Apache Cassandra® vs DataStax Product Comparison
As long-time members of the Cassandra community, DataStax understands the power and flexibility that Apache Cassandra brings to applications, along with the challenges teams face when scaling and maintaining deployments. Having worked alongside countless organizations, we created Astra DB and DataStax Enterprise (DSE) to build upon the robust foundation your team has invested in.
Both solutions go beyond basic Cassandra functionality – Astra DB delivers automated repairs, simplified security, and modern API integration in a hosted environment, while DSE 6.9 enhances self-managed deployments with vector search, Data API, and advanced indexing. Whether you're running a small deployment or managing hundreds of nodes across multiple regions, both solutions help you do more with less infrastructure, overhead, and operational complexity.
Development Features
| Feature | Apache Cassandra® | DataStax Enterprise 6.9 | Astra DB | Astra ROI Benefit |
| API Support |
CQL |
CQL DSE Graph API DSE Search API Data API (An HTTP Document based API) |
CQL Data API (An HTTP Document based API) |
Faster application development with HTTP API, reducing complexity Reduced training costs with familiar Document APIs |
| SDKs |
CQL drivers: Java
Python
C++
C#
Node.js
Go
Other languages supported in the community
|
CQL Drivers: Java
Python
C++
C#
Node.js
Go
Other languages supported in the community
Data API clients: Python (astrapy)
Type Script (astra-db-ts)
Java (astra-db-java)
|
CQL Drivers: Java
Python
C++
C#
Node.js
Go
Other languages supported in the community
Data API clients: Python (astrapy)
Type Script (astra-db-ts)
Java (astra-db-java)
|
Reduction in development time with integrated SDK Eliminated maintenance cost for driver updates |
| Data Integration |
User provided integrations |
DSE Advanced Replication DSE Analytics DSE Search DSE Graph |
Built-in CDC to Pulsar/Kafka Topics |
Faster development time to production Eliminated costs for building/maintaining custom CDC solutions |
| Vector Search Support |
Vector Search Support |
2-3x better search performance Reduced infrastructure costs for separate vector search solutions |
||
| Storage Attached Index (SAI) |
Custom indexes |
Custom indexes Map entry operations Custom tokenizers/analyzers |
Custom indexes Map entry operations Custom tokenizers/analyzers |
Reduced development time for custom indexing solutions |
Operations Features
| Feature | Apache Cassandra® | DataStax Enterprise 6.9 | Astra DB | Astra ROI Benefit |
| Repairs |
Incremental Full cluster repair User-provided automation with Reaper |
NodeSync service for continuous background repair Automated repair management |
No repairs needed within a single region Automated multi-region repairs |
100% reduction of repair-related operational costs No need for repair expertise and tooling |
| Backup |
Snapshot Incremental User-provided automation with Medusa |
Automated backup management through OpsCenter
Mission Control
|
Automated hourly backups Hourly retention for 24 hours Daily retention for 19 days Backup to customer-supplied object bucket Clone DB to new DB Restore DB from snapshot |
Drastic reduction in backup management time Eliminated storage costs for backup infrastructure |
| Scaling |
User-initiated process Fixed node count |
Automated scaling through Lifecycle Manager
|
Automated scale-up and down Scale to zero |
Reduction in infrastructure costs with elastic scaling Eliminated over-provisioning costs |
| Compaction |
Local database node operation User-provided management |
Automated Compaction with Mission Control Best Practices and Performance Advisor with OpsCenter |
Independent service from nodes Independently scalable Fully managed |
No compaction-related operational overhead Improved resource utilization |
| Service Architecture |
Provisioned deployment All services tied to nodes |
Provisioned deployment All services tied to nodes Kubernetes Support with Mission Control |
Serverless deployment Independent scaling of compute and storage |
Significant reduction in infrastructure costs Eliminated need for capacity planning expertise |
| Multi-Region Operations |
Manual configuration and maintenance |
Automated multi-region configuration Advanced Replication for hub-spoke topology |
Automated cross-region repairs Built-in data synchronization |
Reduction in multi-region operational costs Eliminated need for specialized expertise |
| Resource Management |
Manual resource planning Fixed resource allocation |
Performance Service Capacity Service Best Practice Service |
Automated resource allocation Independent scaling of services Pay for what you use |
Reduction in overall infrastructure costs Eliminated capacity planning overhead |
| Deployment |
Tar, RPM or DEB Container User-provided hardware |
Tar, RPM or DEB Container User-provided hardware OpsCenter Mission Control (Kubernetes) |
Fully managed in: Amazon Web Services
Microsoft Azure
Google Cloud
|
Reduction in deployment and maintenance time Elimination of hardware procurement cycles |
Security & Compliance Features
| Feature | Apache Cassandra® | DataStax Enterprise 6.9 | Astra DB | Astra ROI Benefit |
| Authentication |
PasswordAuthenticator Pluggable authentication system System_auth table storage |
Advanced Security with LDAP integration Role-based access control (RBAC) Kerberos support |
SSO integration with any SAML IdP OpenID Connect (GitHub, Google) Token-based authentication Organization-level IdP configuration |
Elimination of identity management overhead for data infrastructure Reduced security incident risk surface area |
| Authorization |
CassandraAuthorizer Basic role-based access Basic permission management |
Fine-grained RBAC Advanced permission management Audit logging Row-level access control and proxy authentication |
Fine-grained RBAC with custom roles Organization / Database / Keyspace / Table level permissions Programmatic role management via DevOps API Service account support |
Better integration for improved efficiency costs Improved compliance posture |
| Network Security |
User-provided TLS configuration IP allow listing User-provided firewall configuration |
Advanced TLS configuration IP allow listing PCI Support FIPS Compliant Deployment |
Private Link with custom domains DDoS protection Implicit internet accessibility exclusion |
Streamlined network security management costs Reduced risk of security breaches |
| Encryption |
User-provided TLS setup for transit User-provided encryption at rest setup User-provided certificate management Automated key rotation in Kubernetes |
Encryption in Flight Encryption at Rest Keystore and Truststore Management |
Automatic mTLS encryption Client-side column-level encryption Automated key rotation Cloud-native storage encryption |
No need for encryption management overhead Eliminated certificate management costs |
| Data Storage Security |
User-provided OS security OS-level file permissions |
Advanced audit logging |
Bring Your Own Bucket (BYOB) for backups Customer-managed encryption keys Dedicated region data planes |
Operational efficiency in storage security management Improved data sovereignty compliance |
| Monitoring & Auditing |
JMX based monitoring User-provided log management System logging |
DSE Metrics Collector OpsCenter or Mission Control monitoring Advanced audit logging |
Custom audit log storage for control/data planes Administration audit logging (90-day retention) Intrusion Detection System (IDS) Security incident management Export metrics to third-party provider |
Lower monitoring setup and maintenance costs Reduced compliance audit preparation time |
