Database & Data Management · head to head
Cassandra vs ScyllaDB
Cassandra
Database & Data Management
Manage massive amounts of data with linear scalability
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
ScyllaDB
Database & Data Management
The real-time big data database compatible with Cassandra
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: Cassandra no support for joins across tables; ScyllaDB aWS Marketplace lists ScyllaDB Enterprise (sold directly by ScyllaDB, Inc) at $1.63 per hour for the recommended i3.4xlarge instance size, license and enterprise support bundled in
- They diverge on capability: Cassandra covers Linear Scalability, ScyllaDB covers Cassandra Compatible.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which Cassandra and ScyllaDB actually diverge.
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Database & Data Management).
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 ScyllaDB
- Cassandra Compatible
- DynamoDB Compatible
- 10x Throughput
- Low Latency
- Auto-tuning
- Lightweight Transactions
- Change Data Capture
- Cassandra Drivers
Both cover
- Linux support
- Docker support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
Cassandra
- Real-time applications
- Content management
- User profiles
- Mobile backends
- Caching
ScyllaDB
- Real-time applications
- Content management
- User profiles
- Mobile backends
- Caching
Both are used for real-time applications, content management, user profiles, mobile backends, caching, 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
ScyllaDB
- AWS Marketplace lists ScyllaDB Enterprise (sold directly by ScyllaDB, Inc) at $1.63 per hour for the recommended i3.4xlarge instance size, license and enterprise support bundled in
Pricing, plan by plan
Cassandra
FreeNo published plan breakdown. See the Cassandra review.
ScyllaDB
Free- Open SourceFree
- Full features
- Community support
- Self-managed
- Cloud$0.3/hour
- Managed service
- Pay per hour
- Enterprise support
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.
Choose ScyllaDB if
- You need cassandra compatible.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Web.
- You also want dynamodb compatible.
Questions people ask
- Is Cassandra or ScyllaDB better?
- Neither clearly leads. Cassandra starts at Free and ScyllaDB at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, Cassandra or ScyllaDB?
- Cassandra starts at Free and ScyllaDB at Free.
- Does Cassandra or ScyllaDB run on more platforms?
- Cassandra runs on Linux, macOS, Windows, Docker, Kubernetes. ScyllaDB runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, 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.
- What can Cassandra do that ScyllaDB cannot?
- Cassandra covers Linear Scalability, Fault Tolerance, Multi-datacenter Replication, Tunable Consistency. ScyllaDB covers Cassandra Compatible, DynamoDB Compatible, 10x Throughput, Low Latency. Both handle Linux support, Docker support.
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.
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