Cassandra, a key-value NoSQL database, is prized for its speed and scalability, and used broadly for applications that require rapid data retrieval and storage such as caching, session management, and real-time analytics. Its simple key-value pair structure helps ensure high performance and easy management, especially for large datasets.

But this simplicity also leads to limitations like poor support for complex queries, potential data redundancy, and difficulty in modeling intricate relationships. Spanner, Google Cloud's always-on, globally consistent, and virtually unlimited-scale database, combines the scalability and availability of NoSQL with the strong consistency and relational model of traditional databases, positioning it for traditional Cassandra workloads. And today, it's easier than ever to switch from Cassandra to Spanner, with the introduction of the Cassandra to Spanner Proxy Adapter, an open-source tool for plug-and-play migrations of Cassandra workloads to Spanner, without any changes to the application logic.