No? Vector is for observability, to get your metrics/logs, transform them if needed, and put them in the necessary backends. Transformation is optional, and for cases like downsampling or converting formats or adding metadata.
ArkFlow gets data from stuff like databes and message queues/brokers, transforms it, and puts it back in databases and message queues/brokers. Transformation looks like a pretty central use case.
Very different scenarios. It's like saying that a Renault Kangoo is a simplified equivalent of a BTR-80 because both have wheels, engine and space for stuff.
Vector is often used for observability data (in part because it's now owned by Datadog) but it's not limited to that. It's a general purpose stateless stream processing engine, and can be used for any kind of events.
a major difference seems to be converting things to arrow and using SQL instead of using a DSL (vrl)