Apache Cassandra vs. Azure Databricks

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Cassandra
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Cassandra is a no-SQL database from Apache.N/A
Azure Databricks
Score 8.6 out of 10
N/A
Azure Databricks is a service available on Microsoft's Azure platform and suite of products. It provides the latest versions of Apache Spark so users can integrate with open source libraries, or spin up clusters and build in a fully managed Apache Spark environment with the global scale and availability of Azure. Clusters are set up, configured, and fine-tuned to ensure reliability and performance without the need for monitoring. The solution includes autoscaling and auto-termination to improve…N/A
Pricing
Apache CassandraAzure Databricks
Editions & Modules
No answers on this topic
No answers on this topic
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
CassandraAzure Databricks
Free Trial
NoNo
Free/Freemium Version
NoNo
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional Details
More Pricing Information
Community Pulse
Apache CassandraAzure Databricks
Features
Apache CassandraAzure Databricks
NoSQL Databases
Comparison of NoSQL Databases features of Product A and Product B
Apache Cassandra
8.0
5 Ratings
11% below category average
Azure Databricks
-
Ratings
Performance8.55 Ratings00 Ratings
Availability8.85 Ratings00 Ratings
Concurrency7.65 Ratings00 Ratings
Security8.05 Ratings00 Ratings
Scalability9.55 Ratings00 Ratings
Data model flexibility6.75 Ratings00 Ratings
Deployment model flexibility7.05 Ratings00 Ratings
Platform Connectivity
Comparison of Platform Connectivity features of Product A and Product B
Apache Cassandra
-
Ratings
Azure Databricks
7.3
4 Ratings
13% below category average
Connect to Multiple Data Sources00 Ratings6.04 Ratings
Extend Existing Data Sources00 Ratings7.84 Ratings
Automatic Data Format Detection00 Ratings7.44 Ratings
MDM Integration00 Ratings8.03 Ratings
Data Exploration
Comparison of Data Exploration features of Product A and Product B
Apache Cassandra
-
Ratings
Azure Databricks
6.8
4 Ratings
22% below category average
Visualization00 Ratings6.04 Ratings
Interactive Data Analysis00 Ratings7.63 Ratings
Data Preparation
Comparison of Data Preparation features of Product A and Product B
Apache Cassandra
-
Ratings
Azure Databricks
8.6
4 Ratings
5% above category average
Interactive Data Cleaning and Enrichment00 Ratings8.24 Ratings
Data Transformations00 Ratings9.04 Ratings
Data Encryption00 Ratings9.44 Ratings
Built-in Processors00 Ratings7.84 Ratings
Platform Data Modeling
Comparison of Platform Data Modeling features of Product A and Product B
Apache Cassandra
-
Ratings
Azure Databricks
8.0
4 Ratings
5% below category average
Multiple Model Development Languages and Tools00 Ratings6.44 Ratings
Automated Machine Learning00 Ratings8.64 Ratings
Single platform for multiple model development00 Ratings8.44 Ratings
Self-Service Model Delivery00 Ratings8.44 Ratings
Model Deployment
Comparison of Model Deployment features of Product A and Product B
Apache Cassandra
-
Ratings
Azure Databricks
8.3
4 Ratings
3% below category average
Flexible Model Publishing Options00 Ratings8.04 Ratings
Security, Governance, and Cost Controls00 Ratings8.64 Ratings
Best Alternatives
Apache CassandraAzure Databricks
Small Businesses
IBM Cloudant
IBM Cloudant
Score 7.4 out of 10
Jupyter Notebook
Jupyter Notebook
Score 8.5 out of 10
Medium-sized Companies
IBM Cloudant
IBM Cloudant
Score 7.4 out of 10
Posit
Posit
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprises
IBM Cloudant
IBM Cloudant
Score 7.4 out of 10
Posit
Posit
Score 10.0 out of 10
All AlternativesView all alternativesView all alternatives
User Ratings
Apache CassandraAzure Databricks
Likelihood to Recommend
6.0
(16 ratings)
9.8
(3 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
8.6
(16 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Usability
7.0
(1 ratings)
8.0
(1 ratings)
Support Rating
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
Implementation Rating
7.0
(1 ratings)
-
(0 ratings)
User Testimonials
Apache CassandraAzure Databricks
Likelihood to Recommend
Apache
Apache Cassandra is a NoSQL database and well suited where you need highly available, linearly scalable, tunable consistency and high performance across varying workloads. It has worked well for our use cases, and I shared my experiences to use it effectively at the last Cassandra summit! http://bit.ly/1Ok56TK It is a NoSQL database, finally you can tune it to be strongly consistent and successfully use it as such. However those are not usual patterns, as you negotiate on latency. It works well if you require that. If your use case needs strongly consistent environments with semantics of a relational database or if the use case needs a data warehouse, or if you need NoSQL with ACID transactions, Apache Cassandra may not be the optimum choice.
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Microsoft
Centralised notebooks are out directly into production. This can lead to poorly engineered code. It is very good for fast queries and our data team are always able to provide what we ask for. It is a big cost to our business so it is important it runs efficiently and returns on our investment.
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Pros
Apache
  • Continuous availability: as a fully distributed database (no master nodes), we can update nodes with rolling restarts and accommodate minor outages without impacting our customer services.
  • Linear scalability: for every unit of compute that you add, you get an equivalent unit of capacity. The same application can scale from a single developer's laptop to a web-scale service with billions of rows in a table.
  • Amazing performance: if you design your data model correctly, bearing in mind the queries you need to answer, you can get answers in milliseconds.
  • Time-series data: Cassandra excels at recording, processing, and retrieving time-series data. It's a simple matter to version everything and simply record what happens, rather than going back and editing things. Then, you can compute things from the recorded history.
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Microsoft
  • Data Processing and Transformations based on Spark
  • Delta Lakehouse when clubbed with an external cloud storage
  • Governance using Unity Catalog to unify IAM
  • Delta Live Tables is a product, which although relatively newer, has a great potential with the visuals of a pipeline.
Read full review
Cons
Apache
  • Cassandra runs on the JVM and therefor may require a lot of GC tuning for read/write intensive applications.
  • Requires manual periodic maintenance - for example it is recommended to run a cleanup on a regular basis.
  • There are a lot of knobs and buttons to configure the system. For many cases the default configuration will be sufficient, but if its not - you will need significant ramp up on the inner workings of Cassandra in order to effectively tune it.
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Microsoft
  • Intuitive interface
  • Ease of use
  • Providing FAQ or QRGs
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Likelihood to Renew
Apache
I would recommend Cassandra DB to those who know their use case very well, as well as know how they are going to store and retrieve data. If you need a guarantee in data storage and retrieval, and a DB that can be linearly grown by adding nodes across availability zones and regions, then this is the database you should choose.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Usability
Apache
It’s great tool but it can be complicated when it comes administration and maintenance.
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Microsoft
The developers are able to switch between Python and SQL in the Notebook which allows the collaboration of SQL analyst and Data scientist. The integration of Mosaic AI allows users to write complex codes in natural languages. Unity catalog has centralized the security and governance features and simplified the process of maintaining it
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Support Rating
Apache
Sometimes instead giving straight answer, we ‘re getting transfered to talk professional service.
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Microsoft
No answers on this topic
Alternatives Considered
Apache
We evaluated MongoDB also, but don't like the single point failure possibility. The HBase coupled us too tightly to the Hadoop world while we prefer more technical flexibility. Also HBase is designed for "cold"/old historical data lake use cases and is not typically used for web and mobile applications due to its performance concern. Cassandra, by contrast, offers the availability and performance necessary for developing highly available applications. Furthermore, the Hadoop technology stack is typically deployed in a single location, while in the big international enterprise context, we demand the feasibility for deployment across countries and continents, hence finally we are favor of Cassandra
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Microsoft
I have found Azure Databricks to be much better than Snowflake for handling bigger, diverse data types. Snowflake is much simpler and better for smaller warehousing. The real time processing is much better in Azure Databricks and we have much more language options. Snowflake is more expensive but simpler to use. Both are great for different needs.
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Return on Investment
Apache
  • I have no experience with this but from the blogs and news what I believe is that in businesses where there is high demand for scalability, Cassandra is a good choice to go for.
  • Since it works on CQL, it is quite familiar with SQL in understanding therefore it does not prevent a new employee to start in learning and having the Cassandra experience at an industrial level.
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Microsoft
  • The support team is amazing, they help you at every stage of the projects, from sales to delivery.
  • On a framework level, it has had an amazing impact and has reduced the clients overall data platform costs by a staggering 65%
  • There has been a 40% Manual work requirement on average for the clients when they move to Azure Databricks Data Platform
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ScreenShots