Cassandra drivers supported by DataStax

The terms drivers for Apache Cassandra® and Cassandra drivers refer to all drivers that can be used with Cassandra-based databases.

Due to the open source nature of the Apache Software Foundation (ASF), Cassandra drivers are developed by different contributors, depending on source code ownership or primary responsibility. The majority of the drivers described in this guide are developed by either DataStax or the Apache Software Foundation.

Some drivers, such as the Java driver, originate from DataStax and are later donated to the ASF. When a donation happens, the documentation is split between the original maintainer (pre-donation versions) and the ASF (post-donation versions).

For simplicity, this guide uses the following terms to refer to all DataStax-compatible Cassandra drivers:

When referring to a specific driver version or series, the documentation may use the maintainer’s prefix for clarity, such as DataStax Java driver or Apache Cassandra Java driver. The DataStax prefix may also be used to highlight functionality that is specific to DataStax, such as DSE Graph.

DataStax-compatible drivers work exclusively with the Cassandra Query Language (CQL) version 3 for transactional workloads and support both Fluent and String APIs for DSE Graph workloads. Use these drivers in production applications to pass CQL or DSE Graph statements from the client to a cluster and to retrieve, manipulate, or remove data.

The drivers support Cassandra’s binary protocol.

For example, with DSE 5.1, you can use any DataStax-compatible driver that supports Cassandra 3.1. However, to use functionality such as DSE Graph with DSE 5.1 and some later versions, you might need to use DSE-only drivers. To verify compatibility, check the version compatibility for DataStax-compatible drivers and DSE-only drivers.

DataStax considers the following drivers to be compatible with Cassandra, DSE, HCD, and Astra DB.

DataStax strongly recommends using DataStax-compatible drivers whenever possible. While other Apache Cassandra drivers might be functional, they might lack features that harden the driver against IP address changes of the coordinators. This can cause frequent connection issues or failed connections. Connections using third-party open-source drivers over private links, with or without custom domains, are not supported by DataStax. For more information, see the DataStax Support Policy.

The following table provides links to source code, version compatibility, and documentation for each DataStax-compatible driver. These drivers are developed and maintained by either DataStax or the Apache Software Foundation.

You can access the DataStax ODBC and JDBC drivers through the DataStax Support portal or by contacting DataStax Support.

Use the Apache Cassandra Spark Cassandra Connector to connect to your Cassandra, DSE, HCD, and Astra DB databases with Apache Spark.

For more information, see the following:

The following drivers are in end-of-life (EOL) or maintenance mode.