Amazon EMR Containers
Amazon EMR Containers
EMR on EKS API runs Spark/Hive/Presto big-data jobs on Kubernetes (EKS) clusters — containerized EMR experience.
Shared EKS cluster resources for higher utilization
Requires an existing EKS cluster
CreateVirtualCluster registers an EKS namespace as an EMR virtual cluster. StartJobRun to submit a Spark job.
Uptime · 30-day window
GitHub activity
About this API
EMR on EKS is an EMR variant launched in 2020 that lets you run EMR-compatible Spark/Hive/Presto jobs on K8s (EKS) clusters. Problem it addresses: traditional EMR launches separate EC2 per cluster, low resource utilization (resources sit idle between jobs). If your company already uses EKS for apps and also wants big data, running two clusters wastes resources. EMR on EKS says "I have an EKS cluster, dedicate a namespace to the data team, they use EMR API to submit Spark jobs running as pods". Unified resource pool, on-demand scaling, multi-team sharing. Suitable for "deeply K8s-ified companies" doing big data. If not on K8s, traditional EMR (on EC2) or EMR Serverless is simpler.
What you can build
- 1Run Spark jobs on existing EKS cluster (no separate EMR cluster)
- 2Unified K8s resource management (data processing + apps in one cluster)
- 3Multi-tenant big-data platform
Strengths & limitations
Strengths
- Shared EKS cluster resources for higher utilization
- Unified K8s toolchain (kubectl, Argo) manages Spark jobs
- Fine-grained resource isolation (namespaces)
Limitations
- Requires an existing EKS cluster
- K8s learning curve (not as simple as traditional EMR)
- Some EMR advanced features (Notebooks) are limited
Getting started
CreateVirtualCluster registers an EKS namespace as an EMR virtual cluster. StartJobRun to submit a Spark job.
FAQ
EMR on EKS vs. EMR Serverless?+
Existing K8s platform + want unified management: EMR on EKS. Don't want to manage infrastructure at all: EMR Serverless.
Technical details
- Auth type
- unknown
- Pricing
- unknown
- Protocols
- REST
- SDKs
- python, javascript, go, java
- Response time
- 43 ms
- Last health check
- 6/26/2026, 6:22:16 AM
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