Cassandra vs PostgreSQL comparison

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Cassandra

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 5, 2025

PostgreSQL and Cassandra are prominent players in the database management system category, each offering unique advantages. PostgreSQL stands out for its adherence to SQL standards and robust feature set, while Cassandra excels in scalability and handling high data volumes. Based on the comparison, PostgreSQL's rich functionality and cost-effectiveness give it an edge for feature-rich applications, whereas Cassandra's superior scalability is ideal for large-scale data needs.

Features: PostgreSQL boasts SQL standards compliance, extensive complex query support, and ACID compliance, making it ideal for transactional applications. It supports asynchronous commit and offers strong scalability for write-intensive tasks. Cassandra focuses on handling vast data volumes with high availability, thanks to its peer-to-peer architecture. Its real-time analysis capability and linear scalability are valuable for write-heavy workloads.

Room for Improvement: PostgreSQL could enhance its read-only query handling, offer better support for SQL commands like 'INSERT IGNORE,' and address the absence of unsigned integer data types. It also lacks sophisticated built-in clustering features. Cassandra's management complexity is a challenge, with room to improve query optimization and integration capabilities, simplifying setup and maintenance.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Both PostgreSQL and Cassandra are flexible across on-premises, hybrid, and cloud environments. PostgreSQL benefits from a strong community with ample documentation, though official customer service is not as direct as paid services. Cassandra is community-driven but lacks a centralized knowledge base, relying on open-source support.

Pricing and ROI: Both PostgreSQL and Cassandra provide open-source solutions with minimal direct costs. PostgreSQL offers lower hardware and operating expenses due to GPL licensing, while Cassandra's open-source nature is cost-effective; however, DataStax Enterprise may incur additional support costs. Both achieve significant ROI from the lack of licensing fees and adaptable scalability.

To learn more, read our detailed Cassandra vs. PostgreSQL Report (Updated: December 2025).

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Cassandra vs. PostgreSQL

December 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Cassandra

Ranking in Vector Databases

14th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

NoSQL Databases (7th)

PostgreSQL

Ranking in Vector Databases

9th

Average Rating

8.4

Reviews Sentiment

7.7

Number of Reviews

125

Ranking in other categories

Open Source Databases (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of February 2026, in the Vector Databases category, the mindshare of Cassandra is 2.5%, up from 1.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of PostgreSQL is 6.4%, up from 4.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Vector Databases Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
PostgreSQL	6.4%
Cassandra	2.5%
Other	91.1%

Vector Databases

Featured Reviews

Monirul Islam Khan

Head, Data Integration & Management at a non-profit with 10,001+ employees

Has maintained secure document storage and efficient data distribution with peer-to-peer architecture

The functions or features in Cassandra that I have found most valuable are that it is a distributed system similar to Mongo. It's good enough for comparison with another SQL database, so it's smooth and organized for distributed database system. The peer-to-peer architecture in Cassandra is helpful for network decentralization, and I have already introduced that feature. Cassandra features in peer-to-peer as well as another monitoring, so basically, it's good enough for our service. The tunable consistency level in Cassandra is good, and we are using that feature already. In terms of built-in caching and lightweight transactions in Cassandra, the transaction level is good, and it's optimized, so there are no more issues in that database. Based on my experience, Cassandra is good for document management system, as well as distributed database system, and the automatic recovery process is there. Additionally, the database monitoring system or auditing system is well-comparable with other database systems, so we are actually happy to be using this Cassandra database.

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Akhilesh Chipre

Senior Assosiate Consultant at Applied Materials

Real-time data capture optimizes database performance but Views create problems

One of the most valuable features is real-time data capture; it optimizes database performance. I think using real-time data capture reduces job running time and the amount of data sent at once with batch loads. Replicating the same data daily isn't optimal, so real-time reception improves application performance and reduces latency.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable feature of Cassandra is its fast retrieval. Additionally, the solution can handle large amounts of data. It is the quickest application we use."

"The most valuable features are the counter features and the NoSQL schema. It also has good scalability. You can scale Cassandra to any finite level."

"Based on my experience, Cassandra is good for document management system, as well as distributed database system, and the automatic recovery process is there."

"Since I haven't had years of experience with it, it's still new to me. One valuable feature is its distribution, so I can run it partly in the cloud and part on-prem. That's a feature I'd like to use but haven't yet because we're trying to move to Azure. I don't know if or when that will happen. Ideally, we'd have it distributed over the cloud and on-prem simultaneously, so if something happens to our on-prem, we can keep going in the cloud, like a pay-as-you-go model with Azure."

"Cassandra has some features that are more useful for specific use cases where you have time series where you have huge amounts of writes. That should be quick, but not specifically the reads. We needed to have quicker reads and writes and this is why we are using Cassandra right now."

"The time series data was one of the best features along with auto publishing."

"The technical evaluation is very good."

"Can achieve continuous data without a single downtime because of node to node ring architecture."

More Cassandra pros

"The initial setup is quick and easy."

"The solution provides complete support in terms of the SQL dialect and behaves nicely when it comes to transactions."

"The solution has many valuable features such as it easy to use and the interface is intuitive."

"It is easy to use."

"It's a useful solution, that can be widely used."

"The built-in code procedural language is the most valuable. It has a built-in layer for code procedures. Its installation is very easy and quick, and it is free. It is also stable, and its performance is also good."

"Scalable, stable, and easy to manage database system, with a straightforward installation."

"What I like is that it's quite powerful in terms of performance."

Cons

"Some issues arise from our vendors like Apache slowness and distribution or load balancing from HAProxy, which should better handle consumption for high-level concurrency."

"Cassandra is very complex to manage. Sometimes, I need to involve a senior DevOps engineer if we encounter a problem."

"The solution is limited to a linear performance."

"While Cassandra can handle NoSQL, I think there should be more flexibility for whole schema design when data is stored in wide columns. Additionally, I believe that eventual consistency should be enhanced."

"There were challenges with the query language and the development interface. The query language, in particular, could be improved for better optimization. These challenges were encountered while using the Java SDK."

"I want Cassandra to update its open-source version more quickly. It's already feature-rich, but I'd appreciate better integration with other NoSQL databases like MariaDB or MongoDB. If I ever need to work with customers or vendors using different NoSQL databases, having native integration in Cassandra would make managing and interacting with their databases much easier."

"It can be difficult to analyze what's going on inside of the database relative to other databases. It can also be difficult to troubleshoot sometimes."

"Cassandra could be more user-friendly like MongoDB."

More Cassandra cons

"The price could be better."

"I have noticed that user and access management should be improved."

"It would be good to have machine learning functionality in this solution, similar to Microsoft SQL Server and other solutions. Machine learning capability for a basic level or a common user would be useful. It can also have good reporting capabilities."

"It could be improved by using parallelization. You want basically, distributed computing."

"I'm not really able to customize it."

"The scalability is limited."

"Postgres should focus on building a stronger knowledge base. They also need to expand their integration capabilities, so more tools and resources are available to manage it."

"The database and applications can become very slow."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I don't have the specific numbers on pricing, but it was fairly priced."

"We are using the open-source version of Cassandra, the solution is free."

"I use the tool's open-source version."

"We pay for a license."

"There are licensing fees that must be paid, but I'm not sure if they are paid monthly or yearly."

"Cassandra is a free open source solution, but there is a commercial version available called DataStax Enterprise."

"We do not pay for licensing."

"This solution can offer a cheaper choice for customers since it is open-source."

"We are using the free version of PostgreSQL."

"Our company pays for it. There are free versions available, but for advanced features, you obviously have to pay."

"It is free. In terms of operating costs, it basically needs the same platform on which Oracle runs."

"It could be much cheaper. If you would like to build an application on Amazon today, PostgreSQL is the standard database with Redshift. If you want other databases, you can add them, but PostgreSQL is the basis of everything. It's a question of money, that's it."

"It is also open-source so it is free."

"Affordable solution."

Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

16%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

Retailer

Computer Software Company

13%

Financial Services Firm

11%

Comms Service Provider

Manufacturing Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	8
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	14

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	57
Midsize Enterprise	26
Large Enterprise	46

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Cassandra?

The use of Cassandra in real-time data analytics has been pivotal for our e-commerce platform. As our platform operates 24/7, providing services to sellers and customers alike, the need for real-ti...

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cassandra?

The pricing for Cassandra is a little bit high, so it would be better for our community services if they consider community pricing for any non-profit organization like an NGO or other things. It w...

What needs improvement with Cassandra?

Regarding areas of improvement for Cassandra, currently, we are not facing significant issues. Some issues arise from our vendors like Apache slowness and distribution or load balancing from HAProx...

How does Firebird SQL compare with PostgreSQL?

PostgreSQL was designed in a way that provides you with not only a high degree of flexibility but also offers you a cheap and easy-to-use solution. It gives you the ability to redesign and audit yo...

What do you like most about PostgreSQL?

It's a transactional database, so we use Postgres for most of our reporting. That's where it's helping.

What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for PostgreSQL?

The tool is free of cost. For now, it's not about making money. But once we perfect it, we can offer it to customers willing to pay for support and other services. Most of my deployments are free.

MongoDB Enterprise Advanced vs Cassandra

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Product Reports

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Cassandra

January 2026

Download PostgreSQL product report

January 2026

Overview

Cassandra is a distributed and scalable database management system used for real-time data processing.

It is highly valued for its ability to handle large amounts of data, scalability, high availability, fault tolerance, and flexible data model.

It is commonly used in finance, e-commerce, and social media industries.

Apache

PostgreSQL is a versatile and reliable database management system commonly used for web development, data analysis, and building scalable databases.

It offers advanced features like indexing, replication, and transaction management. Users appreciate its flexibility, performance, and ability to handle large amounts of data efficiently. Its robustness, scalability, and support for complex queries make it highly valuable.

Additionally, PostgreSQL's extensibility, flexibility, community support, and frequent updates contribute to its ongoing improvement and stability.

Sample Customers

1. Apple 2. Netflix 3. Facebook 4. Instagram 5. Twitter 6. eBay 7. Spotify 8. Uber 9. Airbnb 10. Adobe 11. Cisco 12. IBM 13. Microsoft 14. Yahoo 15. Reddit 16. Pinterest 17. Salesforce 18. LinkedIn 19. Hulu 20. Airbnb 21. Walmart 22. Target 23. Sony 24. Intel 25. Cisco 26. HP 27. Oracle 28. SAP 29. GE 30. Siemens 31. Volkswagen 32. Toyota

1. Apple 2. Cisco 3. Fujitsu 4. Instagram 5. Netflix 6. Red Hat 7. Sony 8. Uber 9. Cisco Systems 10. Skype 11. LinkedIn 12. Etsy 13. Yelp 14. Reddit 15. Dropbox 16. Slack 17. Twitch 18. WhatsApp 19. Snapchat 20. Shazam 21. SoundCloud 22. The New York Times 23. Cisco WebEx 24. Atlassian 25. Cisco Meraki 26. Heroku 27. GitLab 28. Zalando 29. OpenTable 30. Trello 31. Square Enix 32. Bloomberg