SQL queries, and machine learning applications using open-source analytics frameworks such as Apache Spark, Apache Hive, and Presto.

4.
Azure Synapse Analytics | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/synapse-analytics/

Azure Synapse Analytics is a limitless analytics service that brings together enterprise SQL data warehousing and big data analytics services.

5.
Data Lake | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/solutions/data-lake/

Store data of any size, shape, and speed with Azure Data Lake. Power your big data analytics, develop massively parallel programs, and scale with future growth.

6.
Azure Disk Storage – Block Storage | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/storage/disks/

Learn about high-performance block storage for Azure Virtual Machines. Explore cost-effective options with cloud Ultra, SSD, and HDD disks.

7.
Event Hubs—Real-Time Data Ingestion | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/event-hubs/

Learn about Azure Event Hubs, a managed service that can ingest and process massive data streams from websites, apps, or devices.

8.
Analysis Services | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/analysis-services/

Built on the proven analytical engine in Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services, Azure Analysis Services delivers enterprise-grade data modeling in the cloud.

9.
Batch - Compute job scheduling service | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/batch/

Learn about Azure Batch, a Microsoft cloud computing service for running large-scale parallel and batch compute jobs.

10.
Azure Data Factory - Data Integration Service | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/data-factory/

Discover Azure Data Factory, the easiest cloud-based hybrid data integration service and solution at an enterprise scale. Build data factories without the need to code.

11.
Azure Stack | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/azure-stack/

Learn how Azure Stack brings the agility of cloud computing to your on-premises environment.

12.
Apache Kudu - Fast Analytics on Fast Data
https://kudu.apach
.org/

A new open source Apache Hadoop ecosystem project, Apache Kudu completes Hadoop's storage layer to enable fast analytics on fast data

13.
Azure Service Fabric documentation | Microsoft Learn
https://learn.microsof
.com/en-us/azure/service-fabric/

Azure Service Fabric is a distributed systems platform that makes it easy to package, deploy, and manage scalable and reliable microservices and containers.

14.
Azure Blob Storage | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/storage/blobs/

Azure Blob storage provides scalable, cost-efficient object storage in the cloud. Store and access unstructured data for your most demanding workloads.

16.
Azure FXT Edge Filer documentation | Microsoft Learn
https://learn.microsof
.com/en-us/azure/fxt-edge-filer/

Use Azure FXT Edge Filer as a caching layer for read-intensive high-performance computing (HPC) tasks.

17.
Table storage | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/storage/tables/

Azure Table storage provides a NoSQL key-value store for rapid development using massive semi-structured datasets. Get started today.

18.
Apache Beam®
https://beam.apach
.org/

Apache Beam is an open source, unified model and set of language-specific SDKs for defining and executing data processing workflows, and also data ingestion and integration flows, supporting Enterprise Integration Patterns (EIPs) and Domain Specific Languages (DSLs). Dataflow pipelines simplify the mechanics of large-scale batch and streaming data processing and can run on a number of runtimes like Apache Flink, Apache Spark, and Google Cloud Dataflow (a cloud service). Beam also brings DSL in different languages, allowing users to easily implement their data integration processes.

20.
Spark SQL & DataFrames | Apache Spark
https://spark.apach
.org/sql/

Spark SQL is Spark's module for working with structured data, either within Spark programs or through standard JDBC and ODBC connectors.

21.
Data Catalog—Enterprise Data Assets | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/data-catalog/

Get more value from your enterprise data assets with Azure Data Catalog. Spend less time looking for data and more time getting value from it. Get started today.

22.
Cloud Services - Deploy Cloud Apps & APIs | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/cloud-services/

Learn about Azure Cloud Services, which helps you deploy and scale powerful cloud applications and APIs. Supports Java, Node.js, PHP, Python, .NET, and more.

24.
Azure Archive Storage – Data Management | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/storage/

Azure Archive Storage provides a low cost means of delivering durable, highly available, secure cloud storage and data management for rarely accessed data.

25.
Azure API Apps – API service | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/app-service/api/

Azure API Apps give you the tools to develop, host, secure, and share REST APIs in your organization or with the world.

26.
Azure Files - Managed File Shares and Storage | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/storage/files/

Try Azure File Storage for managed file shares that use standard SMB 3.0 protocol. Share data with on-premises and cloud servers, integrate with apps, and more.

27.
Apache Arrow | Apache Arrow
https://arrow.apach
.org/

A cross-language development platform for in-memory analytics

28.
31.
Apache Apex
https://apex.apach
.org/

Apex is an enterprise grade native YARN big data-in-motion platform that unifies stream processing as well as batch processing.

32.
Azure confidential computing | Microsoft Learn
https://learn.microsof
.com/en-us/azure/confidential-computing/

Learn about how Azure confidential computing protects data in use and learn ways to build confidential workloads in the cloud.

33.
Azure Monitor - Modern Observability Tools | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/monitor/

Gain end-to-end observability into your applications, infrastructure, and network both on cloud and hybrid environments with Azure Monitor.

34.
Azure AI Personalizer | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/ai-services/ai-personalizer/

Learn more about AI Personalizer, part of Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services—an AI personalization solution that improves user engagement by delivering relevant experiences.

35.
Azure Functions – Serverless Functions in Computing | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/functions/

Create event-driven, scalable serverless applications in .NET, Node.js, Python, Java, or PowerShell with the Azure Functions app— a serverless computing service.

36.
Azure Machine Learning - ML as a Service | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/machine-learning/

Build machine learning models in a simplified way with machine learning platforms from Azure. Machine learning as a service increases accessibility and efficiency.

37.
Accelerite ShareInsights 2.0 Unifies Stack for True End-to-End Self-Service Big Data Analytics - DATAVERSITY
https://www.dataversit
.net/accelerite-shareinsights-2-0-unifies-stack-true-end-end-self-service-big-data-analytics/

<p>by Angela Guess According to a recent press release, “Accelerite, a provider of infrastructure software for digital transformation, today announced ShareInsights 2.0, an end-to-end, self-service big data analytics platform. Unlike other solutions, ShareInsights unifies the big data analytics stack, enabling data preparation (ETL), OLAP, visualization and collaboration — all via a single interface — giving […]</p>

38.
Azure Lab Services – Cloud Virtual Machine Labs | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/lab-services/

Azure Lab Services provides secure, sharable virtual labs in the cloud with on-demand or scheduled access to preconfigured virtual machines.

40.
IoT Hub | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/iot-hub/

Manage billions of IoT devices with Azure IoT Hub, a cloud platform that lets you easily connect, monitor, provision, and configure IoT devices.

41.
Azure Arc – Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Management and Solution
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/azure-arc/

Use Azure Arc solutions for hybrid and multi-cloud management to run Azure services anywhere. Accelerate innovation with Azure Arc–enabled data services.

43.
Power BI Embedded Analytics | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/products/power-bi-embedded/

Embed stunning, fully-interactive reports into your apps without building controls from the ground up with Microsoft Power BI Embedded.

44.
Cloud Computing Services | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/

Invent with purpose, realize cost savings, and make your organization more efficient with Microsoft Azure’s open and flexible cloud computing platform.

45.
Azure NetApp Files | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/netapp/

Run complex, performance-intensive and latency-sensitive applications in the cloud—without any code change.

46.
Virtual Machines (VMs) for Linux and Windows | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/virtual-machines/

Build Linux and Windows virtual machines (VMs) and save up to 80 percent with Azure Reserved Virtual Machine Instances and Azure Hybrid Benefit for Windows Server.

47.
Confluent | Apache Kafka® Reinvented for the Cloud
https://www.confluen
.io/

Confluent makes it easy to connect your apps, data systems, and entire business with secure, scalable, fully managed Kafka and real-time data streaming, processing, and analytics.

48.
Web3 – Developer Solutions | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/solutions/web3/

Build real-world Web3 applications using Azure, Web3 developer tools, and security services.

49.
Managed Kubernetes Service (AKS) | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/kubernetes-service/

Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) is a managed Kubernetes service with hardened security and fast delivery. Deploy and manage containerized applications with AKS.

51.
SignalR Service – Real time web | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/signalr-service/

With Azure SignalR Service, adding real-time communications to your web application is as simple as provisioning a service.

52.
Interactive SQL - Amazon Athena - AWS
https://aws.amazo
.com/athena/

Amazon Athena is a serverless, interactive analytics service that provides a simplified and flexible way to analyze petabytes of data where it lives.

53.
Azure Cache for Redis Documentation - Azure Cache for Redis | Microsoft Learn
https://learn.microsof
.com/en-us/azure/azure-cache-for-redis/

Learn how to use Azure Cache for Redis, a secure data cache and messaging broker that gives applications fast access to data. Tutorials, API references, and more.

54.
Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) - Overview | Microsoft Learn
https://learn.microsof
.com/en-us/cli/azure/

Learn how to get started with the Azure Command-Line Interface (CLI) to create and manage Azure resources — explore guides, tutorials, samples, articles, and more.

56.
Queue Storage | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/storage/queues/

Get started today with Azure Premium Storage for low latency and high throughput storage suitable for I/O intensive applications.

57.
Microsoft Azure Portal | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/get-started/azure-portal/

Build, manage, and monitor all your apps in Microsoft Azure Portal. A single, unified hub built for you, your team, and your projects.

58.
Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics - Analyze Streaming Data - Amazon Web Services
https://www.amazonaw
.cn/en/kinesis/data-analytics/

Amazon Kinesis Data Analytics helps you easily build Apache Flink apps, streaming Java apps, and real-time SQL queries to get real-time analytics, clickstream analytics, log analytics, event analytics, and iot analytics.

59.
Azure Automation – Cloud Automation Service | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/automation/

Learn about Azure Automation, a cloud automation service for process automating those long-running, error-prone, frequently repeated tasks with Windows PowerShell.

60.
StorSimple documentation | Microsoft Learn
https://learn.microsof
.com/en-us/azure/storsimple/

Learn how to use Azure StorSimple, an integrated storage solution that manages storage tasks between on-premises devices and Azure cloud storage.

61.
The Fastest Real-Time Analytics on Planet Earth | StarTree
https://startre
.ai/

Transform your business with the leading real-time analytics solution, trusted at scale, from the creators of Apache Pinot.

62.
App Service — Build and Host Web Apps | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/app-service/

Migrate and build apps. Azure App Service is a fully managed platform for creating web applications. The app service offers a range of app development plans and services.

63.
Apache Mesos
https://mesos.apach
.org/

Apache Mesos abstracts resources away from machines, enabling fault-tolerant and elastic distributed systems to easily be built and run effectively.

64.
Azure Content Delivery Network | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/cdn/

Learn about Azure Content Delivery Network, a secure and reliable global content delivery and acceleration solution.

65.
Azure AI Speech | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/ai-services/ai-speech/

Explore AI Speech from Microsoft Azure that include speech recognition, text to speech, speech translation, voice-enabled app features, and more.

66.
Azure SQL Database – Managed Cloud Database Service | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/azure-sql/database/

Build apps faster and scale automatically on Azure SQL Database, the intelligent, fully managed relational cloud database.

67.
Azure Red Hat OpenShift – Kubernetes PaaS | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/openshift/

Learn about Azure Red Hat OpenShift, an OpenShift service managed by Microsoft and Red Hat with Kubernetes PaaS at its core. Discover a turnkey container platform.

68.
Developer Tools | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/category/developer-tools/

Build, debug, deploy, and manage cloud applications—using any platform or language—with Azure development tools, including Visual Studio.

69.
Azure Pipelines | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/devops/pipelines/

Get 10 free parallel jobs for cloud-based CI/CD pipelines for Linux, macOS, and Windows. Automate builds and easily deploy to any cloud with Azure Pipelines.

70.
Virtual Machine Scale Sets | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/virtual-machine-scale-sets/

Make autoscaling your VMs easier with Azure Virtual Machine Scale Sets. Run thousands of virtual machines in minutes based on customizable metrics.

71.
Azure Media Services | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/media-services/

Reach wider audiences on the devices they use with cloud video streaming, encoding, and indexing services from Azure Media Services.

72.
Apache NiFi
https://nifi.apach
.org/

Apache NiFi is an easy to use, powerful, and reliable system to process and distribute data

73.
Managed Kafka - Amazon Managed Streaming for Apache Kafka (MSK) - AWS
https://aws.amazo
.com/msk/

Amazon MSK is a fully managed, secure, and highly available Apache Kafka service that makes it easy to ingest and process streaming data in real time at a low cost.

74.
Azure Service Bus—Cloud Messaging Service | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/service-bus/

Keep connected with Azure Service Bus, a cloud messaging system for connecting apps and devices across public and private clouds.

75.
Azure Sphere – IoT Device Security Platform | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/azure-sphere/

Protect your data with Azure Sphere, a turnkey IoT device security and IoT platform solution for intelligent edge devices and microcontrollers.

76.
Power BI - Data Visualization | Microsoft Power Platform
https://www.microsof
.com/en-us/power-platform/products/power-bi/

Enhance your data insights and integrate your daily apps with Power BI, a unified platform for data visualization and self-service business intelligence

77.
API Management – Manage APIs | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/api-management/

Azure API Management offers a scalable, multi-cloud API management platform for securing, publishing, and analyzing APIs.

78.
Azure OpenAI Service – Advanced Language Models | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/ai-services/openai-service/

Azure OpenAI Service offers industry-leading coding and language AI models that you can fine-tune to your specific needs for a variety of use cases.

79.
Querona Data Virtualization
https://www.queron
.com/

Data consolidation on the fly | Virtual database | Vendor-agnostic dashboards | BI and Big Data analytics on steroids

80.
Azure Cloud Shell – Browser-Based Command Line | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/get-started/azure-portal/cloud-shell/

A browser-based shell experience in the cloud that’s maintained by Microsoft to manage Azure resources with popular command-line tools and programming languages

81.
Spark NLP - State of the Art NLP Library for Large Language Models (LLMs)
https://sparknl
.org/

Experience the power of Large Language Models like never before! Unleash the full potential of Natural Language Processing with Spark NLP, the open-source library that delivers scalable LLMs

82.
App Service - Web App for Containers | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/app-service/containers/

Bring your own containers and deploy to App Service as a web app running on Linux in seconds using Web App for Containers feature of Azure App Service.

83.
Azure Resource Manager | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/get-started/azure-portal/resource-manager/

Simplify how you manage your app resources with Azure Resource Manager. Deploy resources together, categorize them for easy billing, and enable access control.

84.
VMware Tanzu Greenplum - Greenplum Database | VMware Tanzu
https://tanzu.vmwar
.com/greenplum/

Rapidly create and deploy models for complex applications with VMware Tanzu Greenplum. Learn more about how to scale your enterprise analytics here.

85.
ETL Service - Serverless Data Integration - AWS Glue - AWS
https://aws.amazo
.com/glue/

AWS Glue is a serverless data integration service that makes it easy to discover, prepare, integrate, and modernize the extract, transform, and load (ETL) process.

86.
87.
Azure Stack HCI – Hyperconverged Infrastructure | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/azure-stack/hci/

Run your production workloads on hybrid, hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) with Azure-Arc enabled Azure Stack HCI. Modernize your edge computing environments.

88.
IoT Edge | Cloud Intelligence | Microsoft Azure
https://azure.microsof
.com/en-us/products/iot-edge/

Connect cloud intelligence to your edge devices with Azure IoT Edge, a comprehensive service that deploys artificial intelligence and custom logic to IoT devices.

89.
The Cost Efficient Data Lake | Qubole
https://www.qubol
.com/

Qubole is the open data lake company . Open, simple and secure data lakes for machine learning, streaming analytics, data exploration, and ad-hoc analytics.

90.
Databricks Data Intelligence Platform | Databricks
https://www.databrick
.com/product/data-intelligence-platform/

With a Data Intelligence Engine that understands your data’s uniqueness, the Databricks Platform allows you to infuse AI into every facet of your business.

92.
Deep.BI | The #1 Choice for Open-Source Apache Druid Support
http://www.dee
.bi/

Deep.BI offers expert assistance in building and maintaining real-time analytics and observability platforms, powered by technologies like Apache Druid, Flink, and Kafka. With 7 years on the market, we've served over 50 enterprises globally, managing 200+ Druid & Flink clusters. Contact us for your next-gen data pipelines solutions.

93.
In-Memory Distributed Cache for .NET & Java, Open Source - NCache
https://www.alachisof
.com/ncache/

NCache is an extremely fast and scalable Open Source In-Memory Distributed Cache for .NET and Java that caches app data and stores Web Sessions in multi-server environments.

94.
End to end Business Activity Tracking and Monitoring tool | Atomic Scope
https://www.atomicscop
.com/

End to end Business Activity Tracking and Monitoring tool, For hybrid integration solutions involving Microsoft BizTalk Server & Azure Logic Apps

95.
The Snowflake AI Data Cloud - Mobilize Data, Apps, and AI
https://www.snowflak
.com/

Snowflake enables organizations to learn, build, and connect with their data-driven peers. Collaborate, build data apps & power diverse workloads in the AI Data Cloud.

96.
Cloud Data Warehouse - Amazon Redshift - AWS
https://aws.amazo
.com/redshift/

Amazon Redshift is a fast, fully managed cloud data warehouse that makes it simple and cost-effective to analyze all your data.

97.
AuraQuantic is DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION - AuraQuantic
https://www.auraquanti
.com/

AuraQuantic is an all-in-one platform for process automation and limitless application development with the security of Microsoft Azure.

98.
What is Azure Quantum? - Azure Quantum | Microsoft Learn
https://learn.microsof
.com/en-us/azure/quantum/overview-azure-quantum/

Azure Quantum is a Microsoft Azure service that you can use to run quantum computing programs problems in the cloud.

99.
LiteSpeed Web Server - Apache Alternative - LiteSpeed Technologies
https://www.litespeedtec
.com/products/litespeed-web-server/

LiteSpeed Web Server is an Apache alternative that conserves resources without sacrificing performance, security, or convenience. Double the capacity of your current Apache servers! Securely handle thousands of concurrent clients while consuming minimal memory and CPU. Compatible with your favorite control panel.