Apache HBase vs Couchbase comparison

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Apache HBase

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Jan 7, 2025

Apache HBase and Couchbase are competing in the NoSQL database market, offering different solutions for handling Big Data. Couchbase generally holds the upper hand due to its comprehensive feature set and scalability, despite being more expensive than HBase, which benefits from its cost-effectiveness and integration abilities.

Features: Apache HBase offers linear scalability and strong consistency, making it suitable for large-scale data processing. Its integration with the Hadoop ecosystem enhances distributed storage of sparse data. Couchbase provides multi-dimensional scaling, JSON document support, and advanced querying capabilities, essential for modern application development.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: Couchbase is designed for rapid deployment with thorough documentation, facilitating an easier onboarding experience. It tends to offer more streamlined support, making it accessible for quick starts. HBase requires more initial configuration due to its complexity but benefits from educated personnel knowledgeable about its setup.

Pricing and ROI: Apache HBase typically has lower initial setup costs due to its open-source nature and use within existing Hadoop frameworks, providing strong ROI when utilized with existing clusters. Couchbase, though more expensive with higher setup costs, offers a faster ROI due to its performance and adaptability in diverse environments.

To learn more, read our detailed Apache HBase vs. Couchbase Report (Updated: March 2025).

Apache HBase vs. Couchbase

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

Apache HBase

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

11th

Average Rating

6.0

Reviews Sentiment

6.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Couchbase

Ranking in NoSQL Databases

6th

Average Rating

8.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.3

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

Mindshare comparison

As of April 2025, in the NoSQL Databases category, the mindshare of Apache HBase is 5.4%, up from 5.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Couchbase is 10.4%, down from 11.0% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

NoSQL Databases

Featured Reviews

Sekhar Reddy B

Principal Software Engineer at Securonix

Offers real-time aggregations and easy for a beginner to learn to use this

We use it for real-time data grouping The most valuable part is the column family structure. We mainly use it for real-time aggregations. That's why we prefer it as a NoSQL database. We've seen performance issues when we have more regions. The product needs improvement in that area. So we…

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Ravi_Singh

Manager at Tesco

Supports multiple data models and offers AI capabilities

With some of the operations, we used to face some challenges with scalability. Although it worked pretty well, in some scenarios, we noticed issues where the replications and the sharding were not happening correctly. In recent versions, we also faced some issues in terms of enabling advanced operations like FTS and vectors. Although it works pretty well, in some places, we do face challenges, especially on a heavy scale. I think all issues are being addressed in the latest version of Couchbase. The resources are not that good for Couchbase. The tool's documentation is pretty extensive, but if you go for any kind of courses or tutorials, there are very limited resources available. It also becomes a little bit challenging for new people to get onboard into it. MongoDB and other such open-source database tools perform really well as they're really widely adopted, and they have resources available to get you onboarded pretty quickly. I think that we do face some challenges with Couchbase, but luckily, we have the tool's enterprise version solution, so we get all the support from the product team.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"Apache HBase is a database used for data storage."

"The most valuable part is the column family structure."

"I can input any kind of document into the solution and it is integrated using a dynamic API. This has been the most valuable aspect of using this solution."

"The most valuable features are the ease of application and the merging of data."

"The most valuable features of Couchbase include the key-value storage due to its speed and the multi-master capability, which provides more speed and scalability compared to master-slave databases."

"Couchbase has not given any performance problems as of now."

"I have found the views to be very valuable."

"It is highly available for support and does not impact our operations significantly during failures."

"Sync Gateway is a great feature that supports the mobile application."

"The valuable features of Couchbase are the many documents and index types, and they made a lot of features available enabling us to use it as a complete solution for our needs."

More Couchbase pros

Cons

"I don't like using Apache HBase to store huge amounts of data because of many performance issues."

"We've seen performance issues."

"Although it worked pretty well, in some scenarios, we noticed issues where the replications and the sharding were not happening correctly."

"There are some limitations to the database. The SQL database cannot handle real-time processing for critical IoT scenarios. What we have to do is store our data into the database then code it out, this wastes a lot of time."

"One thing that could improved upon is the level of concurrency. The documentation for this solution could also be improved."

"The scripting language for this solution could be improved. A big selling point is that they're like SQL server but there is still quite a lot of missing functionality."

"We would like to have a better management of Kubernetes with the free, open source version of Couchbase. We don't have any major complaints other than that."

"I would like Couchbase to provide more functionality via the UI, as some operations, such as time-based scaling, currently require using the API."

"Needs some capacity planning to deal with too much memory, CPUs and displays."

"I have tried multiple libraries in a demo they provide and it works fine, but when it merges with libraries, it creates a problem."

More Couchbase cons

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available

"It seems very reasonable. It's a lot cheaper than Redis, but we've got an enterprise license. So, it's about normal. It's not outrageous in price as far as we've seen. From Couchbase, there's no additional fee as far as I'm aware, but when you're integrating, there's an additional fee because a lot of times, they don't have an integration stack."

"The price of this solution is better than some of the other competitors."

"The licensing cost of Couchbase is quite expensive compared to other databases."

"It can range between 25,000 to 40,000 Euros per year depending on company requirements."

"We estimate that it's not very expensive, however, the pricing that you can get from the account managers, e.g. the public pricing, could be a bit expensive."

"I wouldn't say Couchbase offers good value for money."

"I would rate this solution a nine out of ten for pricing as it is affordable."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

10%

Government

Financial Services Firm

22%

Computer Software Company

15%

Manufacturing Company

Retailer

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

No data available

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about Apache HBase?

Apache HBase is a database used for data storage.

What needs improvement with Apache HBase?

We've seen performance issues when we have more regions. The product needs improvement in that area. So we experience performance issues sometimes when the load increases.

What advice do you have for others considering Apache HBase?

It's better to use AWS DynamoDB or Cassandra. I would rate it an eight out of ten. It is easy for a beginner to learn.

What needs improvement with Couchbase?

I would like Couchbase to provide more functionality via the UI, as some operations, such as time-based scaling, currently require using the API. While I find Couchbase's feature set to be generall...

What is your primary use case for Couchbase?

Our primary use case for Couchbase is related to the iGaming industry, particularly for high-performance reads and writes to meet our SLA for high volumes. We have a particular use case where there...

What advice do you have for others considering Couchbase?

Couchbase, especially under high load conditions, is imperative for providing a great user experience due to its stability and scalability, which reduces costs and scales efficiently. I rate Couchb...

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Comparisons

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Compared 27% of the time

ScyllaDB vs Apache HBase

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Compared 12% of the time

Cassandra vs Apache HBase

Compared 10% of the time

Cloudera Distribution for Hadoop vs Apache HBase

Compared 4% of the time

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MongoDB vs Couchbase

Compared 37% of the time

Cassandra vs Couchbase

Compared 28% of the time

ScyllaDB vs Couchbase

Compared 21% of the time

Redis vs Couchbase

Compared 7% of the time

More Couchbase Competitors

Product Reports

NoSQL Databases

Download Apache HBase product report

Download Couchbase product report

Also Known As

HBase

No data available

Overview

Apache HBase is an open-source, distributed, versioned, non-relational database modeled after Google's BigTable. Just as Bigtable leverages the distributed data storage provided by the Google File System, Apache HBase provides Bigtable-like capabilities on top of Hadoop and HDFS.

Apache

Couchbase is a versatile database solution for healthcare, automation, e-commerce, gaming, caching, and analytics. It supports 920 nodes and 420 clusters, making it scalable and extensible. Its valuable features include multiple database paradigms, low latency, dynamic API integration, Sync Gateway for mobile apps, and a user-friendly interface.

Couchbase has helped organizations with low latency metrics, large user updates, and cost-effective caching. Its built-in data replication and disaster recovery features make it a complete solution for various needs.

Sample Customers

Bloomberg, Wells Fargo, Apple, Capital One, NVIDIA

Amadeus, Cisco, Comcast, LinkedIn, GE

Apache HBase vs. Couchbase