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DBMS > Apache Cassandra vs. Apache Impala vs. Postgres-XL vs. PostgreSQL

System Properties Comparison Apache Cassandra vs. Apache Impala vs. Postgres-XL vs. PostgreSQL

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Editorial information provided by DB-Engines
NameApache Cassandra  Xexclude from comparisonApache Impala  Xexclude from comparisonPostgres-XL  Xexclude from comparisonPostgreSQL  Xexclude from comparison
DescriptionWide-column store based on ideas of BigTable and DynamoDB infoOptimized for write accessAnalytic DBMS for HadoopBased on PostgreSQL enhanced with MPP and write-scale-out cluster featuresWidely used open source RDBMS infoDeveloped as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQL
Primary database modelWide column storeRelational DBMSRelational DBMSRelational DBMS infowith object oriented extensions, e.g.: user defined types/functions and inheritance. Handling of key/value pairs with hstore module.
Secondary database modelsVector DBMS infostarting with release V5Document storeDocument store
Spatial DBMS
Document store
Graph DBMS infowith Apache Age
Spatial DBMS
Vector DBMS infowith pgvector extension
DB-Engines Ranking infomeasures the popularity of database management systemsranking trend
Trend Chart
Score98.94
Rank#11  Overall
#1  Wide column stores
Score10.63
Rank#40  Overall
#24  Relational DBMS
Score0.43
Rank#260  Overall
#119  Relational DBMS
Score644.36
Rank#4  Overall
#4  Relational DBMS
Websitecassandra.apache.orgimpala.apache.orgwww.postgres-xl.orgwww.postgresql.org
Technical documentationcassandra.apache.org/­doc/­latestimpala.apache.org/­impala-docs.htmlwww.postgres-xl.org/­documentationwww.postgresql.org/­docs
DeveloperApache Software Foundation infoApache top level project, originally developped by FacebookApache Software Foundation infoApache top-level project, originally developed by ClouderaPostgreSQL Global Development Group infowww.postgresql.org/­developer
Initial release200820132014 infosince 2012, originally named StormDB1989 info1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL
Current release5.0-rc1, July 20244.1.0, June 202210 R1, October 201816.4, August 2024
License infoCommercial or Open SourceOpen Source infoApache version 2Open Source infoApache Version 2Open Source infoMozilla public licenseOpen Source infoBSD
Cloud-based only infoOnly available as a cloud servicenononono
DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) infoDatabase as a Service

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Implementation languageJavaC++CC
Server operating systemsBSD
Linux
OS X
Windows
LinuxLinux
macOS
FreeBSD
HP-UX
Linux
NetBSD
OpenBSD
OS X
Solaris
Unix
Windows
Data schemeschema-freeyesyesyes
Typing infopredefined data types such as float or dateyesyesyesyes
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.nonoyes infoXML type, but no XML query functionalityyes infospecific XML-type available, but no XML query functionality.
Secondary indexesrestricted infoonly equality queries, not always the best performing solutionyesyesyes
SQL infoSupport of SQLSQL-like SELECT, DML and DDL statements (CQL)SQL-like DML and DDL statementsyes infodistributed, parallel query executionyes infostandard with numerous extensions
APIs and other access methodsProprietary protocol infoCQL (Cassandra Query Language, an SQL-like language)
Thrift
JDBC
ODBC
ADO.NET
JDBC
native C library
ODBC
streaming API for large objects
ADO.NET
JDBC
native C library
ODBC
streaming API for large objects
Supported programming languagesC#
C++
Clojure
Erlang
Go
Haskell
Java
JavaScript infoNode.js
Perl
PHP
Python
Ruby
Scala
All languages supporting JDBC/ODBC.Net
C
C++
Delphi
Erlang
Java
JavaScript (Node.js)
Perl
PHP
Python
Tcl
.Net
C
C++
Delphi
Java infoJDBC
JavaScript (Node.js)
Perl
PHP
Python
Tcl
Server-side scripts infoStored proceduresnoyes infouser defined functions and integration of map-reduceuser defined functionsuser defined functions inforealized in proprietary language PL/pgSQL or with common languages like Perl, Python, Tcl etc.
Triggersyesnoyesyes
Partitioning methods infoMethods for storing different data on different nodesSharding infono "single point of failure"Shardinghorizontal partitioningpartitioning by range, list and (since PostgreSQL 11) by hash
Replication methods infoMethods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodesselectable replication factor infoRepresentation of geographical distribution of servers is possibleselectable replication factorSource-replica replication infoother methods possible by using 3rd party extensions
MapReduce infoOffers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methodsyesyes infoquery execution via MapReducenono
Consistency concepts infoMethods to ensure consistency in a distributed systemEventual Consistency
Immediate Consistency infocan be individually decided for each write operation
Eventual ConsistencyImmediate ConsistencyImmediate Consistency
Foreign keys infoReferential integritynonoyesyes
Transaction concepts infoSupport to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of datano infoAtomicity and isolation are supported for single operationsnoACID infoMVCCACID
Concurrency infoSupport for concurrent manipulation of datayesyesyesyes
Durability infoSupport for making data persistentyesyesyesyes
In-memory capabilities infoIs there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only.nononono
User concepts infoAccess controlAccess rights for users can be defined per objectAccess rights for users, groups and roles infobased on Apache Sentry and Kerberosfine grained access rights according to SQL-standardfine grained access rights according to SQL-standard
More information provided by the system vendor
Apache CassandraApache ImpalaPostgres-XLPostgreSQL
Specific characteristicsApache Cassandra is the leading NoSQL, distributed database management system, well...
» more
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 metricsApache Cassandra is used by 40% of the Fortune 100.
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Licensing and pricing modelsApache license  Pricing for commercial distributions provided by DataStax and available...
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