How Makers Build
Check my stackPlan my stack
Menu

Apache Cassandra

Open-source distributed NoSQL database that spreads data across many nodes with no single leader, queried with the SQL-like CQL.

Visit cassandra.apache.org ↗Alternatives
Ask your AI about this, with this page as the source:ChatGPT ↗Claude ↗Perplexity ↗

Apache Cassandra is a wide-column NoSQL database for workloads that write a lot of data and must stay up when machines fail. It is an Apache Software Foundation project under the Apache 2.0 license, with no paid edition from the project itself.

The model to understand: a cluster is a ring of equal nodes with no primary. Each row's partition key is hashed to decide which nodes own it, and copies go to as many replica nodes as the keyspace's replication factor says, across one or several data centers. Nodes track each other with a gossip protocol, and capacity grows by adding nodes. You query it with CQL, which looks like SQL but has no joins.

For a small team: official drivers for Java, Python, Node.js and Go, a Docker image to start a node locally, and since version 5.0 storage-attached indexes for filtering on non-key columns, vector search, and dynamic data masking. Managed versions are sold by third parties such as Amazon Keyspaces, DataStax Astra and Instaclustr.

Limits: data modeling is query-first. There are no joins and no foreign keys, so you denormalize and keep one table per query. Writes are eventually consistent by default, with lightweight transactions when you need linearizable updates. A single node is only useful for learning, so production means running, repairing and upgrading a multi-node cluster yourself or paying a host.

Where it fits

Database · Run it yourselfVery high write volumes spread across many nodes and data centers with no single primary, such as event logs, messaging and time series.Trade-off: No joins or foreign keys, so you model one table per query; running, repairing and upgrading a multi-node cluster is real ongoing work for a small team.

Who uses it

No maker's live product on record yet, and 7 open-source projects that declare it in their code.

Declared in code 7How evidence is collected →

We haven't found a maker's live product that uses Apache Cassandra yet — only the open-source projects below, which declare it in their code.

Open source: a project that declares Apache Cassandra as a dependency in its public code — verifiable, but not necessarily a live product.

Alternatives to Apache Cassandra

All alternatives by situation →
SupabasePostgres plus auth, storage and realtime in one project.Open sourceFree tier565 makers · database
ConvexRealtime, collaborative apps written entirely in TypeScript.Open sourceFree tier50 makers · database
FirebaseMobile apps that need offline sync and client-side SDKs.Free tier180 makers · database
NeonServerless Postgres that scales to zero, with a branch per preview deploy.Open sourceFree tier95 makers · database
PlanetScaleApps that expect heavy scale and want zero-downtime schema changes.29 makers · database
TursoSQLite at the edge, or one database per customer.Open sourceFree tier13 makers · database
MongoDBDocument-shaped data and teams already fluent in Mongo.Self-hostableFree tier134 makers · database
PostgreSQLThe engine behind most of the hosted options above, run on your own server or container for full control and a flat cost.Open sourceFree tier108 makers · database
ClickHouseFast aggregate queries over billions of rows of events, logs or metrics, self-hosted or on ClickHouse Cloud.Open sourceFree tier47 makers · database

Questions makers ask about Apache Cassandra

Is Cassandra free?

Yes. It is released under the Apache License 2.0. The project offers no paid tier; hosted Cassandra comes from third-party providers. source ↗

Can I write SQL with joins like in Postgres?

No. CQL is similar to SQL but has no joins and no referential integrity across tables. The recommended approach is to denormalize into a second table that holds the joined result, rather than joining in your application. source ↗

How should I design my tables?

Around your queries. Each query is best served by a single table holding every column it needs, and the choice of partition key decides how evenly data spreads across nodes and how many partitions a read touches. source ↗

Is it consistent like a relational database?

Cassandra favors availability and partition tolerance, so writes are eventually consistent. It does offer lightweight transactions with linearizable consistency, and batched writes across tables that either all succeed or all fail. source ↗

Is there a managed version so I don't run the cluster?

The project's ecosystem page lists cloud offerings including Amazon Keyspaces, Azure Cosmos DB's Cassandra API, Azure Managed Instance for Apache Cassandra, DataStax Astra and Instaclustr. These are third-party products and are not supported by the Cassandra community. source ↗

How do I try it locally?

The quickstart pulls the official Docker image, starts a node, and loads a CQL script with cqlsh. Apache Cassandra is also available as a tarball or as Debian and RedHat packages. source ↗

Is Apache Cassandra free?

Yes — it is free, open-source software.

Is Apache Cassandra open source or self-hostable?

Open source, and you can self-host it. source ↗

Can AI coding agents work with Apache Cassandra?

No llms.txt, official MCP server or CLI found yet.

Who uses Apache Cassandra?

No maker's live product we track yet; 7 open-source projects declare it in their code. source ↗