Cassandra 4.0 vs. Cassandra 3.11: Performance Comparison

Apache Cassandra 4.0 demonstrates significant performance improvements over Cassandra 3.11, primarily due to a major Java Virtual Machine upgrade and the use of the ZGC garbage collector. This upgrade notably enhances latency and throughput, with P99 latencies reduced by up to 99% and throughput increased by up to 33% in some scenarios. Despite these advancements, not all workloads experience substantial gains, as maximum throughput between the two versions remains similar in certain cases. Additionally, Cassandra 4.0 offers improved administrative operation speeds, such as adding nodes and cluster doubling, with up to 34% faster performance. The testing was conducted using typical AWS server setups, focusing on mixed, read-only, and write-only workloads across various data distribution scenarios, including real-life, uniform, and in-memory distributions. However, some users may still face challenges with the transition, considering the stability and maturity of new software features like the ZGC garbage collector.