NoSQL databases: A comparison of the top contenders

NoSQL databases are designed to support cloud applications and overcome limitations of relational databases (RDBMSs). They come in various forms, including Apache Cassandra®, MongoDB, Apache HBase™, and Couchbase. These databases differ from RDBMSs in their architecture, data model, distribution model, replication design, and development model. NoSQL databases are suitable for large volumes of structured, semi-structured, or unstructured data, high scalability, continuous availability, big data processing, and real-time analytics. Key decision points on when to use RDBMSs or NoSQL include the type of application (centralized vs decentralized), data types, velocity of data, data distribution, and storage capacity. Cassandra is a leading NoSQL database that offers benefits such as high availability, distributed architecture, wide-column store data model, efficient data replication, and user-friendly query language. Benchmarks show that Cassandra outperforms other popular NoSQL databases like MongoDB, HBase, and Couchbase in terms of speed and performance for mixed operational and analytic workloads.