Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

Apache Ignite VS VoltDB

Compare Apache Ignite VS VoltDB and see what are their differences

Apache Ignite logo Apache Ignite

high-performance, integrated and distributed in-memory platform for computing and transacting on...

VoltDB logo VoltDB

In-memory relational DBMS capable of supporting millions of database operations per second
  • Apache Ignite Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-07-08
  • VoltDB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-17

Apache Ignite features and specs

  • In-Memory Data Grid
    Apache Ignite provides a robust in-memory data grid that can drastically improve data access speeds by storing data in memory across distributed nodes.
  • Scalability
    The system is designed to scale horizontally, allowing users to add more nodes to handle increased loads, thereby ensuring high availability and performance.
  • Distributed Compute Capabilities
    Ignite supports parallel execution of tasks across cluster nodes, which is beneficial for complex computations and real-time processing.
  • Persistence
    Although primarily in-memory, Ignite offers a durable and transactional Persistence layer that ensures data can be persisted on disk, providing a hybrid in-memory and persistent storage solution.
  • SQL Queries
    Ignite offers support for ANSI-99 SQL, which allows users to execute complex SQL queries across distributed datasets easily.
  • Integration
    It integrates well with existing Hadoop and Spark setups, allowing users to enhance their existing data pipelines with Ignite’s capabilities.
  • Fault Tolerance
    Apache Ignite includes built-in mechanisms for recovery and ensures that data copies are maintained across nodes for resilience against node failures.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Ignite

  • Complexity
    Apache Ignite can be complex to set up and manage, especially when configuring a large, distributed system with multiple nodes.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running an in-memory data grid like Ignite requires significant memory resources, which can increase operational costs.
  • Learning Curve
    Due to its comprehensive features and distributed nature, there is a steep learning curve associated with effectively utilizing Ignite.
  • Configuration Overhead
    There is substantial configuration overhead involved to optimize performance and ensure proper cluster management.
  • Community Support
    Although it has active development, the community support might not be as robust compared to other more mature solutions, possibly leading to challenges in finding solutions to niche issues.
  • YARN Dependence
    For those looking to integrate with Hadoop, Ignite's optimal performance is sometimes reliant on Hadoop YARN, which can introduce additional complexity.

VoltDB features and specs

  • High Performance
    VoltDB is designed for high-speed data processing and can handle a large number of transactions per second, making it suitable for real-time applications.
  • In-Memory Storage
    Data in VoltDB is stored in-memory, which eliminates disk I/O latencies and enhances the speed of data retrieval and processing.
  • Strong Consistency
    The database provides ACID properties, ensuring that transactions are processed reliably and consistently, which is critical for financial and other sensitive applications.
  • Real-time Analytics
    VoltDB can perform complex queries and analytics in real time, enabling immediate insights and decision-making.
  • Scalability
    VoltDB supports horizontal scaling, allowing it to handle increasing amounts of data and transactions by adding more nodes to a cluster.

Possible disadvantages of VoltDB

  • Memory Dependency
    Since data is stored in-memory, the amount of data that can be handled is limited by the available memory, which might require additional resources or configurations.
  • Complexity of Setup
    Initial setup and configuration of VoltDB can be complex, requiring a solid understanding of the system and expertise to optimize performance.
  • Limited to Specific Use Cases
    VoltDB excels in OLTP and real-time applications but might not be suitable for workloads primarily involving heavy analytical processing (OLAP).
  • Commercial Licensing
    While there may be a community edition available, advanced features and support generally require commercial licensing, which can be costly for some organizations.
  • Subset of SQL
    VoltDB may not support the full SQL standard, which might limit certain types of queries or necessitate changes to existing applications designed for other databases.

Apache Ignite videos

Best Practices for a Microservices Architecture on Apache Ignite

More videos:

  • Review - Apache Ignite + GridGain powering up banks and financial institutions with distributed systems

VoltDB videos

VoltDB Explained in 2 Minutes

More videos:

  • Review - CMU Database Systems - 25 Ethan Zhang [VoltDB] (Fall 2018)
  • Review - VoltDB Founder/Engineer: Transactional Streaming - If You Can Compute It, You Can Probably Stream It

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Apache Ignite and VoltDB)
Databases
55 55%
45% 45
NoSQL Databases
52 52%
48% 48
Key-Value Database
100 100%
0% 0
Development
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Apache Ignite seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 3 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Apache Ignite mentions (3)

  • API Caching: Techniques for Better Performance
    Apache Ignite — Free and open-source, Apache Ignite is a horizontally scalable key-value cache store system with a robust multi-model database that powers APIs to compute distributed data. Ignite provides a security system that can authenticate users' credentials on the server. It can also be used for system workload acceleration, real-time data processing, analytics, and as a graph-centric programming model. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
  • Ask HN: P2P Databases?
    Ignite works as you describe: https://ignite.apache.org/ I wouldn't really recommend this approach, I would think more in terms of subscriptions and topics and less of a 'database'. - Source: Hacker News / about 3 years ago
  • .NET and Apache Ignite: Testing Cache and SQL API features — Part I
    Last days, I started using Apache Ignite as a cache strategy for some applications. Apache Ignite is an open-source In-Memory Data Grid, distributed database, caching, and high-performance computing platform. Source: over 3 years ago

VoltDB mentions (0)

We have not tracked any mentions of VoltDB yet. Tracking of VoltDB recommendations started around Mar 2021.

What are some alternatives?

When comparing Apache Ignite and VoltDB, you can also consider the following products

Redis - Redis is an open source in-memory data structure project implementing a distributed, in-memory key-value database with optional durability.

Microsoft SQL Server Compact - Bring Microsoft SQL Server 2017 to the platform of your choice. Use SQL Server 2017 on Windows, Linux, and Docker containers.

MongoDB - MongoDB (from "humongous") is a scalable, high-performance NoSQL database.

Realm.io - Realm is a mobile platform and a replacement for SQLite & Core Data. Build offline-first, reactive mobile experiences using simple data sync.

memcached - High-performance, distributed memory object caching system

ObjectBox - ObjectBox empower edge computing with an edge device database and synchronization solution for Mobile & IoT. Store and sync data from edge to cloud.