Scylla vs YugabyteDB: What are the differences?
Introduction:
Scylla and YugabyteDB are two popular databases known for their scalability, performance, and fault-tolerance. While both databases belong to the NoSQL family, there are several key differences between them that set them apart from each other.
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Architecture: Scylla is built on Apache Cassandra's architecture and is written in C++ to optimize performance. It is a sharded database that uses consistent hashing for distributing data across nodes. In contrast, YugabyteDB is a distributed SQL database that is based on Google Spanner's design. It uses a modified version of PostgreSQL as its query layer and a distributed key-value store for storing data.
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Data Model: Scylla follows the wide-column data model and is compatible with the Cassandra Query Language (CQL), allowing users to query their data using a SQL-like syntax. It supports a flexible schema, allowing column updates and addition of new columns on a per-row basis. On the other hand, YugabyteDB supports the SQL data model, including structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data. It provides full ACID transactions and supports both SQL and NoSQL APIs.
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Consistency Model: Scylla provides tunable consistency, allowing users to choose between strong consistency and eventual consistency based on their application requirements. It uses the Paxos algorithm for handling consensus. YugabyteDB, on the other hand, provides strong consistency by default but also supports eventual consistency for distributed reads. It implements the Raft consensus algorithm for achieving consistency.
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Deployment: Scylla can be deployed on bare-metal servers, virtual machines, or containers, and supports cloud platforms like AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. It also provides integration with Kubernetes for container orchestration. YugabyteDB can be deployed on bare-metal servers, VMs, or containers as well. It also supports cloud platforms and provides native integration with Kubernetes.
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Global Data Distribution: Scylla supports multi-data center replication, allowing users to distribute their data across multiple geographic regions for better latency and fault-tolerance. It uses Cassandra's cross-data center replication mechanism. YugabyteDB has built-in multi-region deployments, enabling users to replicate data across different regions. It provides automatic data partitioning and rebalancing to ensure data availability and fault-tolerance.
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Ecosystem and Compatibility: Scylla has a strong ecosystem with libraries, drivers, and tooling that are compatible with Cassandra. It supports a wide range of data format, including JSON and Apache Avro. YugabyteDB has compatibility with PostgreSQL, which means it can seamlessly integrate with existing PostgreSQL tools, connectors, and drivers. It also has support for distributed transactions using the YSQL API.
In summary, Scylla and YugabyteDB differ in their underlying architecture, data model, consistency model, deployment options, global data distribution capabilities, and ecosystem compatibility. These key differences make each database suitable for different use cases and requirements.