# Apache Spark vs dlt

**Leader by Vioscale score:** dlt

| Attribute | Apache Spark | dlt |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 60.5 (38% (low)) | 66.1 (49% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 52 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 8,896 | 23 |
| adoption.github_stars | 43,882 | 5,779 |
| deployment.options | `{"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Apache Spark is an open-source, multi-language distributed computing engine that unifies data engineering, data science, and machine learning workloads. It processes data at scale using batch or streaming paradigms, provides SQL query capabilities for analytics, and includes built-in libraries for machine learning and graph processing. | A hosted service combining the open-source dlt Python library with managed infrastructure, observability, data quality testing, and team collaboration features for building and running data pipelines. |
| features.capabilities | `{"role":"engine","paradigm":"both","self_hosted_oss":true,"distributed_executor":true}` | `{"cdc":true,"role":"elt","lineage":true,"paradigm":"both","data_quality":true,"elt_pushdown":true,"python_first":true,"managed_cloud":true,"connector_count":"5,000+","self_hosted_oss":true,"incremental_runs":true}` |
| integrations.count | 5 | 28 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Hadoop"},{"name":"HDFS"},{"name":"YARN"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Docker"}]` | `[{"name":"Salesforce"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"HubSpot"},{"name":"Snowflake"},{"name":"Databricks"},{"name":"BigQuery"},{"name":"MotherDuck"},{"name":"DuckDB"},{"name":"SQLite"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"Amazon S3"},{"name":"Google Cloud Storage"},{"name":"Microsoft Azure"},{"name":"SFTP"},{"name":"Parquet"},{"name":"Apache Delta"},{"name":"Apache Iceberg"},{"name":"DuckLake"},{"name":"Pydantic Logfire"},{"name":"Arize"},{"name":"Langfuse"},{"name":"LangChain"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Apache Airflow"},{"name":"Dagster"},{"name":"AWS Lambda"},{"name":"Marimo"},{"name":"Hugging Face"}]` |
| language.primary | Scala | Python |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"DE","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://spark.apache.org","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T13:48:09.654Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"dlt","summary":"Free, Apache 2.0 licensed","features":["Apache 2.0 open-source license","Code-first ingestion library","Reliable ingestion and loading","Limited verified OSS connectors","AI help and community support","Self-managed runtime","Unlimited pipelines and notebooks"],"description":"Open-source Python library for data ingestion","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"dltHub","summary":"$1,190/month base + $0.80–$1.00/credit for usage beyond 500 credits/month. 5% discount on annual commitment.","features":["Everything in dlt, plus:","Managed runtime","Hosted Marimo notebooks","AI Workbench (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor)","Data quality metrics and checks","Observability dashboard","Collaboration workflows for teams","Role-based access control (RBAC)","Audit logs","Source-available capabilities (AI workbench, CDC, Iceberg, transformations)","Eligible for volume discounts"],"commitment":"monthly","components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":1190,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"credit"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.8,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Managed runtime and collaboration platform","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"credits":"500/month"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","summary":"Custom pricing. Contact sales.","features":["Custom credits and volume pricing","Enterprise security and governance controls","Role-based access control (RBAC) and audit logs","SLA and tailored support options","Custom onboarding and architecture guidance"],"description":"Custom pricing and governance for security-focused organizations","contactSales":true}],"summary":"From $1,190/month with 500 included credits. Free open-source tier. 14-day free trial with $30 credits.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://dlthub.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T22:25:32.490Z","freeTrialDays":14,"startingPrice":{"amount":0.8,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 12 |
| release.history | - | `[{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.30.0","date":"2026-08-11T13:23:00Z","type":"stable","version":"1.30.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.29.1","date":"2026-07-24T11:32:31Z","type":"stable","version":"1.29.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.29.0","date":"2026-07-13T09:31:54Z","type":"stable","version":"1.29.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.28.2","date":"2026-07-10T12:29:18Z","type":"stable","version":"1.28.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.28.1","date":"2026-06-19T19:48:03Z","type":"stable","version":"1.28.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.28.0","date":"2026-06-15T16:14:02Z","type":"stable","version":"1.28.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.27.2","date":"2026-05-29T17:13:29Z","type":"stable","version":"1.27.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.27.0","date":"2026-05-19T12:55:55Z","type":"stable","version":"1.27.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.26.0","date":"2026-04-28T18:49:52Z","type":"stable","version":"1.26.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.25.0","date":"2026-04-15T07:41:56Z","type":"stable","version":"1.25.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.24.0","date":"2026-03-19T11:59:54Z","type":"stable","version":"1.24.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.23.0","date":"2026-03-06T14:47:17Z","type":"stable","version":"1.23.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.22.2","date":"2026-03-01T18:44:08Z","type":"stable","version":"1.22.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.22.1","date":"2026-02-23T20:59:59Z","type":"stable","version":"1.22.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.22.0","date":"2026-02-17T16:55:47Z","type":"stable","version":"1.22.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.21.0","date":"2026-01-20T12:11:39Z","type":"stable","version":"1.21.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.20.0","date":"2025-12-09T23:13:14Z","type":"stable","version":"1.20.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.19.1","date":"2025-12-02T22:02:07Z","type":"stable","version":"1.19.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.19.0","date":"2025-12-01T15:52:25Z","type":"stable","version":"1.19.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/dlt-hub/dlt/releases/tag/1.18.2","date":"2025-11-03T16:04:35Z","type":"stable","version":"1.18.2"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 5.6 | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":7,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=org.apache.spark%3Aspark-core_2.10&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=dlt&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Data Engineering Tools)

| Capability | Apache Spark | dlt |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Core** |  |  |
| Tool role | Processing engine | ELT / ingestion |
| Processing paradigm | Batch + streaming | Batch + streaming |
| **Connectivity** |  |  |
| Connector count | - | 5,000+ |
| CDC / log-based replication | - | ✓ |
| **Transformation** |  |  |
| In-warehouse transformation (push-down) | - | ✓ |
| dbt-native orchestration | - | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Self-hosted / open-source available | ✓ | ✓ |
| Managed cloud available | - | ✓ |
| **Governance** |  |  |
| Data lineage / asset catalog | - | ✓ |
| **Authoring** |  |  |
| Python-first authoring | - | ✓ |
| **Execution** |  |  |
| Incremental / partition-aware runs | - | ✓ |
| **Quality** |  |  |
| Built-in data quality / tests | - | ✓ |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Horizontal scale (distributed executor) | ✓ | - |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:47:41.811Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*