couchbase - Is Cassandra a Key value store or wide column store?

Question

I'm preparing a course on NoSQL for database novices. Did a lot of research online and now, I'm in a dilemma as to categorize Cassandra as a Wide Column Store or a Key Value Store? Or shall I call it a two dimensional Key Value Store? I'm having the same issue with CouchBase. Is it a Key Value store or a Document Store?

I'm looking for a Solid way to categorize NoSQL Databases in their versions in 2015. Any help is appreciated.

Answer 1

Since there is a Couchbase answer I'll jump-in on the Cassandra side. From the Cassandra GitHub page:

Cassandra is a partitioned row store. Rows are organized into tables with a required primary key.

Partitioning means that Cassandra can distribute your data across multiple machines in an application-transparent matter. Cassandra will automatically repartition as machines are added and removed from the cluster.

Row store means that like relational databases, Cassandra organizes data by rows and columns.