DataStax

DataStax, Inc. is a data management company whose products are built on the open-source Apache Cassandra NoSQL database. Its core commercial offerings are Astra DB, a cloud database-as-a-service with vector search and multi-model support (tabular, search and graph data); Hyper-Converged Database (HCD), a self-managed multi-model database built on Cassandra 4.0 for on-premises and private-cloud deployments that replaces DataStax Enterprise (DSE) workloads; DataStax Enterprise (DSE), the on-premises distribution of Cassandra with added operational reliability, monitoring, security, graph, search and analytics capabilities; and Astra Streaming, a messaging and event-streaming cloud service based on Apache Pulsar. Supporting products include Mission Control for cluster management, OpsCenter for DSE monitoring, Stargate (an open-source data API gateway), K8ssandra (Cassandra on Kubernetes), and a range of drivers, connectors (Kafka, Pulsar, RabbitMQ) and migration tools such as Astra DB Sideloader.

On the AI side, DataStax maintains Langflow, an open-source, Python-based low-code environment for prototyping, building and deploying retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and multi-agent AI applications, designed to work across models, APIs and databases. Earlier AI-related initiatives include LangStream (open-sourced in September 2023), RAGStack (a commercial RAG offering based on LangChain and Astra DB vector search, announced November 2023), Luna ML (built on acquired Kaskada technology), and Astra Block, an Ethereum blockchain data service delivered as part of Astra DB.

Following IBM's acquisition, DataStax capabilities spanning Astra DB, HCD and Langflow are being brought to IBM's watsonx portfolio: Astra DB and HCD add vector and knowledge-embedding capabilities to watsonx.data's NoSQL database and are delivered as "DataStax with IBM watsonx.data Premium edition," while Langflow integrates with watsonx Orchestrate as middleware for AI application development.

Founding story

Jonathan Ellis and Matt Pfeil founded the company as Riptano in Austin, Texas in April 2010 after leaving Rackspace, where they had worked with Apache Cassandra — a NoSQL database originally developed at Facebook for large data sets across multiple servers and released as an Apache open-source project in 2008. The founders later renamed the company DataStax and relocated its headquarters to Santa Clara, California.

Business model

DataStax commercializes open-source data infrastructure, selling managed cloud services (Astra DB serverless, Astra Streaming) alongside self-managed enterprise software licences and support for DSE and Hyper-Converged Database, with published pricing tiers ranging from free trials and prototype use up to enterprise plans. Open-source projects such as Langflow, Stargate and K8ssandra serve as adoption channels for the commercial products. Since the IBM acquisition, offerings are also packaged with IBM watsonx (for example, DataStax with IBM watsonx.data Premium edition), and DSE and OpsCenter downloads are distributed through IBM Fix Central.

Subscription and consumption-based revenue from cloud database and streaming services plus enterprise software subscriptions and support. In its fiscal 2023 first quarter the company reported Astra DB sales growing 350% year over year and accounting for more than half of new annual recurring revenue.

Traction

As of June 2022 DataStax reported roughly 800 customers in more than 50 countries and more than 800 employees, with customers including The Home Depot, Verizon and Capital One. Astra DB sales grew 350% year over year in fiscal 2023 Q1 and represented more than 50% of new annual recurring revenue. Langflow has surpassed 100,000 GitHub stars and is used by tens of thousands of developers.

Latest developments

IBM completed its acquisition of DataStax on May 28, 2025, after announcing intent on February 25, 2025. DataStax now operates as an IBM company, integrating Astra DB and HCD with watsonx.data (delivered as DataStax with IBM watsonx.data Premium edition) and Langflow with watsonx Orchestrate; CEO Chet Kapoor said the mission remains empowering enterprises and developers to build and scale mission-critical applications. Product updates include HCD 2.0, Astra DB Sideloader for low-downtime migration, and hybrid search combining vector search with reranking. DSE and OpsCenter downloads have moved to IBM Fix Central.