Database & Data Management · head to head
BigQuery vs Cassandra
BigQuery
Database & Data Management
Serverless, highly scalable enterprise data warehouse
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
Cassandra
Database & Data Management
Manage massive amounts of data with linear scalability
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: BigQuery query costs can become substantial for organizations with high query volumes; Cassandra no support for joins across tables
- They diverge on capability: BigQuery covers Serverless Architecture, Cassandra covers Linear Scalability.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which BigQuery and Cassandra actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Database & Data Management), founded (2008).
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 BigQuery
- Serverless Architecture
- Petabyte Scale
- Real-time Analytics
- Machine Learning
- Geospatial Analysis
- Streaming Ingestion
- Standard SQL
- Looker
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.
BigQuery
- Business intelligencenot Cassandra
- Data warehousingnot Cassandra
- Real-time analyticsnot Cassandra
- Reportingnot Cassandra
- Machine learningnot Cassandra
Cassandra
- Real-time applicationsnot BigQuery
- Content managementnot BigQuery
- User profilesnot BigQuery
- Mobile backendsnot BigQuery
- Cachingnot BigQuery
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
BigQuery
- Query costs can become substantial for organizations with high query volumes
- Data egress from Google Cloud incurs additional charges
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
BigQuery
Free- Free TierFree
- 1TB queries/month
- 10GB storage/month
- Standard support
- On-demand$6.25/TB
- Pay per query
- Pay per storage
- All features
Cassandra
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Cassandra review.
Which should you pick?
Choose BigQuery if
- You need serverless architecture.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Web, Cloud API.
- You also want petabyte scale.
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.
Questions people ask
- Is BigQuery or Cassandra better?
- Neither clearly leads. BigQuery starts at Free and Cassandra at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, BigQuery or Cassandra?
- BigQuery starts at Free and Cassandra at Free.
- Does BigQuery or Cassandra run on more platforms?
- BigQuery runs on Web, Cloud API. Cassandra runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes.
- Can I use BigQuery for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is BigQuery best used for?
- BigQuery is most often used for business intelligence, data warehousing, real-time analytics, reporting. Of those, business intelligence and data warehousing are not what Cassandra is typically brought in for.
- What can BigQuery do that Cassandra cannot?
- BigQuery covers Serverless Architecture, Petabyte Scale, Real-time Analytics, Machine Learning. Cassandra covers Linear Scalability, Fault Tolerance, Multi-datacenter Replication, Tunable Consistency.
Answered from the vendors’ own pages
BigQuery: How is BigQuery priced?
BigQuery charges $5 per terabyte of data processed in on-demand queries. Storage is billed separately: active storage is charged per GB, and data inactive for 90+ days moves to long-term storage at reduced rates.
SourceCassandra: 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.
SourceBigQuery: What is BigQuery's architecture?
BigQuery separates compute and storage, using Google's Colossus for distributed storage and Borg for computation, allowing independent scaling of each.
SourceCassandra: 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.
SourceCassandra: 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.
SourceCassandra: 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.
SourceCassandra: 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