Compare Apache Airflow vs. Kedro vs. dbt

Airflow is a community-driven platform designed for the programmatic creation, scheduling, and monitoring of workflows. With its modular architecture, Airflow employs a message queue to manage an unlimited number of workers, making it highly scalable. The system is capable of handling complex operations through its ability to define pipelines using Python, facilitating dynamic pipeline generation. This flexibility enables developers to write code that can create pipelines on the fly. Users can easily create custom operators and expand existing libraries, tailoring the abstraction level to meet their specific needs. The pipelines in Airflow are both concise and clear, with built-in parametrization supported by the robust Jinja templating engine. Eliminate the need for complex command-line operations or obscure XML configurations! Instead, leverage standard Python functionalities to construct workflows, incorporating date-time formats for scheduling and utilizing loops for the dynamic generation of tasks. This approach ensures that you retain complete freedom and adaptability when designing your workflows, allowing you to efficiently respond to changing requirements. Additionally, Airflow's user-friendly interface empowers teams to collaboratively refine and optimize their workflow processes.

Kedro serves as a robust framework for establishing clean data science practices. By integrating principles from software engineering, it enhances the efficiency of machine-learning initiatives. Within a Kedro project, you will find a structured approach to managing intricate data workflows and machine-learning pipelines. This allows you to minimize the time spent on cumbersome implementation tasks and concentrate on addressing innovative challenges. Kedro also standardizes the creation of data science code, fostering effective collaboration among team members in problem-solving endeavors. Transitioning smoothly from development to production becomes effortless with exploratory code that can evolve into reproducible, maintainable, and modular experiments. Additionally, Kedro features a set of lightweight data connectors designed to facilitate the saving and loading of data across various file formats and storage systems, making data management more versatile and user-friendly. Ultimately, this framework empowers data scientists to work more effectively and with greater confidence in their projects.

Version control, quality assurance, documentation, and modularity enable data teams to work together similarly to software engineering teams. It is crucial to address analytics errors with the same urgency as one would for bugs in a live product. A significant portion of the analytic workflow is still performed manually. Therefore, we advocate for workflows to be designed for execution with a single command. Data teams leverage dbt to encapsulate business logic, making it readily available across the organization for various purposes including reporting, machine learning modeling, and operational tasks. The integration of continuous integration and continuous deployment (CI/CD) ensures that modifications to data models progress smoothly through the development, staging, and production phases. Additionally, dbt Cloud guarantees uptime and offers tailored service level agreements (SLAs) to meet organizational needs. This comprehensive approach fosters a culture of reliability and efficiency within data operations.