AWS Glue vs Singer: What are the differences?

Introduction:

AWS Glue and Singer are both data integration tools used for extracting, transforming, and loading (ETL) data. While they serve a similar purpose, there are several key differences between the two.

1. Data Source Support: AWS Glue supports a wide range of data sources, including databases, data lakes, and streaming data. It can automatically discover and catalog data from various sources, making it easy to integrate different types of data. On the other hand, Singer is a framework that allows you to create connectors for specific data sources or applications. It provides a set of standard connectors, but additional connectors need to be built manually.

2. Managed Service vs. Open Source: AWS Glue is a fully managed service provided by Amazon Web Services. It takes care of infrastructure management, scaling, and monitoring, allowing users to focus on ETL tasks. Singer, on the other hand, is an open-source framework that can be deployed on any infrastructure. It provides more flexibility and control over the ETL process but requires manual setup and maintenance.

3. Transformation Capabilities: AWS Glue provides a wide range of built-in transformation capabilities, such as data type conversion, filtering, aggregation, and joining. It also supports the creation of custom transformations using Apache Spark. Singer, on the other hand, focuses more on extracting and loading data rather than transformation. It provides a simple and extensible process for moving data between sources and destinations.

4. Workflow Orchestration: AWS Glue is integrated with AWS Step Functions, allowing users to create and manage complex ETL workflows. It provides a visual interface for designing workflows and handles error handling, retries, and dependency management. Singer, on the other hand, does not provide built-in workflow orchestration capabilities. It mainly focuses on the data extraction and loading process and relies on external tools or frameworks for workflow orchestration.

5. Cost Structure: AWS Glue follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, where users are billed based on the number of data processing units (DPUs) consumed during ETL jobs. The cost can vary depending on the complexity and volume of data processing. Singer, being an open-source framework, does not have any direct costs associated with it. However, users might incur costs for infrastructure, maintenance, and development of custom connectors.

6. Ecosystem and Community Support: AWS Glue is part of the broader AWS ecosystem, which includes various cloud services, tools, and integrations. It has a dedicated community and extensive documentation, making it easier to find resources and get support. Singer, being an open-source framework, also has an active community but may not have the same level of ecosystem integrations and support as AWS Glue.

In Summary, AWS Glue is a managed service that supports a wide range of data sources and provides built-in transformation capabilities, workflow orchestration, and integration with other AWS services. Singer, on the other hand, is an open-source framework that offers flexibility, extensibility, and control over the ETL process, but requires manual setup, maintenance, and lacks some of the integrated features provided by AWS Glue.