data · open source
Apache Airflow development
Workflow orchestration for data pipelines, with a mature scheduler and operator ecosystem.
- Category
- data
- Vendor
- Open source
- We use it for
- 2 capabilities
The honest assessment
- What it is
- Workflow orchestration for data pipelines, with a mature scheduler and operator ecosystem.
- Strongest at
- a huge operator library and battle-tested scheduling
- Trade-off
- operationally heavy for a handful of simple scheduled jobs
- Category
- data
- Vendor
- Open source
We hold no reseller commission on Apache Airflow. That is what makes the trade-off line above worth reading. It costs us nothing to tell you when this is the wrong choice.
Building with Apache Airflow
Apache Airflow is strongest at a huge operator library and battle-tested scheduling. We reach for it when that is the property a workload actually depends on, and we say so when it is not.
Airflow's operator ecosystem is the reason it persists, whatever system you need to pull from, someone has written the integration. For a data platform with dozens of heterogeneous sources that is a substantial head start.
For a handful of scheduled jobs it is heavy machinery. A cron entry and a well-written script remain the correct answer more often than the modern-data-stack discourse suggests.
We build the smallest thing that proves the case, put it in front of real users, and expand only what earns its keep. Six weeks to something running in production, not six quarters to a strategy document.
What we build on Apache Airflow
Alternatives in data
Questions
What is Apache Airflow best at?
A huge operator library and battle-tested scheduling.
When would you not use Apache Airflow?
Operationally heavy for a handful of simple scheduled jobs. We would look at pgvector or Pinecone in that situation.
Do you have a commercial relationship with Apache Airflow?
No. We hold no reseller commission on any technology we recommend, which is what lets the trade-off above be stated plainly.
Can you work with our existing Apache Airflow setup?
Yes. We would rather extend and stabilise something that already works than introduce a parallel system your team has to learn.
Working with Apache Airflow?
Tell us the workload and we will tell you whether this is the right tool for it.
Or email bd@dtrasglobal.com · call +91 74118 77878