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HR & Recruiting · head to head

15Five vs Cassandra

15Five logo

15Five

HR & Recruiting

Performance management that drives results

From
$4/month
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Cassandra logo

Cassandra

HR & Recruiting

Manage massive amounts of data with linear scalability

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Cassandra has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: 15Five split across three tiers, so performance reviews, OKRs and 360 feedback need Perform at $11 per user per month rather than the $4 Engage tier; Cassandra no support for joins across tables
  • They diverge on capability: 15Five covers Weekly check-ins, Cassandra covers Linear Scalability.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which 15Five and Cassandra actually diverge.

Attributes where 15Five and Cassandra differ
Attribute15FiveCassandra
Starting price$4/monthFree
Pricing modelsubscriptionUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWeb, Ios, Android, ApiLinux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes
CategoryHR & RecruitingUnknown
Founded20112008

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in 15Five

  • Weekly check-ins
  • 1-on-1 meetings
  • OKRs & goal tracking
  • Performance reviews
  • High fives recognition
  • Engagement surveys
  • Pulse surveys
  • Manager effectiveness

Only in Cassandra

  • Linear Scalability
  • Fault Tolerance
  • Multi-datacenter Replication
  • Tunable Consistency
  • CQL Query Language
  • Distributed Architecture
  • No Single Point of Failure
  • DataStax

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

15Five

  • Running engagement surveys with heat maps and benchmarkingnot Cassandra
  • Performance reviews and continuous feedback cyclesnot Cassandra
  • Setting and tracking OKRsnot Cassandra
  • 360 degree feedback and talent matrix reviewsnot Cassandra
  • Compensation review cycles as a paid add-onnot Cassandra

Cassandra

  • Real-time applicationsnot 15Five
  • Content managementnot 15Five
  • User profilesnot 15Five
  • Mobile backendsnot 15Five
  • Cachingnot 15Five

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

15Five

  • Split across three tiers, so performance reviews, OKRs and 360 feedback need Perform at $11 per user per month rather than the $4 Engage tier
  • Manager training microlearnings are only in Total Platform at $16 per user per month
  • Compensation is a paid add-on at $9 per user per month, rising to $11 with benchmarking
  • The Kona meeting assistant is a further $2 per employee per month and Kona Coach $19 per manager per month
  • Advertised prices are the annual rates

Cassandra

  • No support for joins across tables
  • No ACID transactions across multiple rows
  • Data model must be designed around query patterns upfront, making schema evolution difficult
  • Partition key misconfigurations can cause uneven data distribution and hotspots that degrade performance

Pricing, plan by plan

15Five

$4/month
  • Engage$4/month
    • Engagement surveys
    • Pulse surveys
    • Action planning
  • Perform$10/month
    • Weekly check-ins
    • 1-on-1s
    • Performance reviews
  • Total Platform$16/month
    • Everything in Engage & Perform
    • Career paths
    • Competencies

Cassandra

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Cassandra review.

Which should you pick?

Choose 15Five if

  • You need weekly check-ins.
  • You work on Web, Ios, Android, Api.
  • You also want 1-on-1 meetings.
15Five review

Choose Cassandra if

  • You need linear scalability.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
  • You also want fault tolerance.
Cassandra review

Questions people ask

Is 15Five or Cassandra better?
Neither clearly leads. 15Five starts at $4/month and Cassandra at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, 15Five or Cassandra?
Cassandra has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $4/month for 15Five and Free for Cassandra.
Does 15Five or Cassandra run on more platforms?
15Five runs on Web, Ios, Android, Api. Cassandra runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
Can I use Cassandra for free?
Yes. Cassandra has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. 15Five starts at $4/month.
What is 15Five best used for?
15Five is most often used for running engagement surveys with heat maps and benchmarking, performance reviews and continuous feedback cycles, setting and tracking okrs, 360 degree feedback and talent matrix reviews. Of those, running engagement surveys with heat maps and benchmarking and performance reviews and continuous feedback cycles are not what Cassandra is typically brought in for.
What can 15Five do that Cassandra cannot?
15Five covers Weekly check-ins, 1-on-1 meetings, OKRs & goal tracking, Performance reviews. Cassandra covers Linear Scalability, Fault Tolerance, Multi-datacenter Replication, Tunable Consistency.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Cassandra: Does Cassandra support joins between tables?

No. Cassandra does not support joins or foreign keys. The data model requires denormalization, meaning data must be duplicated across tables to support different query patterns.

Source
Cassandra: Does Cassandra offer ACID transactions?

No. Cassandra provides only row-level atomicity and isolation, not full ACID transactions across multiple rows or tables. It uses lightweight transactions via Paxos for per-row compare-and-set operations.

Source
Cassandra: What programming languages can connect to Cassandra?

Cassandra supports official drivers for multiple languages including Python, Java, Node.js, and Go, allowing applications to communicate via the native Cassandra protocol.

Source
Cassandra: Can I deploy Cassandra in the cloud?

Yes. Cassandra can run on any cloud platform (AWS, Google Cloud, Azure) via Docker, virtual machines, or managed services like DataStax Astra DB, which provides a fully managed DBaaS option.

Source
Cassandra: Does Cassandra have a free option?

The open source Apache Cassandra is free. DataStax also offers Astra DB with a free tier providing up to 25GB storage and 25 million read/write operations per month.

Source
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