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DBMS > Apache Impala vs. Cassandra vs. EXASOL vs. Kdb vs. Snowflake

System Properties Comparison Apache Impala vs. Cassandra vs. EXASOL vs. Kdb vs. Snowflake

Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameApache Impala  Xexclude from comparisonCassandra  Xexclude from comparisonEXASOL  Xexclude from comparisonKdb  Xexclude from comparisonSnowflake  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionAnalytic DBMS for HadoopWide-column store based on ideas of BigTable and DynamoDB infoOptimized for write accessHigh-performance, in-memory, MPP database specifically designed for in-memory analytics.High performance Time Series DBMSCloud-based data warehousing service for structured and semi-structured data
Primary database modelRelational DBMSWide column storeRelational DBMSTime Series DBMS
Vector DBMS
Relational DBMS
Secondary database modelsDocument storeVector DBMS infostarting with release V5Relational DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score13.77
Rank#40  Overall
#24  Relational DBMS
Score101.89
Rank#12  Overall
#1  Wide column stores
Score1.99
Rank#124  Overall
#58  Relational DBMS
Score7.55
Rank#53  Overall
#3  Time Series DBMS
#1  Vector DBMS
Score121.33
Rank#9  Overall
#6  Relational DBMS
Websiteimpala.apache.orgcassandra.apache.orgwww.exasol.comkx.comwww.snowflake.com
Technical documentationimpala.apache.org/­impala-docs.htmlcassandra.apache.org/­doc/­latestwww.exasol.com/­resourcescode.kx.comdocs.snowflake.net/­manuals/­index.html
DeveloperApache Software Foundation infoApache top-level project, originally developed by ClouderaApache Software Foundation infoApache top level project, originally developped by FacebookExasolKx Systems, a division of First Derivatives plcSnowflake Computing Inc.
Initial release2013200820002000 infokdb was released 2000, kdb+ in 20032014
Current release4.1.0, June 20224.1.3, July 20233.6, May 2018
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoApache Version 2Open Source infoApache version 2commercialcommercial infofree 32-bit versioncommercial
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenonononoyes
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed.
Astra DB: Multi-cloud DBaaS built on Apache Cassandra.
Implementation languageC++Javaq
Server operating systemsLinuxBSD
Linux
OS X
Windows
Linux
OS X
Solaris
Windows
hosted
Data schemeyesschema-freeyesyesyes infosupport of semi-structured data formats (JSON, XML, Avro)
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyesyesyesyes
XML support infoSome form of processing data in XML format, e.g. support for XML data structures, and/or support for XPath, XQuery or XSLT.nononoyesyes
Secondary indexesyesrestricted infoonly equality queries, not always the best performing solutionyesyes infotable attribute 'grouped'
SQL infoSupport of SQLSQL-like DML and DDL statementsSQL-like SELECT, DML and DDL statements (CQL)yesSQL-like query language (q)yes
APIs and other access methodsJDBC
ODBC
Proprietary protocol infoCQL (Cassandra Query Language, an SQL-like language)
Thrift
.Net
JDBC
ODBC
WebSocket
HTTP API
JDBC
Jupyter
Kafka
ODBC
WebSocket
CLI Client
JDBC
ODBC
Supported programming languagesAll languages supporting JDBC/ODBCC#
C++
Clojure
Erlang
Go
Haskell
Java
JavaScript infoNode.js
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scala
Java
Lua
Python
R
C
C#
C++
Go
J
Java
JavaScript
Lua
MatLab
Perl
PHP
Python
R
Scala
JavaScript (Node.js)
Python
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresyes infouser defined functions and integration of map-reducenouser defined functionsuser defined functionsuser defined functions
Triggersnoyesyesyes infowith viewsno infosimilar concept for controling cloud resources
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesShardingSharding infono "single point of failure"Shardinghorizontal partitioningyes
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesselectable replication factorselectable replication factor infoRepresentation of geographical distribution of servers is possibleSource-replica replicationyes
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsyes infoquery execution via MapReduceyesyes infoHadoop integrationno infosimilar paradigm used for internal processingno
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemEventual ConsistencyEventual Consistency
Immediate Consistency infocan be individually decided for each write operation
Immediate ConsistencyImmediate ConsistencyImmediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integritynonoyesyesyes
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of datanono infoAtomicity and isolation are supported for single operationsACIDnoACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyesyesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyesyesyesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.nonoyesyesno
User concepts infoAccess controlAccess rights for users, groups and roles infobased on Apache Sentry and KerberosAccess rights for users can be defined per objectAccess rights for users, groups and roles according to SQL-standardrights management via user accountsUsers with fine-grained authorization concept, user roles and pluggable authentication
More information provided by the system vendor
Apache ImpalaCassandraEXASOLKdbSnowflake
Specific characteristicsApache Cassandra is the leading NoSQL, distributed database management system, well...
» more
Integrated columnar database & programming system for streaming, real time and historical...
» more
Competitive advantagesNo single point of failure ensures 100% availability . Operational simplicity for...
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provides seamless scalability; runs on industry standard server platforms; is top-ranked...
» more
Typical application scenariosInternet of Things (IOT), fraud detection applications, recommendation engines, product...
» more
tick database streaming sensor data massive intelligence applications oil and gas...
» more
Key customersApple, Netflix, Uber, ING,, Intuit,Fidelity, NY Times, Outbrain, BazaarVoice, Best...
» more
Goldman Sachs Morgan Stanley Merrill Lynch J.P. Morgan Deutsche Bank IEX Securities...
» more
Market metricsCassandra is used by 40% of the Fortune 100.
» more
kdb+ performance and reliability proven by our customers in critical infrastructure...
» more
Licensing and pricing modelsApache license  Pricing for commercial distributions provided by DataStax and available...
» more
upon request
» more
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