Skip to main content
TrustRadius
Astra DB

Astra DB

Overview

What is Astra DB?

Astra DB from DataStax is a vector database for developers that need to get accurate Generative AI applications into production, fast.

Read more
Recent Reviews
Read all reviews

Awards

Products that are considered exceptional by their customers based on a variety of criteria win TrustRadius awards. Learn more about the types of TrustRadius awards to make the best purchase decision. More about TrustRadius Awards

Reviewer Pros & Cons

View all pros & cons
Return to navigation

Pricing

View all pricing
N/A
Unavailable

What is Astra DB?

Astra DB from DataStax is a vector database for developers that need to get accurate Generative AI applications into production, fast.

Entry-level set up fee?

  • No setup fee
For the latest information on pricing, visithttps://www.datastax.com/products/datas…

Offerings

  • Free Trial
  • Free/Freemium Version
  • Premium Consulting/Integration Services

Would you like us to let the vendor know that you want pricing?

14 people also want pricing

Alternatives Pricing

What is MongoDB?

MongoDB is an open source document-oriented database system. It is part of the NoSQL family of database systems. Instead of storing data in tables as is done in a "classical" relational database, MongoDB stores structured data as JSON-like documents with dynamic schemas (MongoDB calls the format…

Return to navigation

Product Demos

DataStax Astra DB Vector Experience

YouTube

Building real-time apps fast and scaling without limits with DataStax

Walnut.io
Return to navigation

Product Details

What is Astra DB?

DataStax Astra DB is a vector database for developers, that can be used to get Generative AI applications into production quickly. Astra DB gives users APIs, data pipelines, and a complete ecosystem integrations to build Gen AI applications on real-time data for more accurate AI that can be deployed in production. Built on Apache Cassandra, Astra DB is a vector database that can make vector updates immediately available to applications and scale to the largest real-time data and streaming workloads securely on any cloud.


According to DataStax, Astra DB is purpose-built to manage mixed workloads, including diverse data types like vectors, non-vectors, and streaming data, all while handling concurrent updates and queries with precision and efficiency. Built on Apache Cassandra it allows for simultaneous search and update on distributed data and streaming workloads with ultra-low latency. This helps developers to create more responsive, more accurate production Gen AI applications that reduce hallucinations.
AI Native JSON APIs also abstracts the complexity of indexing vectors, non-vectors and any data for Gen AI.

Astra DB Features

  • Supported: Multi-model
  • Supported: Multi-region
  • Supported: Change Data Capture (CDC) for Astra DB
  • Supported: Storage Attached Indexing (SAI)
  • Supported: Serverless

Astra DB Video

Vector Search on Astra DB

Astra DB Technical Details

Deployment TypesSoftware as a Service (SaaS), Cloud, or Web-Based
Operating SystemsUnspecified
Mobile ApplicationNo
Supported CountriesAMER, EMEA, APAC

Frequently Asked Questions

Astra DB from DataStax is a vector database for developers that need to get accurate Generative AI applications into production, fast.

Amazon DynamoDB, MongoDB, and Azure Cosmos DB are common alternatives for Astra DB.

Reviewers rate Support Rating highest, with a score of 8.9.

The most common users of Astra DB are from Mid-sized Companies (51-1,000 employees).
Return to navigation

Comparisons

View all alternatives
Return to navigation

Reviews and Ratings

(43)

Attribute Ratings

Reviews

(1-25 of 31)
Companies can't remove reviews or game the system. Here's why
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Astra DB works well for cloud-native applications needing highly scalable and resilient data storage with millisecond response times but is less ideal for situations requiring advanced SQL functionality or total control over the infrastructure.
Matthew Hirst | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
The perfect use case for Astra DB is if you have an existing Cassandra setup and would like to move to a cost-effective managed service.
Even if you aren't using Cassandra yet, if you have workloads with very high writes that need low latency, it's a great choice.
Any no-sql key-value or wide column workloads.

It's also great for vector search.

It's not great for very relational data models with a lot of joins, etc.
Edoardo Conte | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Well suited:
- Retrieval augmented generation. It is best combined with LLM solutions for generative AI applications
- Recommendation algorithms. Whenever you need to show personalized content to your users, using vector search is an easy and effective solution to implement
- Semantic search. Similar to previous, just with a different vie angle to your data.


Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Astra DB is very well suited for scenarios where you need to use vector search. It offers all the functionality that other databases do and is always on the cutting edge of new technology. The fact that it is based on Cassandra makes it even easier for people looking for a do-it-all database. The only reason you might not want to consider it is if your existing database solution also provides vector search capabilities along with traditional DB features.
Score 8 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Astra DB supports both SQL and No SQL model making it versatile for a wide range of applications. Being based on Cassandra, if one is familiar with Cassandra query language will have a shorter learning curve when starting with Astra DB. If one has to reduce cost on the basis of usage, Astra DB provides good plans.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Astra DB's design, which is built for distributed data storage and retrieval, can benefit applications dealing with enormous datasets scattered over numerous nodes. Astra DB is ideal for applications requiring a flexible data model. It adheres to the NoSQL data paradigm, which allows for dynamic and developing data formats.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Astra DB excels in dealing with applications that have quickly increasing and unexpected demands. It is built for horizontal scalability, letting us add additional capacity as the demands of our application expand. Astra DB's design, which is built for distributed data storage and retrieval, might benefit applications that deal with enormous datasets scattered over numerous nodes.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
In the case of data availability, Astra DB ensures high availability by leveraging the distributed architecture with no single-point failure of Cassandra. It promises data durability. Also like Cassandra, Astra DB has low-latency writes for applications that require frequent updates.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
It has a really good performance and high scalability. Astra DB is really easy to configure and really simple to learn for our employees. I hope Astra DB really tweaks their game in sales, such as webinar or other marketing techniques like the other platforms or Astra DB competitor are doing.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Astra DB is a great tool to improve training and organization throughout our company. It has horizontal infinite scalability, distributed capacity, and availability. The ease of the backup tool was one thing I hoped to see in their upcoming major version. Possibly flexible integration within OpsCenter. Astra DB is a great tool to be used.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
While handling data at a large scale is where Astra DB really shines. The scalability and maintenance department takes 5 stars whereas the security and the ease of learning department falls short. But the overall performance is truly on the positive side of the scale.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Managing data and keeping track of data is so easy. It is highly recommended by our organization and it is simply very easy to use. The best thing about Astra DB is they offer support on Cassandra which in general is difficult to install and maintain. It is the best tool we could ask for.
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Astra is great for when you need a quick and affordable Cassandra cluster with zero maintenance overhead. Setup is easy, and you can get running in minutes. Response times across the globe are quick. Monitoring your cluster is easy using provided prometheus and grafana graphs.
Astra does limit the amount of control you have over your cluster and sharding. (not a ton, but more restrictive than running your own cluster, as expected.) So if you really need fine-tuned control, Astra may not be the best fit. That being said, the point of having a managed cluster is that you do not need to perform all of that management yourself.
Emilio Figueroa Torres | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
I recommend Astra DB for any scenario where you need to store immutable data (it can be updated, but it fits better when your data is immutable), also with an access pattern of shard-key + sort-key, and where there's a need to have massive and fast writing speed and high availability. In particular, Astra DB serverless is a great option if you need a full managed solution capable to grow on demand.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
AstraDB is well suited for scenarios where you require a highly scalable and distributed database to handle large amounts of data with low latency. In my experience, using AstraDB for a chatbot application was an excellent choice as it allowed me to efficiently store and retrieve user messages and chatbot responses, providing a seamless conversational experience.AstraDB's support for Cassandra Query Language (CQL) made it easy to query data, and its built-in security features such as encryption and token-based authentication added an extra layer of protection for user data. Additionally, AstraDB's serverless architecture allowed me to focus on developing my application without worrying about managing infrastructure or scaling.However, AstraDB might not be the best choice for scenarios where you need strong ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) properties, as it prioritizes availability and partition tolerance over strict consistency. In cases where you require real-time data consistency, such as financial applications or inventory management systems, a traditional relational database might be more appropriate. Furthermore, if your application requires complex joins or transactions, AstraDB's NoSQL nature could be limiting, and you may want to consider an alternative solution like a SQL-based database.
Henning Kosmack | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
For usage that can quickly go up, and perhaps even down again, Astra DB is very well suited. That is why Internet applications that a truly mass-market, like games, should consider such a database. For small niche applications, it might be a bit overkill, because it is a sophisticated database.
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
We use Astra DB to improve our management systems. Storing data has become hassle-free and quite simple. When launching a Cassandra-based cloud application, Astra DB is exactly what you need. In addition to the standard training programs and videos, the extended support and training require significant additional effort to activate and cover which I feel is a bit more tedious task.
Rahul Singh | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Incentivized
Astra is great for storing and retrieving information that is coming from users, APIs, “things”. It’s both a transactional data store and a “cache” replacement because of its scale and speed. It’s also a great starting point to build APIs that don’t need immediate business logic because tables automatically have APIs available.

It is not for databases that require Joins or analytics. Though joins and aggregate operations can be done in SparkSQL or Presto / Trino it is not going to be as fast. It is not for that. There are better relational databases for that.

If there’s a need to store and retrieve data for tens of thousands of users / systems (or more) simultaneously this is a must since relational databases can become prohibitively expensive.


Return to navigation