Apache Cassandra vs Pinecone: Choosing Your Vector Database

Apache Cassandra and Pinecone are two popular vector databases that differ in their approach and capabilities. Cassandra is an open-source distributed database designed to handle large amounts of data across multiple computers, while Pinecone is a proprietary SaaS built specifically for vector search. Both can handle lots of data but in different ways: Cassandra allows users to add more machines to handle more data, and being open-source, developers have full control over this process; Pinecone handles scaling as a managed service. Apache Cassandra is good if you need to handle various types of data, not just vectors, and want control over your infrastructure or are already using other Apache tools. On the other hand, consider Pinecone when focusing on vector search without managing infrastructure, wanting to get started quickly, or needing a system that's easy to use with machine learning models.