Oracle vs Scylla: What are the differences?

Introduction

In this article, we will explore the key differences between Oracle and Scylla databases. Oracle is a widely used relational database management system (RDBMS), while Scylla is a highly scalable NoSQL database. Let's dive into the differences between these two databases.

1. Data Model: Oracle is a relational database that organizes data into tables with predefined schemas and enforces relationships between tables using foreign keys. On the other hand, Scylla is based on Apache Cassandra and follows a wide-column NoSQL data model. It uses a flexible schema allowing variable fields and denormalization to achieve high performance.

2. Scalability: Oracle is designed to run on a single server and can vertically scale by adding more resources to the existing server. However, Scylla is designed to be massively scalable, allowing horizontal scaling by adding more commodity servers to the cluster. It leverages a distributed architecture and consistent hashing to distribute data across multiple nodes.

3. Performance: Oracle is known for its robustness and feature richness, providing excellent performance for transactional workloads. It supports various indexing options, query optimization, and parallel processing. On the other hand, Scylla offers extreme performance for big data and high-velocity workloads. It is optimized for write-heavy operations and can handle millions of operations per second.

4. Fault Tolerance: Oracle provides built-in fault tolerance mechanisms such as data replication, clustering, and failover options to ensure high availability. It supports various backup and recovery options to protect data in case of failures. In contrast, Scylla is designed with fault tolerance in mind from the ground up. It uses a distributed architecture with replication across multiple nodes, ensuring data durability and availability even in the face of node failures.

5. Data Consistency: Oracle emphasizes strong data consistency by enforcing ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability) properties. It supports transactions with strict atomicity and isolation guarantees. Scylla, being a NoSQL database, offers tunable consistency levels. It provides eventual consistency by default, but allows users to choose stronger consistency levels when needed. This trade-off allows for higher availability and faster performance at the cost of relaxing strict consistency guarantees.

6. Cost: Oracle is a commercially licensed database that requires substantial licensing and maintenance costs, especially for enterprise-level deployments. Scylla, on the other hand, offers a community edition that is free to use and an enterprise edition that offers advanced features and support at a fraction of the cost compared to Oracle.

In summary, Oracle is a mature and feature-rich RDBMS with a strong emphasis on data integrity, while Scylla is a highly scalable NoSQL database optimized for big data and high-velocity workloads. Their differences lie in data models, scalability, performance, fault tolerance, data consistency, and cost.