AWS Glue 6.0 is GA with 30% lower pricing, full Apache Iceberg v3, and a Spark 4.1 runtime. Here is what changed and how to migrate your ETL jobs safely.
Key takeaways
- On August 21, 2026, AWS made Glue 6.0 generally available with 30% lower pricing than previous versions.
- Glue 6.0 adds full Apache Iceberg v3 support, built on Iceberg 1.11.0, and upgrades the runtime to Apache Spark 4.1, Python 3.12, and Scala 2.13.
- Iceberg v3 brings the VARIANT type, deletion vectors, geometry and geography types, and flexible schema evolution, all real capabilities, not cosmetic ones.
- New productivity features include Spark Declarative Pipelines, Arrow-native Python UDFs, and a real-time streaming mode with single-digit millisecond latency.
- Van Data Team's recommendation: the 30% cut makes migrating worth it for active jobs, but test on Spark 4.1 first and move in batches, not all at once.
📖 Read the full guide on Van Data Team → AWS Glue 6.0: 30% Cheaper, Iceberg v3, Spark 4.1
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