Apache HBase vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop comparison

Apache and Cloudera are both solutions in the NoSQL Databases category. Apache is ranked #10 with an average rating of 7.3, while Cloudera is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.2. Apache holds a 5.3% mindshare in ND, compared to Cloudera’s 2.9% mindshare. Additionally, 75% of Apache users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Cloudera users who would recommend it.

Apache HBase

Read 4 Apache HBase reviews

862 Views
828 Comparison Views

75% willing to recommend

Cloudera Distribution for H...

Read 51 Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop reviews

1,737 Views
452 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Apache HBase

Cloudera Distribution for H...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 7, 2025

Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop and Apache HBase compete in the big data landscape, offering complementary data management and NoSQL database solutions. While Cloudera has superior integration capabilities, HBase stands out in high-speed data access and query performance, especially for real-time analytics.

Features: Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is known for robust data processing, extensive ecosystem support, and ability to enable diverse analytics applications. Apache HBase offers scalability, efficient handling of large datasets, and real-time read/write access, ideal for transactional data processing.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cloudera provides streamlined deployment through robust tools and professional support, reducing complexities in large-scale implementations. HBase offers simpler deployment but may require additional technical expertise for optimization. Cloudera's customer service is comprehensive, whereas HBase relies on community-based support.

Pricing and ROI: Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop has higher initial setup costs but offers a promising ROI with integrated tools and enterprise-level features, leading to reduced infrastructure costs and enhanced efficiency. Apache HBase, being open-source, offers lower cost barriers, enabling budget savings, though organizations may need to invest in additional resources for support and management.

To learn more, read our detailed Apache HBase vs. Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

Apache HBase vs. Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

September 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

Apache HBase

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

10th

Average Rating

7.2

Reviews Sentiment

5.1

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Cloudera Distribution for H...

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

8th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Hadoop (1st)

Mindshare comparison

As of October 2025, in the NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Apache HBase is 5.3%, up from 4.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is 2.9%, up from 2.5% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NoSQL Databases Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop	2.9%
Apache HBase	5.3%
Other	91.8%

NoSQL Databases

Featured Reviews

Ephrem Sisay

DevOps Engineer (M-PESA) at Safaricom Ethiopia plc

In-memory processing and integration capabilities have optimized query performance

Apache HBase could be improved by optimizing the integration with Apache Phoenix; sometimes the abstraction and lookup jobs lead to issues when there are too many requests. Resource optimization isn't always as successful as it should be, which can cause some query and lookup jobs to fail. For instance, during eligibility checks for credit, if there are many requests on the database, it might fail, and after such a failure, it doesn't allow us to run queries from the moment they stop. If there could be optimization to require less resource usage and allow those jobs and queries to pick up from where they stopped, that would be a great addition to the tool.

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Rok Dolinsek

Manager, Bussines Development & Co Owner at Troia d.o.o.

Enables on-premise implementation with powerful data processing capabilities

This is the only solution that is possible to install on-premise. Cloudera provides a hybrid solution that combines compute on cloud or on-premises. It includes all machine learning algorithms in the Spark machine learning library. All functionalities needed for a big data platform and ETL are on the platform, eliminating the need for other tools. It is scalable, ready for vertical scaling, and very powerful, offering numerous functionalities and configurations for generative AI.

Read full review

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"The in-memory processing lets us optimize our queries and helps us run concurrent queries and other jobs such as the lookup jobs we always use Apache HBase for."

"The best features of Apache HBase include being embedded, making it very fast; when it's linking, it operates with virtually no delay, and all of the queries are very fast too due to some internal optimization which makes it very sufficient and efficient."

"Apache HBase is a database used for data storage."

"The most valuable part is the column family structure."

"The in-memory processing lets us optimize our queries and helps us run concurrent queries and other jobs such as the lookup jobs we always use Apache HBase for."

"The search function is the most valuable aspect of the solution."

"The data science aspect of the solution is valuable."

"Very good end-to-end security features."

"The product as a whole is good."

"The most valuable feature is Kubernetes."

"Cloudera is a very manageable solution with good support."

"We're now able to store large volumes of data through Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop. We're able to push large volumes of data to the platform, and that used to be a challenge, especially when storing a terabyte of information. This is the area where Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop improved the organization."

"The product provides better data processing features than other tools."

More Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop pros

Cons

"The setup of Apache HBase needs a lot of time, and the linkage is not the program itself, but the activation and connecting to the NYPD engine always takes considerable time."

"We've seen performance issues."

"Apache HBase could be improved by optimizing the integration with Apache Phoenix; sometimes the abstraction and lookup jobs lead to issues when there are too many requests."

"I don't like using Apache HBase to store huge amounts of data because of many performance issues."

"Apache HBase could be improved by optimizing the integration with Apache Phoenix; sometimes the abstraction and lookup jobs lead to issues when there are too many requests."

"The areas of improvement depend on the scale of the project. For banking customers, security features and an essential budget for commercial licenses would be the top priority. Data regulation could be the most crucial for a project with extensive data or an extra use case."

"The dashboard could be improved."

"There are better solutions out there that have more features than this one."

"The governance aspect of the solution should be improved."

"I would like to see an improvement in how the solution helps me to handle the whole cluster."

"The security of this solution could be improved. There should also be a way to basically have a blockchain enabled storage with the HDFS."

"Cloudera's support is extremely bad and cannot be relied on."

"Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is not always completely stable in some cases, which can be a concern for big data solutions."

More Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"I haven't bought a license for this solution. I'm only using the Apache license version."

"The solution is fairly expensive."

"The solution is expensive."

"I believe we pay for a three-year license."

"The tool is expensive...For the SMB market or customers whose environments are not that complex and do not have multiple systems running, Cloudera might not be a good option."

"The price is very high. The solution is expensive."

"Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is expensive, with support costs involved."

"I wouldn't recommend CDH to others because of its high cost."

More Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop pricing and cost advice

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

17%

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

University

Educational Organization

19%

Financial Services Firm

18%

Computer Software Company

11%

Energy/Utilities Company

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	16
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	31

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Apache HBase?

Apache HBase is a database used for data storage.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Apache HBase?

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What advice do you have for others considering Apache HBase?

I'm working for a corporate that uses Apache HBase for their Big Data platform and I'm a Big Data engineer there. We're using a version of Apache HBase that is compatible with the other Big Data to...

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What do you like most about Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?

The tool can be deployed using different container technologies, which makes it very scalable.

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?

The price for Cloudera is average, yet it is very good compared to other solutions. It can be deployed on-premises, unlike competitors' cloud-only solutions.

See all answers

What needs improvement with Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?

If they could support modifying the data more easily than the current implementation, it would be beneficial.

See all answers

Comparisons

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Compared 19% of the time

Accumulo vs Apache HBase

Compared 19% of the time

ScyllaDB vs Apache HBase

Compared 14% of the time

Redis vs Apache HBase

Compared 7% of the time

Microsoft Azure Cosmos DB vs Apache HBase

Compared 4% of the time

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HPE Data Fabric vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

Compared 22% of the time

Amazon EMR vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

Compared 19% of the time

MongoDB Enterprise Advanced vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

Compared 13% of the time

Couchbase Enterprise vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

Compared 11% of the time

ScyllaDB vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

Compared 4% of the time

More Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

NoSQL Databases

October 2025

Download Apache HBase product report

Buyer's Guide

Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

October 2025

Download Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop product report

Also Known As

HBase

No data available

Overview

Apache HBase is an open-source, distributed, versioned, non-relational database modeled after Google's BigTable. Just as Bigtable leverages the distributed data storage provided by the Google File System, Apache HBase provides Bigtable-like capabilities on top of Hadoop and HDFS.

Apache

Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is the world's most complete, tested, and popular distribution of Apache Hadoop and related projects. CDH is 100% Apache-licensed open source and is the only Hadoop solution to offer unified batch processing, interactive SQL, and interactive search, and role-based access controls. More enterprises have downloaded CDH than all other such distributions combined.

Cloudera

Sample Customers

Bloomberg, Wells Fargo, Apple, Capital One, NVIDIA

37signals, Adconion,adgooroo, Aggregate Knowledge, AMD, Apollo Group, Blackberry, Box, BT, CSC

Buyer's Guide

Apache HBase vs. Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

September 2025

Free Report: Apache HBase vs. Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

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