DataStaxvs
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Cockroach Labs: The cloud-native distributed SQL database
DataStax
The real-time data company for AI applications
As of 30 August 2026, DataStax is free to use. DataStax provides a real-time data platform built on Apache Cassandra. Softwr lists it under Databases. DataStax is made by DataStax Inc., launched in 2010, available on Web.
Overview
What DataStax does
DataStax provides a real-time data platform built on Apache Cassandra. DataStax Astra DB is a serverless, multi-cloud database-as-a-service that simplifies cloud-native application development. It combines the power of Cassandra with vector search for AI applications.
What people use it for
- Real-time applications
- Content management
- User profiles
- Mobile backends
- Caching
The honest half
Where it falls short
Concrete and checkable, so you can decide whether any of them matter to you. This is the half of a review a vendor will not write about DataStax.
- DataStax's own Astra DB documentation states the Enterprise plan is an annual, contract-based plan with negotiated pricing, meaning list prices are not published for that tier
- DataStax's Astra DB documentation directs Standard plan customers to IBM's watsonx.data pricing for exact consumption-based rates following the DataStax/IBM deal, rather than publishing them on DataStax's own site
Cross-shopped
What people choose instead of DataStax
Each pairing was judged by two reviewers asking whether a buyer would genuinely weigh the two against each other. The ones that failed were deleted rather than published.
- DataStaxvsPostgreSQL
PostgreSQL: The world's most advanced open source relational database
- DataStaxvsAirtable
Airtable: Create apps that perfectly fit your team's needs
- DataStaxvsAmazon Aurora
Amazon Aurora: MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud
Pricing
What DataStax costs
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
Free
Free
- 5GB storage
- 40M read/write ops
- Vector search
Pay As You Go
Free
- Usage-based pricing
- Multi-region
- Enterprise support
Capabilities
Features
Cassandra Compatible
Vector Search
Serverless
Multi-cloud
Streaming
CDC
GraphQL API
LangChain
Integration with LangChain
LlamaIndex
Integration with LlamaIndex
Kafka
Integration with Kafka
Spark
Integration with Spark
Kubernetes
Integration with Kubernetes
Answered, with sources
Questions people ask
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
Is DataStax available as a managed service?
Yes, DataStax is available as Astra DB, a managed database service. Users can sign up for Astra DB directly to create accounts and access the platform.
SourceHow is DataStax priced?
DataStax (now part of IBM) does not publish pricing on its documentation homepage. Pricing information would need to be obtained through the Astra DB signup page or by contacting IBM directly.
SourceIs there an enterprise licensing option?
DataStax is now part of IBM. Enterprise customers should contact IBM directly for licensing agreements and enterprise-specific pricing.
SourceCan I try DataStax without an account?
To use DataStax Astra DB, account creation is required. The documentation does not mention a free trial or demonstration environment that does not require signup.
SourceBehind it
Who makes DataStax
- Company
- DataStax Inc.
- Based in
- Santa Clara, California
Keep looking
Where to go from DataStax
- DataStax alternativesEvery product people weigh against it
- DataStax pricingPlans, floors and what the tiers exclude
- DataStax badgesWhich rules it meets, and the figure behind each
- All Databases softwareThe full category
- Best Databases softwareThe shortlist, and how it was cut
Best Databases software for
Compare DataStax with
- Instaclustr
- Amazon Aurora
- Cockroach Labs
- Airtable
- PostgreSQL
- Materialize
- ScyllaDB
- Zilliz
- Google Cloud SQL
- CosmosDB
- turbopuffer
- VerneMQ
- Vespa
- Xata
- YugabyteDB
- Amazon RDS
- Zilliz
- BigQuery
Other Databases software
NetApp-owned managed service for Cassandra, Kafka, OpenSearch, PostgreSQL and Cadence with a bring-your-own-cloud model
Pricing on request12 researched notesMySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud
Free plan12 researched notesCreate apps that perfectly fit your team's needs
Free, then $20/month per editor11 researched notesLive context layer for AI agents using real-time SQL transformations
Free, then $1.5/compute-credit10 researched notesFully managed relational database service for MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQL Server
Free plan9 researched notesClosed-source vector and full-text search service built directly on object storage, with cold queries measured in seconds rather than milliseconds.
From $16/mo14 researched notesErlang MQTT broker whose source is Apache 2.0 but whose official binaries need a paid subscription
Free plan12 researched notesDistributed AI search platform for retrieval, ranking, and inference
Free plan11 researched notesApache 2.0 platform for running many Postgres instances on Kubernetes, with copy-on-write branching and scale-to-zero.
Free plan14 researched notesOpen source distributed SQL database for cloud native apps
Free, then $0.1/hour13 researched notesGoogle Cloud's serverless analytical warehouse, billed either by bytes scanned per query or by reserved compute slots.
Free plan13 researched notes
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for DataStax, because a rating we did not collect is not ours to publish. What is here is the pricing and platform detail from the vendor’s own pages, limitations we could state concretely, and alternatives a reviewer confirmed people weigh against it. Tell us if any of it is wrong.
More on DataStax
DataStax alternatives
What people switch to, and what they give up
DataStax pricing
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Compare DataStax
Put it head to head with anything we hold
DataStax badge
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
Best Databases software alternatives
Industrial process historian with published per-tag pricing and no client licence fees
Per tag band per yearNetApp-owned managed service for Cassandra, Kafka, OpenSearch, PostgreSQL and Cadence with a bring-your-own-cloud model
quote
Erlang MQTT broker for large IoT fleets, relicensed to BSL with production free use limited to one node
Per month by connection and session volume
Attribute-based access control and masking applied inside Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery
quote
MPP analytical database with a MySQL wire protocol and sub-second aggregation on wide tables
Open source, no licence fee
Streaming database that maintains incremental materialised views in SQL instead of Flink jobs
Per RisingWave Unit hour
Centralised data access governance from the creators of Apache Ranger, now rebranding as Trust3 AI
quote
The Meta-lineage distributed SQL query engine, distinct from the Trino fork
Open source, no licence fee