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Apache HBase vs Couchbase Enterprise comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Jul 31, 2025

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
4
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Couchbase Enterprise
Ranking in NoSQL Databases
4th
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
7.0
Number of Reviews
18
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Apache HBase is 5.4%, up from 4.9% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Couchbase Enterprise is 8.7%, down from 12.3% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
NoSQL Databases Market Share Distribution
ProductMarket Share (%)
Couchbase Enterprise8.7%
Apache HBase5.4%
Other85.9%
NoSQL Databases
 

Featured Reviews

Ephrem Sisay - PeerSpot reviewer
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.
Ravi_Singh  - PeerSpot reviewer
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.

Quotes from Members

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

Pros

"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."
"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 most valuable part is the column family structure."
"Apache HBase is a database used for data storage."
"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."
"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."
"Sync Gateway is a great feature that supports the mobile application."
"The most valuable feature of Couchbase is document indexing. It is better than MongoDB. Additionally, the solution is easy to use."
"The most valuable features of Couchbase include the key-value storage due to its speed and the multi-master capability, which provides more speed and scalability compared to master-slave databases."
"The product's initial setup phase is easy."
"It is highly available for support and does not impact our operations significantly during failures."
"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 can scale horizontally, and we are looking to expand our capacity."
 

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."
"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."
"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."
"We've seen performance issues."
"I don't like using Apache HBase to store huge amounts of data because of many performance issues."
"It is very difficult to load the backup of the older version to the newer version."
"I would like Couchbase to provide more functionality via the UI, as some operations, such as time-based scaling, currently require using the API."
"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."
"It's easy to deploy. Where the challenge comes in is when you start putting data in, doing the indexes, and doing the integration with systems. Integration is one of their weakest points. Natively, there should be a wide range of integration options to be able to get data in."
"I would like Couchbase to provide more functionality via the UI, as some operations, such as time-based scaling, currently require using the API."
"There are some limitations to the database. The SQL database cannot handle real-time processing for critical IoT scenarios. What we have to do is store our data into the database then code it out, this wastes a lot of time."
"The main problem has been with integration with the services."
"The performance could be quicker and better, especially in the querying process."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"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."
"The licensing cost of Couchbase is quite expensive compared to other databases."
"I wouldn't say Couchbase offers good value for money."
"It can range between 25,000 to 40,000 Euros per year depending on company requirements."
"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 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."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Financial Services Firm
21%
Comms Service Provider
9%
Computer Software Company
8%
University
7%
Financial Services Firm
15%
Computer Software Company
13%
Manufacturing Company
8%
Retailer
8%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
No data available
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business8
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise7
 

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?
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 is...
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...
What needs improvement with Couchbase?
The main issue we keep facing from the past couple of years, observing other teams using Couchbase, is that whenever there is an upgrade, we see many issues with compatibility or nodes not intercon...
What is your primary use case for Couchbase?
Basically we have clusters, Couchbase clusters, databases, and that is how we use Couchbase with XDCR. All the clusters are set up and then we use Couchbase. It is a complex application setup we us...
What advice do you have for others considering Couchbase?
It is a good solution, but as every product needs improvement, this also needs some enhancement. It is a good product. I rate Couchbase seven out of ten.
 

Also Known As

HBase
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Bloomberg, Wells Fargo, Apple, Capital One, NVIDIA
Amadeus, Cisco, Comcast, LinkedIn, GE
Find out what your peers are saying about Apache HBase vs. Couchbase Enterprise and other solutions. Updated: September 2025.
867,497 professionals have used our research since 2012.