Apache HBase vs Elassandra

Apache HBase is a distributed data store for applications that need random, real-time reads and writes with strict consistency. It runs on Hadoop and HDFS, with automatic failover and sharding, and is designed to scale across commodity clusters. The project describes hosting tables with billions of rows and millions of columns. Clients can connect through a Java API or REST and Thrift gateways. Highlighted workloads include time-series and metrics, IoT telemetry, ad tech and personalization, message and audit logs, security analytics, and genomics and research. HBase is free and self-hosted, with Linux and API platforms listed; version 3.0.0 is listed as a release artifact. Operators must configure authentication and authorization because the default configuration does not enable them. Security guidance covers Kerberos, SASL, access control lists, visibility labels, and optional TLS, and recommends keeping services within a trusted network perimeter rather than exposing them to the public internet. Operating a distributed deployment requires systems, software, and networking skills.

Elassandra combines Apache Cassandra’s distributed storage with embedded OpenSearch search on each node. Its maintained line targets Apache Cassandra 4.0.x, OpenSearch 1.3.x, and Java 11. OpenSearch indices map to Cassandra keyspaces, documents to rows, and indexed fields to columns or cells; the current _doc model maps to a Cassandra table. Cassandra remains the durable layer, allowing restart recovery to replay Cassandra state and rebuild a local search view. Applications can search through the OpenSearch HTTP API or CQL, with HTTP responses following OpenSearch style. Data placement uses Cassandra token ownership, while replicas follow keyspace replication. Schemas can be created from OpenSearch indexes or discovered from existing Cassandra schemas through mappings. Integrations listed include OpenSearch plugins, OpenSearch Dashboards, and Spark. Deployment options include tarball, Debian package, RPM, Docker image, and Helm chart. Elassandra is free and open source, with a 30-day trial noted.