I have tried the DataStax Java driver and it seems the fastest way to insert data is to compose a CQL string with all parameters inline.
This loop takes 2500ms or so on my test cluster: PreparedStatement ps = session.prepare("INSERT INTO perf_test.wibble (id, info) VALUES (?, ?)") for (int i = 0; i < 1000; i++) session.execute(ps.bind("" + i, "aa" + i)); The same loop with the parameters inline is about 1300ms. It gets worse if there are many parameters. I know I can use batching to insert all the rows at once but thats not the purpose of this test. I also tried using session.execute(cql, params) and it is faster but still doesn't match inline values. Composing CQL strings is certainly convenient and simple but is there a much faster way? Thanks David I have also posted this on Stackoverflow if anyone wants the points: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/20491090/what-is-the-fastest-way-to-get-data-into-cassandra-2-from-a-java-application