DBMS > Cassandra vs. Couchbase vs. NuoDB vs. Postgres-XL vs. PostgreSQL
System Properties Comparison Cassandra vs. Couchbase vs. NuoDB vs. Postgres-XL vs. PostgreSQL
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| Name | Cassandra Xexclude from comparison | Couchbase  Originally called Membase Xexclude from comparison | NuoDB Xexclude from comparison | Postgres-XL Xexclude from comparison | PostgreSQL Xexclude from comparison | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Description | Wide-column store based on ideas of BigTable and DynamoDB Optimized for write access | A distributed document store with integrated cache, a powerful search engine, in-built operational and analytical capabilities, and an embedded mobile database | NuoDB is a webscale distributed database that supports SQL and ACID transactions | Based on PostgreSQL enhanced with MPP and write-scale-out cluster features | Widely used open source RDBMS Developed as objectoriented DBMS (Postgres), gradually enhanced with 'standards' like SQL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primary database model | Wide column store | Document store | Relational DBMS | Relational DBMS | Relational DBMS with object oriented extensions, e.g.: user defined types/functions and inheritance. Handling of key/value pairs with hstore module. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secondary database models | Vector DBMS starting with release V5 | Key-value store originating from the former Membase product and supporting the Memcached protocol Spatial DBMS using the Geocouch extensionSearch engine Time Series DBMS Vector DBMS | Document store Spatial DBMS | Document store Graph DBMS with Apache AgeSpatial DBMS Vector DBMS with pgvector extension | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Website | cassandra.apache.org | www.couchbase.com | www.3ds.com/nuodb-distributed-sql-database | www.postgres-xl.org | www.postgresql.org | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical documentation | cassandra.apache.org/doc/latest | docs.couchbase.com | doc.nuodb.com | www.postgres-xl.org/documentation | www.postgresql.org/docs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Developer | Apache Software Foundation Apache top level project, originally developped by Facebook | Couchbase, Inc. | Dassault Systèmes originally NuoDB, Inc. | PostgreSQL Global Development Group www.postgresql.org/developer | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Initial release | 2008 | 2011 | 2013 | 2014 since 2012, originally named StormDB | 1989 1989: Postgres, 1996: PostgreSQL | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Current release | 4.1.3, July 2023 | Server: 7.2, June 2023; Mobile: 3.1, March 2022; Couchbase Capella (DBaaS), June 2023 | 10 R1, October 2018 | 16.2, February 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| License Commercial or Open Source | Open Source Apache version 2 | Open Source Business Source License (BSL 1.1); Commercial licenses also available | commercial limited edition free | Open Source Mozilla public license | Open Source BSD | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cloud-based only Only available as a cloud service | no | no | no | no | no | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DBaaS offerings (sponsored links) Database as a Service Providers of DBaaS offerings, please contact us to be listed. | Astra DB: Multi-cloud DBaaS built on Apache Cassandra. | Aiven for PostgreSQL: Fully managed PostgreSQL for developers with 70+ extensions and flexible orchestration tools. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Implementation language | Java | C, C++, Go and Erlang | C++ | C | C | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Server operating systems | BSD Linux OS X Windows | Linux OS X Windows | hosted Amazon EC2, Windows Azure, SoftLayer Linux OS X Windows | Linux macOS | FreeBSD HP-UX Linux NetBSD OpenBSD OS X Solaris Unix Windows | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Data scheme | schema-free | schema-free | yes | yes | yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Typing predefined data types such as float or date | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| XML support Some form of processing data in XML format, e.g. support for XML data structures, and/or support for XPath, XQuery or XSLT. | no | no | yes XML type, but no XML query functionality | yes specific XML-type available, but no XML query functionality. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Secondary indexes | restricted only equality queries, not always the best performing solution | yes | yes | yes | yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SQL Support of SQL | SQL-like SELECT, DML and DDL statements (CQL) | SQL++, extends ANSI SQL to JSON for operational, transactional, and analytic use cases | yes | yes distributed, parallel query execution | yes standard with numerous extensions | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| APIs and other access methods | Proprietary protocol CQL (Cassandra Query Language, an SQL-like language) Thrift | CLI Client HTTP REST Kafka Connector Native language bindings for CRUD, Query, Search and Analytics APIs Spark Connector Spring Data | ADO.NET 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 languages | C# C++ Clojure Erlang Go Haskell Java JavaScript Node.jsPerl PHP Python Ruby Scala | .Net C Go Java JavaScript Node.jsKotlin PHP Python Ruby Scala | .Net C C++ Go Java JavaScript JavaScript (Node.js) PHP Python Ruby | .Net C C++ Delphi Erlang Java JavaScript (Node.js) Perl PHP Python Tcl | .Net C C++ Delphi Java JDBCJavaScript (Node.js) Perl PHP Python Tcl | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Server-side scripts Stored procedures | no | Functions and timers in JavaScript and UDFs in Java, Python, SQL++ | Java, SQL | user defined functions | user defined functions realized in proprietary language PL/pgSQL or with common languages like Perl, Python, Tcl etc. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Triggers | yes | yes via the TAP protocol | yes | yes | yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Partitioning methods Methods for storing different data on different nodes | Sharding no "single point of failure" | Automatic Sharding | data is dynamically stored/cached on the nodes where it is read/written | horizontal partitioning | partitioning by range, list and (since PostgreSQL 11) by hash | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Replication methods Methods for redundantly storing data on multiple nodes | selectable replication factor Representation of geographical distribution of servers is possible | Multi-source replication including cross data center replication Source-replica replication | yes Managed transparently by NuoDB | Source-replica replication other methods possible by using 3rd party extensions | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| MapReduce Offers an API for user-defined Map/Reduce methods | yes | yes | no | no | no | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Consistency concepts Methods to ensure consistency in a distributed system | Eventual Consistency Immediate Consistency can be individually decided for each write operation | Eventual Consistency Immediate Consistency selectable on a per-operation basis | Immediate Consistency | Immediate Consistency | Immediate Consistency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Foreign keys Referential integrity | no | no | yes | yes | yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Transaction concepts Support to ensure data integrity after non-atomic manipulations of data | no Atomicity and isolation are supported for single operations | ACID | ACID tunable commit protocol | ACID MVCC | ACID | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Concurrency Support for concurrent manipulation of data | yes | yes | yes MVCC | yes | yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Durability Support for making data persistent | yes | yes | yes | yes | yes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In-memory capabilities Is there an option to define some or all structures to be held in-memory only. | no | yes Ephemeral buckets | yes Temporary table | no | no | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| User concepts Access control | Access rights for users can be defined per object | User and Administrator separation with password-based and LDAP integrated Authentication. Role-base access control. | Standard SQL roles/ privileges, Administrative Users | fine grained access rights according to SQL-standard | fine grained access rights according to SQL-standard | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| More information provided by the system vendor | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cassandra | Couchbase Originally called Membase | NuoDB | Postgres-XL | PostgreSQL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Specific characteristics | Apache Cassandra is the leading NoSQL, distributed database management system, well... » more | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Competitive advantages | No single point of failure ensures 100% availability . Operational simplicity for... » more | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Typical application scenarios | Internet of Things (IOT), fraud detection applications, recommendation engines, product... » more | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Key customers | Apple, Netflix, Uber, ING,, Intuit,Fidelity, NY Times, Outbrain, BazaarVoice, Best... » more | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Market metrics | Cassandra is used by 40% of the Fortune 100. » more | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Licensing and pricing models | Apache license Pricing for commercial distributions provided by DataStax and available... » more | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| More resources | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Cassandra | Couchbase Originally called Membase | NuoDB | Postgres-XL | PostgreSQL | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| DB-Engines blog posts | Cassandra keeps climbing the ranks of the DB-Engines Ranking Oracle is the DBMS of the Year Winners, losers and an attractive newcomer in Novembers DB-Engines ranking | Couchbase climbs up the DB-Engines Ranking, increasing its popularity by 10% every month | Meet some database management systems you are likely to hear more about in the future | PostgreSQL is the DBMS of the Year 2023 Snowflake is the DBMS of the Year 2022, defending the title from last year Snowflake is the DBMS of the Year 2021 Monitoring PostgreSQL with Redgate Monitor What Is Cassandra? Working, Features, and Uses - Spiceworks Inc Here's What to Know About Apache Cassandra 5.0 How Uber Optimized Cassandra Operations At Scale Microsoft extends life support for aging Apache Cassandra 3.11 database Cassandra is the “best f*cking database for gen AI,” says DataStax CEO provided by Google News Q4 Earnings Highs And Lows: Couchbase (NASDAQ:BASE) Vs The Rest Of The Data Storage Stocks Couchbase Announces New Features to Accelerate AI-Powered Adaptive Applications for Customers Couchbase's revenue grows 20% and its stock rises in extended trading Short Interest in Couchbase, Inc. (NASDAQ:BASE) Increases By 13.6% Couchbase Server and Capella to gain vector support provided by Google News Paul DiLaura of Dassault Systemes Joins NuoDB Board of Directors Paul DiLaura of Dassault Systemes Joins NuoDB Board of Directors Dassault Systèmes Announces the Acquisition of NuoDB, a Cloud-Native Distributed SQL Database Leader Deploy the NuoDB Database in Docker Containers NuoDB set to improve distributed SQL performance provided by Google News Crunchy Data Introduces Postgres Query Engine for Data Lakes, Crunchy Bridge for Analytics Why PostgreSQL Is the Bedrock for the Future of Data Introducing OCI Database with PostgreSQL: Completing Our Cloud Database Suite for Every Need Your MySQL 5.7 and PostgreSQL 11 databases will be automatically enrolled into Amazon RDS Extended Support ... YugabyteDB 2.21 Introduces Industry's First Native Disaster Recovery Orchestration Solution for a Distributed SQL ... provided by Google News | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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