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DBMS > Apache Impala vs. Cassandra vs. GridGain vs. Microsoft SQL Server vs. XTDB

System Properties Comparison Apache Impala vs. Cassandra vs. GridGain vs. Microsoft SQL Server vs. XTDB

Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameApache Impala  Xexclude from comparisonCassandra  Xexclude from comparisonGridGain  Xexclude from comparisonMicrosoft SQL Server  Xexclude from comparisonXTDB infoformerly named Crux  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionAnalytic DBMS for HadoopWide-column store based on ideas of BigTable and DynamoDB infoOptimized for write accessGridGain is an in-memory computing platform, built on Apache IgniteMicrosofts flagship relational DBMSA general purpose database with bitemporal SQL and Datalog and graph queries
Primary database modelRelational DBMSWide column storeKey-value store
Relational DBMS
Relational DBMSDocument store
Secondary database modelsDocument storeVector DBMS infostarting with release V5Document store
Graph DBMS
Spatial DBMS
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score12.45
Rank#40  Overall
#24  Relational DBMS
Score98.83
Rank#12  Overall
#1  Wide column stores
Score1.55
Rank#150  Overall
#26  Key-value stores
#70  Relational DBMS
Score821.56
Rank#3  Overall
#3  Relational DBMS
Score0.18
Rank#332  Overall
#46  Document stores
Websiteimpala.apache.orgcassandra.apache.orgwww.gridgain.comwww.microsoft.com/­en-us/­sql-servergithub.com/­xtdb/­xtdb
www.xtdb.com
Technical documentationimpala.apache.org/­impala-docs.htmlcassandra.apache.org/­doc/­latestwww.gridgain.com/­docs/­index.htmllearn.microsoft.com/­en-US/­sql/­sql-serverwww.xtdb.com/­docs
DeveloperApache Software Foundation infoApache top-level project, originally developed by ClouderaApache Software Foundation infoApache top level project, originally developped by FacebookGridGain Systems, Inc.MicrosoftJuxt Ltd.
Initial release20132008200719892019
Current release4.1.0, June 20224.1.3, July 2023GridGain 8.5.1SQL Server 2022, November 20221.19, September 2021
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoApache Version 2Open Source infoApache version 2commercialcommercial inforestricted free version is availableOpen Source infoMIT License
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenonononono
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

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Implementation languageC++JavaJava, C++, .NetC++Clojure
Server operating systemsLinuxBSD
Linux
OS X
Windows
Linux
OS X
Solaris
Windows
Linux
Windows
All OS with a Java 8 (and higher) VM
Linux
Data schemeyesschema-freeyesyesschema-free
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyesyesyesyes, extensible-data-notation format
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.nonoyesyesno
Secondary indexesyesrestricted infoonly equality queries, not always the best performing solutionyesyesyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLSQL-like DML and DDL statementsSQL-like SELECT, DML and DDL statements (CQL)ANSI-99 for query and DML statements, subset of DDLyeslimited SQL, making use of Apache Calcite
APIs and other access methodsJDBC
ODBC
Proprietary protocol infoCQL (Cassandra Query Language, an SQL-like language)
Thrift
HDFS API
Hibernate
JCache
JDBC
ODBC
Proprietary protocol
RESTful HTTP API
Spring Data
ADO.NET
JDBC
ODBC
OLE DB
Tabular Data Stream (TDS)
HTTP REST
JDBC
Supported programming languagesAll languages supporting JDBC/ODBCC#
C++
Clojure
Erlang
Go
Haskell
Java
JavaScript infoNode.js
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scala
C#
C++
Java
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scala
C#
C++
Delphi
Go
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
PHP
Python
R
Ruby
Visual Basic
Clojure
Java
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresyes infouser defined functions and integration of map-reducenoyes (compute grid and cache interceptors can be used instead)Transact SQL, .NET languages, R, Python and (with SQL Server 2019) Javano
Triggersnoyesyes (cache interceptors and events)yesno
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesShardingSharding infono "single point of failure"Shardingtables can be distributed across several files (horizontal partitioning); sharding through federationnone
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesselectable replication factorselectable replication factor infoRepresentation of geographical distribution of servers is possibleyes (replicated cache)yes, but depending on the SQL-Server Editionyes, each node contains all data
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsyes infoquery execution via MapReduceyesyes (compute grid and hadoop accelerator)nono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemEventual ConsistencyEventual Consistency
Immediate Consistency infocan be individually decided for each write operation
Immediate ConsistencyImmediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integritynononoyesno
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of datanono infoAtomicity and isolation are supported for single operationsACIDACIDACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyesyesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyesyesyesyes, flexibel persistency by using storage technologies like Apache Kafka, RocksDB or LMDB
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.nonoyesyes
User concepts infoAccess controlAccess rights for users, groups and roles infobased on Apache Sentry and KerberosAccess rights for users can be defined per objectSecurity Hooks for custom implementationsfine grained access rights according to SQL-standard
More information provided by the system vendor
Apache ImpalaCassandraGridGainMicrosoft SQL ServerXTDB infoformerly named Crux
Specific characteristicsApache Cassandra is the leading NoSQL, distributed database management system, well...
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Competitive advantagesNo single point of failure ensures 100% availability . Operational simplicity for...
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Typical application scenariosInternet of Things (IOT), fraud detection applications, recommendation engines, product...
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Key customersApple, Netflix, Uber, ING,, Intuit,Fidelity, NY Times, Outbrain, BazaarVoice, Best...
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Market metricsCassandra is used by 40% of the Fortune 100.
» more
Licensing and pricing modelsApache license  Pricing for commercial distributions provided by DataStax and available...
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