PySpark

Python API for Apache Spark — distributed dataframes and SQL for large-scale data processing.

data-analysis-frameworksRecently released
67
Hero Score
Popularity
88
Performance
45
Ecosystem
75
Maturity
77
Dev Experience
50
⭐ 43,607 stars⬇ 11.4M downloads/wkFirst release: May 2017Last release: Jul 2026
Async Support: NoPlugin Extensions: HighSpeed: FastDoc Quality: HighLearning Curve: Hard

Pros

  • Scales to clusters and very large datasets
  • Offers both SQL and DataFrame APIs
  • Mature ecosystem including MLlib and Structured Streaming

Cons

  • Heavy, JVM-dependent setup and runtime
  • Slower iteration cycle than local in-memory tools
  • Debugging distributed jobs is genuinely hard

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