Case Study: FamilySearch achieves 125M peak transactions/hour and zero-downtime customer experience with DataStax

FamilySearch Delivers a Powerful Online Customer Experience with DataStax to Connect Relatives Across Generations

FamilySearch, the world’s largest nonprofit genealogy organization, runs the popular Family Tree app that helps people discover and preserve family history. Rapid user growth strained its legacy database—peaking near a 60 million transactions/hour limit—so FamilySearch faced the challenge of scaling cost-effectively, avoiding downtime, and delivering a seamless experience as usage was expected to grow 10–100x.

FamilySearch selected DataStax Enterprise’s distributed, masterless database and worked with DataStax to migrate and build new application frameworks. The move enabled routine peaks of 125 million transactions per hour, faster response times, high availability with no database downtime, and new features like Record Hints, allowing FamilySearch to focus on expanding functionality and connecting families across generations.

FamilySearch

Michael Nelson

Software Development Manager