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Apache Cassandra vs Apache HBase

Apache Cassandra: Masterless wide-column database built for always-on writes across data centers. Apache HBase: Hadoop's Bigtable clone: strongly consistent wide-column tables on top of HDFS.

key differences

  • Only Apache Cassandra has secondary indexes, vector search, json, change data capture, streaming ingest.
  • Only Apache HBase has stored procedures, encryption at rest, time travel.

choose apache-cassandra for

  • +Write-heavy event and telemetry ingestion
  • +Messaging and activity feeds
  • +Multi-region user and device data
  • +Time-series with TTL-based expiry

best at · OLTP, Time-series, IoT

choose apache-hbase for

  • +Large sparse tables within an existing Hadoop cluster
  • +Time-series and metrics backends (OpenTSDB)
  • +Random read/write access to batch-processed data
  • +Message and event history stores

best at · OLTP, Time-series, Metadata

Apache CassandraMasterless wide-column database built for always-on writes across data centers.
Apache HBaseHadoop's Bigtable clone: strongly consistent wide-column tables on top of HDFS.
overview
Primary model
Wide-Column
Wide-Column
Also supports
Key-Value, Vector
Key-Value
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Apache Software Foundation
Apache Software Foundation
First release
2008
2008
Latest version
5.0.9 (Jul 2026)
3.0.0 (Aug 6, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
55.9
26.6
Rank
#20
#110
GitHub stars
10.1K
5.6K
Stack Overflow questions
20.9K
6.9K
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Active active
Read replicas
ACID
Limited
Limited
Consistency
Tunable, Eventual
Strong
Schema
Strict
Flexible
Architecture
Distributed, Multi primary, Client server
Distributed, Shared storage, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
—
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, IBM Cloud
AWS, Azure, Alibaba Cloud
capabilities
Transactions
—
—
Joins
—
—
Secondary indexes
✓
—
Full-text search
—
—
Vector search
✓
—
Geospatial
—
—
JSON
✓
—
Change data capture
✓
—
Triggers
✓
✓
Stored procedures
—
✓
Materialized views
—
—
TTL / expiry
✓
✓
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
—
✓
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
—
✓
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
✓
✓
Streaming ingest
✓
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
CQL
HBase API, HBase shell
Client languages
Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, C#, C++, Rust, Ruby
Java, Python, C++, Go
Best for
OLTP, Time-series, IoT, Observability
OLTP, Time-series, Metadata, IoT
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Apache Cassandra vs Apache HBase: FAQ

What is the difference between Apache Cassandra and Apache HBase?

Apache Cassandra: Masterless wide-column database built for always-on writes across data centers. Apache HBase: Hadoop's Bigtable clone: strongly consistent wide-column tables on top of HDFS. Only Apache Cassandra has secondary indexes, vector search, json, change data capture, streaming ingest. Only Apache HBase has stored procedures, encryption at rest, time travel.

When should I choose Apache Cassandra over Apache HBase?

Choose Apache Cassandra for write-heavy event and telemetry ingestion; messaging and activity feeds; and multi-region user and device data. Choose Apache HBase for large sparse tables within an existing Hadoop cluster; time-series and metrics backends (OpenTSDB); and random read/write access to batch-processed data.

Is Apache Cassandra or Apache HBase more popular?

Apache Cassandra ranks #20 on the WhichDB Score (55.9/100) and Apache HBase ranks #110 (26.6/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Apache Cassandra and Apache HBase open source?

Yes. Apache Cassandra is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. Apache HBase is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.