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Google Cloud Bigtable vs ScyllaDB

Google Cloud Bigtable: Google's managed wide-column store, the original Bigtable, with HBase API and SQL access. ScyllaDB: C++ rewrite of Cassandra with shard-per-core design; also speaks the DynamoDB API.

key differences

  • Licensing: Google Cloud Bigtable is proprietary (Proprietary (Google Cloud service)); ScyllaDB is source-available (ScyllaDB Software License Agreement 1.1).
  • Only Google Cloud Bigtable has time travel.
  • Only ScyllaDB has secondary indexes, json, materialized views, online schema changes.

choose google-cloud-bigtable for

  • +Time-series and IoT telemetry
  • +Ad-tech user profiles and bidding data
  • +ML feature serving
  • +Financial market data

best at · OLTP, Time-series, IoT

choose scylladb for

  • +Chat and messaging history at very high volume
  • +Low-latency feature stores for ML
  • +Cassandra or DynamoDB migration targets
  • +IoT and telemetry ingestion

best at · OLTP, Time-series, IoT

Google Cloud BigtableGoogle's managed wide-column store, the original Bigtable, with HBase API and SQL access.
ScyllaDBC++ rewrite of Cassandra with shard-per-core design; also speaks the DynamoDB API.
overview
Primary model
Wide-Column
Wide-Column
Also supports
Key-Value
Key-Value
Type
Managed service
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Google
ScyllaDB Inc.
First release
2015
2015
Latest version
–
2026.3.4 (Oct 2026)
License
ProprietaryProprietary (Google Cloud service)
Source-availableScyllaDB Software License Agreement 1.1
Free tier
—
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
33.3
45.9
Rank
#66
#36
GitHub stars
–
15.8K
Stack Overflow questions
648
381
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Active active
Active active
ACID
Limited
Limited
Consistency
Strong, Eventual
Tunable, Eventual
Schema
Flexible
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage
Distributed, Multi primary, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
—
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
Google Cloud
AWS, Google 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
Bigtable API, GoogleSQL
CQL, DynamoDB API
Client languages
Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, C++, C#, Ruby, PHP
Java, Python, Go, Rust, C++, C#, JavaScript, Scala
Best for
OLTP, Time-series, IoT, Feature store
OLTP, Time-series, IoT, Feature store
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Google Cloud Bigtable vs ScyllaDB: FAQ

What is the difference between Google Cloud Bigtable and ScyllaDB?

Google Cloud Bigtable: Google's managed wide-column store, the original Bigtable, with HBase API and SQL access. ScyllaDB: C++ rewrite of Cassandra with shard-per-core design; also speaks the DynamoDB API. Licensing: Google Cloud Bigtable is proprietary (Proprietary (Google Cloud service)); ScyllaDB is source-available (ScyllaDB Software License Agreement 1.1). Only Google Cloud Bigtable has time travel. Only ScyllaDB has secondary indexes, json, materialized views, online schema changes.

When should I choose Google Cloud Bigtable over ScyllaDB?

Choose Google Cloud Bigtable for time-series and IoT telemetry; ad-tech user profiles and bidding data; and ML feature serving. Choose ScyllaDB for chat and messaging history at very high volume; low-latency feature stores for ML; and cassandra or DynamoDB migration targets.

Is Google Cloud Bigtable or ScyllaDB more popular?

ScyllaDB ranks #36 on the WhichDB Score (45.9/100) and Google Cloud Bigtable ranks #66 (33.3/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Google Cloud Bigtable and ScyllaDB open source?

No. Google Cloud Bigtable is proprietary, closed-source software. Not in the OSI sense. ScyllaDB is source-available: you can read the code, but the license restricts some uses, typically offering it as a competing managed service. License: ScyllaDB Software License Agreement 1.1.