Enterprise Java

Key differences between Apache Ignite, Hazelcast, Cassandra and Tarantool

Apache Ignite is widely used around the world and is growing all the time. Companies like Barclays, Misys, Sberbank (3r largest bank in Europe), ING, JacTravel all use Ignite to power pieces of their architecture that are critical to the day-to-day operations of those organizations. Moreover, the vendor like TIBCO uses core caching data-grid module of Apache Ignite with advanced indexing and SQL capability for their Master Data Management platform.

However there are a few others alternatives to Apache Ignite from other vendors such as HazelCast, Oracle, Ehcache, GemFire, etc. The main difference of Apache Ignite from the others is the number of functionalities and simplicity of use. Apache Ignite provides a variety of functionalities, which you can use for different use cases. The key differences between the Apache IgniteHazelcast, and Apache Cassandra are as follows:

FeatureApache IgniteHazelcastApache Cassandra
Data modelKey-valueKey-valueColumn family
DurabilityYes (WAL and,memory pages)Yes (not free)Yes (commit log and,SStable)
SQL supportYesSQL like query
language
No, support SQL like
query language
Secondary indexYesYesYes
Big data acceleratorYesYes (not free)No
TransactionYesYesCAS – not ACID
compliant
Use caseMost suitable for
read/write-heavy workloads
Most suitable
for read/write-heavy workloads
Most suitable for
write-heavy
workloads
Server-side scriptingYes (compute &
service grid)
YesNo
AvailabilityHighHighHigh
StreamingYesYes (not free)No
In-memory
Map/Reduce
YesYesNo

From the above table, you can see that unlike other competitors, Apache Ignite provides durable memory architecture (free of charges), server-side scripting (compute grid), a set of components called In-memory Hadoop accelerator and Spark shared RDD that can deliver real-time performance to Hadoop and Spark users. The Apache Ignite is the right choice when you need scalability and high availability with the capability of processing high volume transactions. It is the perfect platform for the mission-critical data on commodity hardware or cloud infrastructure.

Now, let’s compare the Apache Ignite functionalities with another in-memory database named Tarantool. Tarantool is an in-memory database, design by a team led by a former MySQL engineer.

FeatureApache IgniteTarantool
Data modelKey-valueContainer like
DurabilityYes (WAL and memory pages)Yes (WAL, LSM tree)
SQL supportYesNo
Secondary indexYesYes
Big data acceleratorYesNo
ORM supportYesNo
Distributed transactionYesNo
Use caseMost suitable for
read/write-heavy workloads
Most suitable
for read/write-heavy workloads
Server-side scriptingYes (compute &
service grid)
Yes (using programming
language Lua)
AvailabilityHighHigh! Master-slave replication
StreamingYesYes (built-in queues)
In-memory
Map/Reduce
YesYes

If you carefully study the above table, you can notice that Tarantool doesn’t support SQL and distributed transactions. Even Tarantool doesn’t provide any ORM support for using Hibernate or MyBatis. From the architecture point of view, Tarantool uses Master-Slave replication, which can proceed data loss whenever a master fails.

Published on Java Code Geeks with permission by Shamim Bhuiyan, partner at our JCG program. See the original article here: Key differences between Apache Ignite, Hazelcast, Cassandra and Tarantool

Opinions expressed by Java Code Geeks contributors are their own.

Shamim Bhuiyan

Dr. Shamim Ahmed Bhuiyan is an IT Architect, SOA solution designer, speaker and Big data evangelist. Independent consultant on BigData and HighLoad systems. Actively participates in development and designing high performance software for IT, telecommunication and banking industry.
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Brendan
Brendan
5 years ago

Something isn’t quite right with that first table, I am guessing the Middle column should be Hazelcast.

Shamim
Shamim
5 years ago
Reply to  Brendan

Thanks for pointing me out. Yes, it’s an editing mistake and the second column of the first table should be HazelCast.

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