# Lakesail: A Rust-based alternative to Spark without the JVM

DevFeed: [Lakesail: A Rust-based alternative to Spark without the JVM](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/lakesail-replacing-spark-with-rust-but-with-spark-38711.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://dataengineeringcentral.substack.com/p/lakesail-replacing-spark-with-rust>)

Author: Daniel Beach

Published: 2026-08-18T21:11:44Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Data Engineering Central](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/data-engineering-central.md>)

Topics: [Apache Spark](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/spark.md>), [Rust](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/rust.md>)

Tags: [apache-spark](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/apache-spark.md>), [rust](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/rust.md>), [spark](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/spark.md>)

## AI overview

This commentary article introduces Lakesail as a Rust-based implementation or alternative to Spark that avoids the JVM overhead. It places Lakesail within the broader data-engineering ecosystem, where established tools such as Spark and Kafka continue to coexist with newer projects including Polars, DuckDB, and Daft.

## Source excerpt

ya know ... black magic stuff