Happn: Falling in Love with ScyllaDB

Happn, a popular dating app launched in 2014, has experienced significant growth, reaching over 128 million users by 2022, due to its unique approach of connecting singles who have physically crossed paths, emphasizing authenticity in online connections. Initially using Apache Cassandra to handle its data needs, Happn faced challenges related to technical debt, cost, and data management, prompting a shift to ScyllaDB after an internal analysis. This migration, which involved moving fourteen clusters and addressing complex counter data issues, resulted in improved performance and cost efficiency, reducing latencies and storage requirements significantly. The transition to ScyllaDB allowed Happn to scale its operations, optimizing its infrastructure from 48 Cassandra nodes to just 6 ScyllaDB nodes, and cutting its total cost of ownership by 75%. Happn's successful adoption of ScyllaDB, alongside companies like Tantan, Discord, and Rakuten, highlights the database's capacity to support large-scale, high-performance applications in various sectors.