You are right. If you, effectively, configure it for M responses, you get the same availability. But there are more differences between both setups: - Paxos i

You are right. If you, effectively, configure it for M responses, you get the same availability. But there are more differences between both setups: - Paxos is master-less, so you can write to any node (there's no need for a master). - Failover is very tough to get it right. Indeed, other than consensus, there are no other bullet-proof solutions to achieve it under any circumstance, so relying on a master is a significant difference. Regarding the extra round-trips and syncs, they can be pipelined if wanted too. I wouldn't conclude this is necessarily slower (it of course depends on the Paxos imlementation) until properly benchmarked.