Freedom to Scale
No Lock-in, No Forks
Built on 100% Apache Cassandra®
and the permissive Apache 2.0 license.
Why Cassandra?
Architecture Freedom
Peer-to-peer design, zero single point of failure, linear scale. Engineered for limitless independence.
Proven at the Largest Scale
Chosen by Netflix, Apple, Uber, Walmart & Bloomberg for petabyte-scale transactional workloads, without proprietary constraints.
Open Innovation
A global community solving the same distributed-data challenges together under Apache 2.0. Build, fork, or monetize freely.
Healthy Community
#11 on DB-Engines
Cassandra sits just outside the Top 10 and is the highest OSS DB under the Apache 2.0 license, outranking every other ASF project.
31 K+ Commits
More than a decade of nonstop development—31,000+ commits in the main repo alone.
460+ Code Contributors
A broad maintainer base spanning dozens of companies keeps the bus-factor low.
DataStax Alignment
Upstream Contributions
Every major feature we ship in Astra DB, DSE, or HCD becomes a CEP and merges into Apache Cassandra (e.g., Trie Memtables CEP-19, Unified Compaction CEP-25, Vector Search CEP-30).
OSS Support Options
Prefer to run your own clusters? Luna gives commercial support for unmodified Cassandra. A perfect mix of supported OSS and Enterprise distributions.
Deployment Freedom
Managed (Astra DB), Kubernetes (HCD), or self-managed—all powered by upstream Cassandra, so you keep compatibility and skills.
License Transparency
| Freedom – Apache 2.0 | Friction – SSPL / BSL |
| Unlimited production use | SSPL not OSI-approved; forced to open-source your full stack if you offer a service. |
| No “copyleft-as-a-service” clauses | BSL restricts commercial production use until a vendor-controlled “change date.” |
| Fork, monetize, re-license | Vendor can unilaterally change license terms |
| Large neutral foundation (ASF) | Single-vendor stewardship |
Products Built on Cassandra
Astra DB SLA & Terms
99.99% uptime-backed Cassandra-as-a-Service, usage-based pricing, free tier, bring-your-own-cloud.
HCD Dual License
Run Apache Cassandra on Kubernetes under Apache 2.0 or commercial terms. Switch without rewriting code.
Luna Support for OSS Cassandra
24x7 expert support, hot-fixes, and CVE patches for any deployment of unmodified Cassandra.
Start Today with Astra DB
Speak directly with a Cassandra expert. Custom SLAs, patch guidance, and 24x7 incident response.