The best replacement for cascading is pig.

The best alternatives to cascading are rated as following:
★★★★★  pig
★★  crunch
★★  scalding
★★  stacking
★★  cascalog
★  bridging
★  oozie
★  stacking switches
  cascading

Your alternative for cascading is not listed? Suggest!
Speaking about cascading, one probably shouldn't forget about hadoop.

Other search terms related to cascading and their ratings are:
★★★★★ hadoop
You have in mind a companion for cascading and it is not yet here? Propose!



Google Trends

Scale is based on the average worldwide traffic of cascading in all years. Click on graph for more.
cascading
pig
crunch