Apache HBase vs Couchbase comparison

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Apache HBase

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 7, 2025

Apache HBase and Couchbase are competing in the NoSQL database market, offering different solutions for handling Big Data. Couchbase generally holds the upper hand due to its comprehensive feature set and scalability, despite being more expensive than HBase, which benefits from its cost-effectiveness and integration abilities.

Features: Apache HBase offers linear scalability and strong consistency, making it suitable for large-scale data processing. Its integration with the Hadoop ecosystem enhances distributed storage of sparse data. Couchbase provides multi-dimensional scaling, JSON document support, and advanced querying capabilities, essential for modern application development.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Couchbase is designed for rapid deployment with thorough documentation, facilitating an easier onboarding experience. It tends to offer more streamlined support, making it accessible for quick starts. HBase requires more initial configuration due to its complexity but benefits from educated personnel knowledgeable about its setup.

Pricing and ROI: Apache HBase typically has lower initial setup costs due to its open-source nature and use within existing Hadoop frameworks, providing strong ROI when utilized with existing clusters. Couchbase, though more expensive with higher setup costs, offers a faster ROI due to its performance and adaptability in diverse environments.

To learn more, read our detailed Apache HBase vs. Couchbase Report (Updated: June 2025).

Apache HBase vs. Couchbase

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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

11th

Average Rating

6.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Couchbase

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

4th

Average Rating

8.2

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2025, in the NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Apache HBase is 5.9%, up from 5.0% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Couchbase is 9.8%, down from 11.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NoSQL Databases

Featured Reviews

Sekhar Reddy B

Principal Software Engineer at Securonix

Offers real-time aggregations and easy for a beginner to learn to use this

We use it for real-time data grouping The most valuable part is the column family structure. We mainly use it for real-time aggregations. That's why we prefer it as a NoSQL database. We've seen performance issues when we have more regions. The product needs improvement in that area. So we…

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Ravi_Singh

Manager at Tesco

Supports multiple data models and offers AI capabilities

With some of the operations, we used to face some challenges with scalability. Although it worked pretty well, in some scenarios, we noticed issues where the replications and the sharding were not happening correctly. In recent versions, we also faced some issues in terms of enabling advanced operations like FTS and vectors. Although it works pretty well, in some places, we do face challenges, especially on a heavy scale. I think all issues are being addressed in the latest version of Couchbase. The resources are not that good for Couchbase. The tool's documentation is pretty extensive, but if you go for any kind of courses or tutorials, there are very limited resources available. It also becomes a little bit challenging for new people to get onboard into it. MongoDB and other such open-source database tools perform really well as they're really widely adopted, and they have resources available to get you onboarded pretty quickly. I think that we do face some challenges with Couchbase, but luckily, we have the tool's enterprise version solution, so we get all the support from the product team.

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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

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

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

"The principal advantage of Couchbase is that we can have multiple database paradigms in the same product, without deploying multiple databases. We also like that it has lower latency, when compared to its competitor: Cassandra."

"I can input any kind of document into the solution and it is integrated using a dynamic API. This has been the most valuable aspect of using this solution."

"The main advantages were associated with it being a no SQL database. It helped us send out metrics or rewards to multiple players in our game at a very low latency."

"Investing in Couchbase has significantly lowered our operational costs and increased throughput, reducing costs by half and supporting around five times the non-peak user volume during peak hours."

"The valuable features of Couchbase are the many documents and index types, and they made a lot of features available enabling us to use it as a complete solution for our needs."

"It is pretty stable."

"The whole stack is valuable, but the portion of the stack that we're finding really handy is the analytics engine because that allows us to take and pre-build views."

"It is highly available for support and does not impact our operations significantly during failures."

More Couchbase pros

Cons

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

"We've seen performance issues."

"Although it worked pretty well, in some scenarios, we noticed issues where the replications and the sharding were not happening correctly."

"I would like Couchbase to provide more functionality via the UI, as some operations, such as time-based scaling, currently require using the API."

"We would like to have a better management of Kubernetes with the free, open source version of Couchbase. We don't have any major complaints other than that."

"Overall as a tool, I see room for improvement in Couchbase in certain aspects."

"One thing that could improved upon is the level of concurrency. The documentation for this solution could also be improved."

"The failover and failback could be a bit easier. When I looked at it last time, it had to be manually done. It also took over an hour for us to rebalance all the nodes."

"The main problem has been with integration with the services."

"The performance could be quicker and better, especially in the querying process."

More Couchbase cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"I wouldn't say Couchbase offers good value for money."

"I would rate this solution a nine out of ten for pricing as it is affordable."

"The price of this solution is better than some of the other competitors."

"It seems very reasonable. It's a lot cheaper than Redis, but we've got an enterprise license. So, it's about normal. It's not outrageous in price as far as we've seen. From Couchbase, there's no additional fee as far as I'm aware, but when you're integrating, there's an additional fee because a lot of times, they don't have an integration stack."

"We estimate that it's not very expensive, however, the pricing that you can get from the account managers, e.g. the public pricing, could be a bit expensive."

"It can range between 25,000 to 40,000 Euros per year depending on company requirements."

"The licensing cost of Couchbase is quite expensive compared to other databases."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

23%

Computer Software Company

13%

Educational Organization

Manufacturing Company

Financial Services Firm

19%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Apache HBase?

Apache HBase is a database used for data storage.

What needs improvement with Apache HBase?

We've seen performance issues when we have more regions. The product needs improvement in that area. So we experience performance issues sometimes when the load increases.

What advice do you have for others considering Apache HBase?

It's better to use AWS DynamoDB or Cassandra. I would rate it an eight out of ten. It is easy for a beginner to learn.

What needs improvement with Couchbase?

What is missing is that they have a new version, Couchbase ( /products/couchbase-reviews ) Mobile three, but they haven't really updated or provided help or documentation about what needs to change...

What is your primary use case for Couchbase?

I have two use cases right now. I have a shopping list app where users can share their lists, so I used the Sync feature with Sync Gateway.In another product, I use what they call N1QL, which is a ...

What advice do you have for others considering Couchbase?

Currently, I only use it in a datacenter, not on AWS ( /products/amazon-aws-reviews ). The reason being is that when I started using Couchbase, they insisted on running Couchbase on bare metal serv...

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Compared 31% of the time

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Compared 24% of the time

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Compared 20% of the time

Redis vs Couchbase

Compared 12% of the time

Aerospike Database 7 vs Couchbase

Compared 4% of the time

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Product Reports

NoSQL Databases

Download Apache HBase product report

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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

Couchbase is a versatile database solution for healthcare, automation, e-commerce, gaming, caching, and analytics. It supports 920 nodes and 420 clusters, making it scalable and extensible. Its valuable features include multiple database paradigms, low latency, dynamic API integration, Sync Gateway for mobile apps, and a user-friendly interface.

Couchbase has helped organizations with low latency metrics, large user updates, and cost-effective caching. Its built-in data replication and disaster recovery features make it a complete solution for various needs.

Sample Customers

Bloomberg, Wells Fargo, Apple, Capital One, NVIDIA

Amadeus, Cisco, Comcast, LinkedIn, GE

Apache HBase vs. Couchbase