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Cassandra vs FaunaDB

Cassandra logo

Cassandra

Software

Manage massive amounts of data with linear scalability

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
FaunaDB logo

FaunaDB

Software

The distributed serverless database for modern applications

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Cassandra no support for joins across tables; FaunaDB the Internet Archive's capture of FaunaDB's homepage on 5 January 2019 confirmed a free 'Try Cloud' tier alongside a self-hosted download, with a separate Pricing page linked but not itself retrievable from the archive within two attempts.
  • They diverge on capability: Cassandra covers Linear Scalability, FaunaDB covers ACID Transactions.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Cassandra and FaunaDB actually diverge.

Attributes where Cassandra and FaunaDB differ
AttributeCassandraFaunaDB
Pricing modelUnknownfreemium
PlatformsLinux, macOS, Windows, Docker, KubernetesWeb
Founded20082012

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).

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 Cassandra

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

Only in FaunaDB

  • ACID Transactions
  • Document-relational Model
  • GraphQL API
  • Global Distribution
  • Temporal Queries
  • Multi-tenancy
  • Serverless
  • GraphQL

What people use each for

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

Cassandra

  • Real-time applicationsnot FaunaDB
  • Content managementnot FaunaDB
  • User profilesnot FaunaDB
  • Mobile backends
  • Cachingnot FaunaDB

FaunaDB

  • Serverless applicationsnot Cassandra
  • Rapid prototypingnot Cassandra
  • Mobile backends
  • JAMstacknot Cassandra
  • Microservicesnot Cassandra

Both are used for mobile backends, on those jobs the choice comes down to price and fit rather than capability.

Where each one falls short

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

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

FaunaDB

  • The Internet Archive's capture of FaunaDB's homepage on 5 January 2019 confirmed a free 'Try Cloud' tier alongside a self-hosted download, with a separate Pricing page linked but not itself retrievable from the archive within two attempts.

Pricing, plan by plan

Cassandra

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the Cassandra review.

FaunaDB

Free
  • FreeFree
    • 100K read ops
    • 50K write ops
    • 1GB storage
  • Pro$25/month
    • Pay per use
    • Priority support
    • Advanced features

Which should you pick?

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

Choose FaunaDB if

  • You need acid transactions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You also want document-relational model.
FaunaDB review

Questions people ask

Is Cassandra or FaunaDB better?
Neither clearly leads. Cassandra starts at Free and FaunaDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Cassandra or FaunaDB?
Cassandra starts at Free and FaunaDB at Free.
Does Cassandra or FaunaDB run on more platforms?
Cassandra runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes. FaunaDB runs on Web.
Can I use Cassandra for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Cassandra best used for?
Cassandra is most often used for real-time applications, content management, user profiles, mobile backends. Of those, real-time applications and content management are not what FaunaDB is typically brought in for.
What can Cassandra do that FaunaDB cannot?
Cassandra covers Linear Scalability, Fault Tolerance, Multi-datacenter Replication, Tunable Consistency. FaunaDB covers ACID Transactions, Document-relational Model, GraphQL API, Global Distribution.

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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