Hazelcast
Real-time analytic database software
Database software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is Hazelcast
Hazelcast is an in-memory distributed data platform used to store and process operational data with low latency. It is commonly used by application and platform teams for distributed caching, session/state management, and real-time stream processing, and it can also support fast analytics on data held in memory. The product combines an in-memory data grid with a SQL interface and a stream processing engine, and it is available as open source software and as managed and enterprise offerings.
Low-latency in-memory data access
Hazelcast keeps data in memory across a cluster, which supports very low-latency reads and writes for operational workloads. It is well-suited for caching, shared application state, and high-throughput event-driven systems. This architecture can reduce load on downstream systems by serving frequently accessed data from the grid.
Distributed compute and streaming
Hazelcast includes a distributed stream processing engine (Hazelcast Jet) for real-time transformations and aggregations. Teams can build pipelines that join and enrich streaming data with in-memory state. This supports near-real-time analytics and operational decisioning without moving all data into a separate analytics store.
Flexible deployment options
Hazelcast is available as open source and as commercial editions, and it can run on-premises or in cloud environments. It supports clustering and horizontal scaling, which helps teams grow capacity by adding nodes. Managed options can reduce operational overhead for organizations that do not want to run clusters themselves.
Not a primary OLAP store
Hazelcast is primarily an in-memory data grid and processing platform rather than a purpose-built analytical database for large historical datasets. For long-term retention and heavy scan-based analytics, teams often pair it with external storage systems. This can add architectural complexity when compared with systems designed mainly for analytical storage and querying.
Memory footprint and cost
Keeping large datasets in memory can increase infrastructure requirements and cost relative to disk-based databases. Capacity planning must account for replication, backups/snapshots, and headroom for rebalancing. Workloads with large cardinality or long retention windows may become expensive to operate in-memory.
Operational tuning and expertise
Running a distributed in-memory cluster requires careful configuration for partitioning, replication, networking, and failure recovery. Performance and stability can depend on JVM tuning and workload-specific data structure choices. Teams may need specialized expertise to troubleshoot latency spikes, GC behavior, and cluster rebalancing effects.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Community Edition | Free (Apache 2.0 + Hazelcast Community License) | Core Hazelcast Platform functionality; open-source downloadable distribution; no enterprise features or SLA. |
| Enterprise Edition (Hazelcast Platform, self-managed) | Custom pricing — annual subscription (contact sales) | Licensed subscription that adds Security Suite, WAN replication, High-Density Memory Store, persistence/Hot Restart, rolling upgrades, long-term support, and paid support entitlements. Contact Hazelcast for pricing. |
Usage-based (Hazelcast Cloud) Pricing model: Pay-as-you-go (Standard) or pre-paid credits; Dedicated is custom-priced. Free tier/trial: Free 14-day trial available for Cloud Standard (development cluster limits apply). Charges / Notes:
- Cloud Standard clusters are billed monthly for the amount of storage used (data, metadata, backups, custom code); development clusters have a 0.5 GiB storage cap and production clusters are uncapped.
- Cloud Dedicated is sized/quoted at creation and charged by the GiB you allocate; contact sales for Dedicated pricing or buy packages via AWS Marketplace. Discount/options: Pre-paid credits for Cloud; contact sales for enterprise/Dedicated contract and volume/commitment options.
Seller details
Hazelcast, Inc.
Palo Alto, CA, USA
2008
Private
https://hazelcast.com/
https://x.com/hazelcast
https://www.linkedin.com/company/hazelcast/
