Apache Cassandra vs TiDB Cloud
Apache Cassandra
cassandra.apache.org
TiDB Cloud
pingcap.comSide by side
| Figure | Apache Cassandra | TiDB Cloud |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 13 |
| Spec score · Distributed Systems | 9.1 (#2) | 8.6 (#6) |
| Spec score · Transaction Data Store Software | 8.9 (#4) | 8.6 (#9) |
| Spec score · Database Software | 8.9 (#12) | 9.2 (#5) |
| Founded | 2008 | 2015 |
| Integrations | The ecosystem page lists connectors and tools for Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, Apache Spark, and Kubernetes. | Official integrations include Kubernetes via TiDB Operator, Prometheus, Grafana, Datadog, New Relic, Kafka, Flink, Confluent, Airbyte, Amazon AppFlow and dbt. |
| Product | Apache Cassandra is an open source NoSQL distributed database. | TiDB Cloud is a fully managed cloud database service built around an open-source distributed SQL database with MySQL compatibility. |
| Rating on G2 | 4.1 out of 5 from 35 reviews. | 4.6 out of 5 from 66 reviews |
| Rating on GetApp | 4.2 out of 5 from 33 reviews. | 0 out of 5 from 0 reviews |
| Scaling | The project says read and write throughput increase linearly as machines are added, without downtime or application interruption. | Starter offers on-demand compute that scales to zero when idle. |
| Security controls | Cassandra provides TLS/SSL encryption, client authentication and authorization, but these protections are disabled in the default configuration. | Security features include SSO, MFA, fine-grained IAM, private endpoints, VPC peering, IP access lists, TLS, CMEK options and console/database audit logs. |
| What it does | Apache Cassandra is an open-source distributed NoSQL database using a partitioned wide-column model with eventual consistency. | TiDB Cloud is a fully managed distributed SQL database service for transactional, analytical, vector-search and AI workloads. |
Plans
TiDB Cloud
- TiDB Cloud StarterFree
- TiDB Cloud EssentialPrice not published
- TiDB Cloud Premium$1,800 a month
- TiDB Cloud Dedicated$0.22 a month
- StarterFree
- TiDB Cloud StarterFree
- Essential$400 a month
- Dedicated$1,376 a month
- Premium$1,800 a month
- TiDB Cloud Premium Preview$1,800 a month
In their own words
Apache Cassandra
Apache Cassandra is a free, open-source NoSQL distributed database for mission-critical data and large active datasets. Its masterless architecture gives each node the same functionality. The project says read and write throughput can grow linearly as machines are added, without downtime or application interruption. Cassandra can run on premises, with one cloud provider, across multiple providers, or in a combination of those environments. It supports replication across data centers and configurable consistency levels for queries, along with CQL, transactions, and horizontal scaling. The project lists audit logging for DML, DDL, and DCL activity, and fqltool for recording and replaying production workloads. Drivers are available for Java, Go, Python, and Node.js; downloads include tarballs and packages, and installation guidance covers Debian and RPM. The ecosystem includes tools and connectors for Apache Kafka, Apache Flink, Apache Spark, and Kubernetes. The project identifies version 5.0 as the latest GA release and says it is maintained until the 8.0 release. Cassandra is self-managed, and listed third-party ecosystem projects are not supported by its community.
TiDB Cloud
TiDB Cloud is a managed cloud database service built around an open-source distributed SQL database with MySQL compatibility. It supports transactional and analytical workloads, horizontal scaling, multi-region deployment, and geo-partitioning across Starter, Essential, Premium, and Dedicated plans. Starter includes up to 25 GiB of row storage, 25 GiB of column storage, and 250 million Request Units per month per organization, for up to the first five instances. Its on-demand compute scales to zero when idle, and vector storage and search are in public preview. CSV, Parquet, and SQL file imports are supported across the listed plans. Email and password login, SSO options, private and public endpoints, and console audit logging are listed across all four plans. Prometheus, Grafana, and Datadog integrations are listed for Essential, Premium, and Dedicated in public preview. All users can submit billing and account support tickets; guaranteed technical-ticket response times require paid support plans. The service is available through web and API platforms. Starter is free; the Dedicated plan is listed as starting at $0.22 a month and from $1376 / month.