<a id="deployment-overview"></a>

# Deployment Overview

This page explains the key decisions you need to make before and during cluster
creation. The ScyllaDB Cloud wizard will guide you through the steps, but
understanding these choices in advance helps you plan your deployment.

> ##### On this page
> 
> * [Overview](#overview)
> * [Step 1: Choose a Cluster Type](#step-1-choose-a-cluster-type)
> * [Step 2: Choose Where to Deploy](#step-2-choose-where-to-deploy)
> * [Step 3: Choose a Network Access Option](#step-3-choose-a-network-access-option)
> * [Step 4: Configure Availability Zones](#step-4-configure-availability-zones)

## Overview

Every ScyllaDB Cloud cluster requires four decisions:

1. **Cluster type** — X Cloud (default) or Standard.
2. **Account** — deploy under a ScyllaDB-managed account, or bring your own
   cloud account (BYOA).
3. **Network access** — how your applications will reach the cluster.
4. **Availability Zones** — which AZs the cluster nodes are distributed across.

## Step 1: Choose a Cluster Type

ScyllaDB Cloud offers two cluster types: **X Cloud** and **Standard**.

**X Cloud** is the default and recommended choice for most workloads. It is
built on the Tablets architecture, which allows storage and compute to scale
independently and automatically. You do not need to pre-size capacity for peak
load, and you can scale in or out within minutes.

**Standard** clusters use a fixed topology. You choose the number and size of
nodes at creation time and resize manually as needed. Choose Standard when you
need Multi-DC replication or a predictable fixed-cost topology.

See [Choose Your Cluster Type](https://cloud.docs.scylladb.com/stable/cloud-setup/cluster-types/cluster-types-overview.md)
for a full comparison.

### ScyllaDB API

Another important decision is which API your applications use to access the
cluster. ScyllaDB Cloud supports two APIs:

* **CQL Compatible** (default) — the Cassandra Query Language (CQL) interface.
  Choose this for new applications or when migrating from Apache Cassandra.
* **Alternator** (Amazon DynamoDB compatible) — a DynamoDB-compatible API that
  lets you run existing Amazon DynamoDB applications with little or no code
  changes.

See [Use ScyllaDB](https://cloud.docs.scylladb.com/stable/use-scylladb/index.md) for more about working with the
CQL and Alternator APIs.

## Step 2: Choose Where to Deploy

By default, ScyllaDB Cloud deploys and manages the cluster infrastructure on
its own cloud accounts. This is the simplest option and requires no additional
setup.

If your organization requires data to stay within your own cloud account — for
compliance, cost management, or architecture reasons — you can use
**Bring Your Own Account (BYOA)**. With BYOA, the cluster runs in your AWS or
GCP account while ScyllaDB Cloud manages the database software.

#### NOTE
You must decide whether to use BYOA before creating the cluster. This
setting cannot be changed after the cluster is deployed.

* [Deploy to Your Own AWS Account (BYOA)](https://cloud.docs.scylladb.com/stable/cloud-setup/byoa-aws.md)
* [Deploy to Your Own GCP Account (BYOA)](https://cloud.docs.scylladb.com/stable/cloud-setup/byoa-gcp.md)

## Step 3: Choose a Network Access Option

You must decide how your applications will connect to the cluster. This choice
is made during cluster creation and cannot be changed afterward.

ScyllaDB Cloud supports three options:

* **VPC Peering** (AWS or GCP) — creates a private connection between your VPC
  and the cluster. Traffic stays within the cloud provider’s network. This is
  the recommended option for most production workloads.
* **AWS Transit Gateway (TGW)** — connects multiple VPCs or AWS accounts to a
  single cluster through a shared Transit Gateway hub. Choose this when you
  need more than one VPC or account to reach the cluster.
* **Direct (public internet)** — the cluster is accessible over the public
  internet with TLS encryption and an IP allowlist. Suitable for evaluation and
  development only; not recommended for production.

See [Network Access Options](https://cloud.docs.scylladb.com/stable/cluster-connections/connectivity-options.md)
for a full comparison and setup guides.

## Step 4: Configure Availability Zones

ScyllaDB Cloud distributes cluster nodes across Availability Zones (AZs) within
the region you select. By default, nodes are spread evenly for high
availability. You can customize which AZs are used if your architecture
requires it.

See [Configure Availability Zones](https://cloud.docs.scylladb.com/stable/cloud-setup/availability-zones.md) for
details.