Comparative eva‎luation of Modern Real-Time Data Analytics Frameworks: A Study of Apache Beam, PySpark Streaming, an‎d Faust in Business Intelligence Applications

2/27/2026 12:00:00 AM

The e-commerce sectorʹs shift from traditional reporting to real-time adaptability necessitates the capacity to process continuous data streams for dynamic pricing, fraud detection, an‎d user personalization, thereby establishing it as an operational necessity. Nevertheless, software architects encounter a challenging decision when choosing between established JVM-based ecosystems an‎d novel Python-native solutions. This thesis seeks to address the significant absence of empirical coqmparative data by performing a comprehensive performance benchmark of three distinct stream processing frameworks: Apache Beam, PySpark Structured Streaming, an‎d Faust. Employing a real-world e-commerce clickstream dataset, this research assesses each frameworkʹs performance across critical metrics end-to-end latency, sustained throughput, an‎d resource efficiency within a controlled experimental setting. The results elucidate specific architectural trade-offs: Apache Beamʹs latency of 180 milliseconds proved superior, rendering it well-suited for time-sensitive decision-making processes. In contrast, the Python-native Faust framework achieved the highest throughput, processing 531 events per second with minimal CPU utilization (45%), thereby confirming its efficacy in high-volume ingestion scenarios, notwithstan‎ding latency considerations under heavy loads. PySpark Structured Streaming, while exhibiting a micro-batch latency floor of 1.8 seconds, showcased substantial adaptive optimization capabilities over time. This investigation integrates these empirical findings into a strategic decision-making framework, offering evidence-based recommendations for framework selec‎tion contingent upon specific business intelligence needs. Furthermore, the research presents a reproducible methodology for benchmarking Python-accessible streaming architectures, thus bridging the divide between theoretical system design an‎d practical engineering implementation within the e-commerce sector

تحليل بلادرنگ , پردازش جرياني , هوش تجاري تجارت الكترونيك , بنچمارك عملكرد , آپاچي بيم

Real-time analytics , stream processing , e-commerce business intelligence , performance benchmarking , Apache Beam

Zaid Jameel

Behrouz Minaei