Apache Spark at Scale
How Netflix and Uber process petabytes of data with Spark
Why These Case Studies Matter
Apache Spark has revolutionized big data processing, enabling companies to analyze petabytes of data in hours instead of days. These case studies reveal how Netflix and Uber built production Spark platforms that power critical business decisions.
You'll learn the architectural patterns for both batch processing (Netflix recommendations) and stream processing (Uber real-time pricing). More importantly, you'll discover the performance optimizations, cost strategies, and lessons learned that only come from running Spark at massive scale.
Learning Path: After reading these case studies, build your own Spark pipeline with the ShopStream Spark Project, then follow the step-by-step walkthrough.
Note on Metrics: These case studies are based on publicly available information from engineering blogs, conference talks, and open-source documentation. While we've verified core architectural patterns and technologies, some specific numbers (especially cost figures and exact scale metrics) are estimates for educational purposes. Where possible, we've updated unverified claims to reflect documented information or general ranges.
Featured Case Studies
Deep dives into batch and streaming Spark architectures at Netflix and Uber
Netflix
Case Study #1
The Problem
Processing 500+ billion events daily for personalized recommendations, A/B testing, and content analytics. Hadoop MapReduce was too slow (hours) for iterative algorithms needed for recommendation models.
Scale
Uber
Case Study #2
The Problem
Real-time analytics for driver surge pricing, trip matching, and fraud detection across 10,000+ cities worldwide. Required processing streaming data with complex joins and sub-second latency while handling 15 million trips/day.
Scale
Continue Learning
Build Your Own Pipeline
Practice with the ShopStream Spark project - process multi-format data at scale
Troubleshooting Guide
Common Spark errors and performance issues - from OOM to data skew
Step-by-Step Walkthrough
Complete walkthrough for building the ShopStream pipeline from scratch
More Case Studies
Explore how companies use Airflow, MLOps, RAG, and other technologies