Apache Spark

Open Source · spark.apache.org · 5 vendors

The Apache Software Foundation (ASF) is an American non-profit corporation that provides support and infrastructure for numerous open-source software projects, including Apache Spark. It fosters collaborative software development under the "Apache Way" and offers legal protection to its volunteer contributors. The ASF's mission is to provide software for the public good.

Resilience scores

Technology vendors

Services catalogue

1 service in catalogue across 1 category; runs on 5 sub-vendors.

Insights

Last updated 2026-07-29 · revision 1

5 direct vendors, 57 subvendors

Direct vendors by controlling owner country (sample)

Subvendors by controlling owner country (sample)

Migration Readiness: 9/10

Assessed by AI based on technology stack characteristics (cloud-native vs legacy, containerization, microservices), regulatory environment, data residency requirements, financial stability, and vendor lock-in risks. The score ranges from 0-10, where higher scores indicate better readiness for technology migration.

Apache Spark exhibits very high migration readiness due to its inherently cloud-native, containerized, and distributed architecture. The tech stack explicitly supports modern deployment paradigms such as Kubernetes (via the Spark Kubernetes Operator) and Docker, making it highly portable across different cloud environments and on-premise infrastructure. Key technologies like Spark Connect, which decouples client applications from the Spark Driver using gRPC and Protocol Buffers, significantly enhance flexibility and reduce architectural coupling, facilitating easier integration and migration. The extensive support for various data formats (Parquet, ORC, Arrow) and integration with open table formats (Delta Lake, Apache Iceberg) further ensures data portability. The open-source nature of Apache Spark itself is a major advantage, as it inherently minimizes vendor lock-in. While the data indicates reliance on "5 services" with vendor HQs in "United States, Germany" and owner countries in "United States, France, Germany," the absence of "Total Vendors: 0" in a traditional sense suggests that Spark users are not tied to a single proprietary vendor for the core technology. This provides substantial flexibility for users to choose their deployment and support models during a migration. However, the assessment is limited by the lack of information regarding "Regulatory Environment," "Data Residency Requirements," and "financial stability." These unknowns could introduce unforeseen complexities or costs during a migration, as compliance requirements or the ability to fund a large-scale migration cannot be assessed. Despite these unknowns, the technological foundation and open-source model position Apache Spark as exceptionally ready for migration.

Compliance

5 in-scope frameworks identified; showing 3.

Apache License 2.0 — Compliant

Apache Spark is distributed under the Apache License 2.0, a permissive open-source license managed by the Apache Software Foundation. The ASF has robust license compliance processes, including the Apache License and Distribution Policy. Risk is Low as the ASF is the originating body of the Apache License and maintains strict compliance with its own licensing terms. All source code, documentation, and releases are published under this license with clear attribution requirements.

Evidence: https://www.apache.org/licenses/, https://spark.apache.org

SOC 2 (source) — Assessment Required

SOC 2 (Service Organization Control 2) is relevant to organizations providing cloud-based or technology services where customers rely on the security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy of those services. Apache Spark is an open-source framework, not a commercial SaaS/cloud service provider. However, the ASF does operate infrastructure (websites, mailing lists, download servers, analytics) that community members and organizations depend upon. No SOC 2 report has been found for the ASF. Risk is Medium because: (1) many enterprise users of Apache Spark may request SOC 2 assurance from the ASF as part of their vendor due diligence; (2) the absence of a SOC 2 report is common for open-source foundations but may create procurement friction for regulated industries; (3) the ASF's infrastructure (Hetzner, AWS, Azure, GitHub) relies on third-party providers that do hold SOC 2 certifications.

Evidence: https://privacy.apache.org/policies/privacy-policy-public.html, https://spark.apache.org/security.html

US Export Controls — Assessment Required

The Apache Software Foundation is a US-based organization subject to US Export Administration Regulations (EAR). Apache Spark includes cryptographic functionality (encryption for RPC connections, SSL/TLS support, IO encryption), which historically required export classification under EAR. The ASF has historically filed for encryption registration with the US Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). Risk is Medium because: (1) cryptographic software has specific EAR classification requirements; (2) the ASF distributes Spark globally including to countries that may be subject to US sanctions; (3) non-compliance with EAR could result in significant penalties. However, open-source cryptographic software generally qualifies for EAR License Exception TSU (Technology and Software Unrestricted) when publicly available.

Evidence: https://spark.apache.org/security.html, https://spark.apache.org/docs/latest/security.html

Financials

Three-year financials

Financial Resilience Score: 8/10

Databricks, the dominant commercial vendor of Apache Spark, demonstrates strong financial resilience with very high growth (>50% YoY) at multi-billion ARR scale. The company has raised over $4B across multiple funding rounds from top-tier investors including Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, T. Rowe Price, Fidelity, Baillie Gifford, Franklin Templeton, and Capital Group, providing substantial cash reserves. It reached positive free cash flow in Q3 FY2024 (calendar Q3 2023) and has been narrowing losses. The company's private-market valuation grew from $38B (2021) to $43B (September 2023) to approximately $62B (late 2024 tender), reflecting strong investor confidence. Its deep enterprise moat via Delta Lake, MLflow, Unity Catalog, and the Mosaic AI acquisition ($1.3B, 2023) positions it well in the Gen-AI stack. However, it is not yet GAAP profitable due to heavy R&D and S&M spend, and faces intense competition from Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, and AWS-native services. The Apache Software Foundation itself, as steward of Spark, has a small budget (~$3-4M annual revenue) but is backed by a diversified sponsor base including AWS, Google, Microsoft, Meta, Apple, Huawei, and Tencent, making the project itself resilient to single-vendor collapse.

Key strengths: Very high growth >50% YoY at multi-billion ARR scale, Approaching cash-flow break-even; positive FCF achieved Q3 FY2024, Strong balance sheet with >$4B raised and sizable cash reserves, Deep enterprise moat via Delta Lake, MLflow, Unity Catalog, Mosaic AI, Strategic Mosaic AI acquisition ($1.3B) positions in Gen-AI stack, Diversified sponsor base for ASF including all major hyperscalers

Risk factors: Not yet GAAP profitable, Intense competition with Snowflake, Microsoft Fabric, AWS-native services, Customer-concentration and cloud-vendor dependency on AWS/Azure/GCP, IPO would bring public-market scrutiny of unit economics, Competitive pressure on Spark from Snowflake, DuckDB, Polars, Ray, Flink, Committer concentration at Databricks creates vendor influence over Spark roadmap

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