Cassandra vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop comparison

Apache and Cloudera are both solutions in the NoSQL Databases category. Apache is ranked #7 with an average rating of 8.1, while Cloudera is ranked #8 with an average rating of 8.4. Apache holds a 7.8% mindshare in ND, compared to Cloudera’s 3.6% mindshare. Additionally, 92% of Apache users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 92% of Cloudera users who would recommend it.

Cassandra

Read 25 Cassandra reviews

2,478 Views
1,611 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Cloudera Distribution for H...

Read 51 Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop reviews

2,315 Views
741 Comparison Views

92% willing to recommend

Cassandra

Cloudera Distribution for H...

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 7, 2025

Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop and Cassandra compete in the data management solutions category. Cloudera seems to have the upper hand in centralized management and comprehensive data governance, compared to Cassandra's strengths in scalability and high availability.

Features: Cloudera offers features like Impala for fast data processing, Sentry for enhanced security, and Cloudera Manager for centralized administration. Cassandra provides a NoSQL schema, linear scalability, and automated replication, making it suitable for large-scale data handling and quick real-time analytics.

Room for Improvement: Cloudera faces challenges with version stability, complex setup processes, and costs due to its licensing model. Integration with Spark and improved API documentation are areas needing enhancement. Cassandra could benefit from better query optimization and user-friendly documentation. It lacks built-in aggregation functions requiring third-party tools for complex queries.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Cloudera is primarily deployed on-premises but supports cloud options; customer service feedback is mixed, with some praising the support and others noting inconsistency. Cassandra offers flexible deployment across cloud and on-premises setups and receives positive feedback for its supportive community and effective forums.

Pricing and ROI: Cloudera's licensing model can be cost-prohibitive for smaller companies, though larger enterprises find value in its features despite the high costs. Cassandra, as an open-source solution, offers economical data management with lowered operational costs, making it attractive for cost-conscious enterprises seeking high ROI.

To learn more, read our detailed Cassandra vs. Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop Report (Updated: March 2026).

Buyer's Guide

Cassandra vs. Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

March 2026

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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 NoSQL Databases

7th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.0

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Vector Databases (14th)

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 (2nd)

Mindshare comparison

As of March 2026, in the NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Cassandra is 7.8%, down from 11.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop is 3.6%, up from 1.9% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NoSQL Databases Mindshare Distribution
Product	Mindshare (%)
Cassandra	7.8%
Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop	3.6%
Other	88.6%

NoSQL 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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Sami Al-Yazidi

Head of Advaced Analytics & Intelligence; AGM at Alinma Bank

Integration of multiple features supports data analytics and processing

Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop provides numerous features and capabilities combined into one platform.The solution offers power processing and supports different file systems and query engines. It provides parallel processing for handling many requests. The platform includes role-based access control in Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop. It secures the data itself and provides users with different roles and privileges.

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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

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

"Its retrieval is similar to an RDBMS, so our team finds it easy to adapt."

"I am satisfied with the performance."

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

"Some of the valued features of this solution are it has good performance and failover."

"Our primary use case for the solution is testing."

"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-time updates is paramount."

"Cassandra offers high availability and fault tolerance, making it suitable for large-scale data storage and real-time processing."

More Cassandra pros

"Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop provides numerous features and capabilities combined into one platform, offers power processing, supports different file systems and query engines, and provides parallel processing for handling many requests."

"The features I find most valuable is that the solution is that it is easy to install and to work with. It starts with the installation and from there on the management is very simple and centralized."

"We had a data warehouse before all the data. We can process a lot more data structures."

"It has the best proxy, security, and support features compared to open-source products."

"The file system is a valuable feature."

"The solution's most valuable feature is the enterprise data platform."

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

"The product is completely secure."

More Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop pros

Cons

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

"The initial setup of Cassandra can be difficult in the configuration. There might be a need to have assistance. The implementation process can six months for connecting to certain databases."

"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."

"The disc space is lacking. You need to free it up as you are working."

"The solution is limited to a linear performance."

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

"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."

"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."

More Cassandra cons

"The procedure for operations could be simplified."

"The initial setup of Cloudera is difficult."

"The solution does not support multiple languages very well and this means users need to create work-arounds to implement some solutions."

"Currently, we are using many other tools such as Spark and Blade Job to improve the performance."

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

"We experienced many issues when we started working with Hadoop 3.0 in the Cloudera 6.0 version, so there is a lot of things that need to improve."

"The price of this solution could be lowered."

"The tool's ability to be deployed on a cloud model is an area of concern where improvements are required."

More Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

"We pay for a license."

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

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

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

"The tool is not expensive."

"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 solution is fairly expensive."

"When comparing with Oracle Sybase and SQL, it's cheaper. It's not expensive."

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

"Cloudera requires a license to use."

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

"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

15%

Comms Service Provider

Computer Software Company

Retailer

Financial Services Firm

19%

Marketing Services Firm

10%

Computer Software Company

Comms Service Provider

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	16
Midsize Enterprise	9
Large Enterprise	31

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...

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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...

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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...

See all answers

What do you like most about Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop?

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

See all answers

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

ClickHouse vs Cassandra

Compared 11% of the time

MongoDB Enterprise Advanced vs Cassandra

Compared 10% of the time

Couchbase Enterprise vs Cassandra

Compared 7% of the time

ScyllaDB vs Cassandra

Compared 5% of the time

Pinecone vs Cassandra

Compared 3% of the time

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HPE Data Fabric vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

Compared 10% of the time

MongoDB Enterprise Advanced vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

Compared 9% of the time

Amazon EMR vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

Compared 8% of the time

Couchbase Enterprise vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

Compared 8% of the time

DataStax Enterprise vs Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

Compared 4% of the time

More Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

Cassandra

March 2026

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Buyer's Guide

Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

March 2026

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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

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

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

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

Buyer's Guide

Cassandra vs. Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop

March 2026

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