ScyllaDBvs
Cockroach Labs


Cockroach Labs: The cloud-native distributed SQL database

The real-time big data database compatible with Cassandra
As of 30 August 2026, ScyllaDB is free to use. ScyllaDB is a high-performance NoSQL database compatible with Apache Cassandra and Amazon DynamoDB. Softwr lists it under Databases. ScyllaDB is made by ScyllaDB Inc., launched in 2015, available on Linux, Self-hosted, Web.
Overview
ScyllaDB is a high-performance NoSQL database compatible with Apache Cassandra and Amazon DynamoDB. Written in C++, it delivers 10x the throughput and lower latency than Cassandra while using the same APIs. ScyllaDB is designed for data-intensive applications at scale.
The honest half
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 ScyllaDB.
Cross-shopped
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.


Cockroach Labs: The cloud-native distributed SQL database


PostgreSQL: The world's most advanced open source relational database


Airtable: Create apps that perfectly fit your team's needs


Amazon Aurora: MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud
Pricing
Taken from the vendor's own pricing page. Prices move, so check before you buy.
ScyllaDB Cloud Standard
On request
ScyllaDB Cloud Professional
On request
ScyllaDB Cloud Premium
On request
ScyllaDB Enterprise
On request
Capabilities
Cassandra Compatible
DynamoDB Compatible
10x Throughput
Low Latency
Auto-tuning
Lightweight Transactions
Change Data Capture
Cassandra Drivers
Integration with Cassandra Drivers
DynamoDB API
Integration with DynamoDB API
Spark
Integration with Spark
Kafka
Integration with Kafka
Kubernetes
Integration with Kubernetes
Answered, with sources
Each answer names the page it came from, so you can check it rather than take our word for it.
ScyllaDB Cloud uses transparent, resource-based billing based on instance type (vCPU and RAM), NVMe SSD storage, service plan tier, deployment model, and cloud provider costs.
SourceScyllaDB offers a 30-day developer trial on smaller instances and a 48-hour production evaluation trial with full-grade instances.
SourceScyllaDB subscription contracts provide up to 70% or more in savings compared to on-demand hourly billing. 1-year and 3-year contract options are available.
SourceUnlike DynamoDB which charges per read/write unit, ScyllaDB charges based on resource usage only, potentially delivering 50% or greater cost reduction for high-throughput workloads.
SourceBehind it
Keep looking
MySQL and PostgreSQL-compatible relational database built for the cloud
Create apps that perfectly fit your team's needs
Store and sync data in real-time across all clients
Cross-platform database IDE from JetBrains for SQL and NoSQL databases
Closed-source vector and full-text search service built directly on object storage, with cold queries measured in seconds rather than milliseconds.
Erlang MQTT broker whose source is Apache 2.0 but whose official binaries need a paid subscription
Distributed AI search platform for retrieval, ranking, and inference
Apache 2.0 platform for running many Postgres instances on Kubernetes, with copy-on-write branching and scale-to-zero.
Open source distributed SQL database for cloud native apps
AWS-only managed key-value and document database with fixed per-partition throughput limits and no ad hoc queries.
Softwr does not host reviews and shows no star rating for ScyllaDB, 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.
What people switch to, and what they give up
Every tier, and where the cost actually lands
Put it head to head with anything we hold
Its rating, and an embed for your own site
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
quoteErlang MQTT broker for large IoT fleets, relicensed to BSL with production free use limited to one node
Per month by connection and session volumeAttribute-based access control and masking applied inside Snowflake, Databricks and BigQuery
quoteMPP analytical database with a MySQL wire protocol and sub-second aggregation on wide tables
Open source, no licence feeStreaming database that maintains incremental materialised views in SQL instead of Flink jobs
Per RisingWave Unit hourCentralised data access governance from the creators of Apache Ranger, now rebranding as Trust3 AI
quoteThe Meta-lineage distributed SQL query engine, distinct from the Trino fork
Open source, no licence fee