Apache AsterixDB vs eXist-db
Apache AsterixDB
asterixdb.apache.orgeXist-db
exist-db.orgSide by side
| Figure | Apache AsterixDB | eXist-db |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Document Databases | 8.3 (#7) | 8.8 (#4) |
| Data model | Its semistructured Asterix Data Model extends JSON with object database ideas. | The database stores textual or binary data and documents without requiring a database schema. |
| Deployment | The documentation provides installation options using NCService, Ansible, and Amazon Web Services. | The installer documentation describes installation on Linux, macOS, and Windows, and says eXist-db can run as a background service. |
| Founded | 2009 | 2001 |
| Support | The project directs users to its users mailing list for AsterixDB questions and also lists an IRC channel where developers may be contacted. | eXist Solutions offers consulting, training, application development, system setup, production monitoring, and individual SLAs on request. |
Plans
In their own words
Apache AsterixDB
Apache AsterixDB is a free, open source, self-managed Big Data Management System for ingesting, storing, indexing, querying and analyzing data. Its Asterix Data Model extends JSON with object-database concepts, while SQL++ and AQL provide declarative queries for semistructured information. Partitioned LSM-based storage supports B+ tree, R-tree and inverted keyword secondary indexes. External datasets can be queried without loading everything into AsterixDB, using adapters for HDFS and local filesystems. Continuous feeds can ingest sources such as Twitter, RSS and sockets. The HTTP query API accepts SQL++ and can return immediate, deferred or asynchronous results. Installation options include NCService, Ansible and Amazon Web Services. The Hyracks parallel runtime has been scale-tested on up to 1000+ cores and 500+ disks. Documentation describes basic transactional concurrency and recovery, and identifies web data warehousing and social data analysis as suitable uses.
eXist-db
eXist-db is a free, open-source NoSQL document database and application platform centered on XML. Its native engine stores textual or binary documents without requiring a database schema, and it is designed for self-hosted deployment on Linux, macOS, or Windows. The product implements XQuery 3.1, though some features and functions are unsupported, and RESTXQ lets developers deploy RESTful services from XQuery annotations. Its interfaces include REST-style HTTP, SOAP, XML-RPC, and WebDAV. A browser-based IDE provides syntax coloring, code completion, and error checking for application artifacts. Full-text search uses an implementation-specific Apache Lucene approach rather than the W3C XQuery and XPath Full Text 3.0 specification. Security extends Unix permissions with access control lists and external authentication realms. The software is licensed under the LGPL for academic, non-commercial, and commercial use. The documentation lists Java 8 for versions 3.x–6.x or Java 21 for version 7.x, about 500 MB of disk space, and at least 512 MB of memory.