Clustrix
discontinuedby Clustrix, Inc. (acquired by MariaDB Corporation) · since 2010 · also known as ClustrixDB, MariaDB Xpand, Sprout-Clustrix
Scale-out, MySQL-compatible distributed SQL database; became MariaDB Xpand, which stopped selling in 2023.
discontinued. Acquired by MariaDB (2018) and sold as MariaDB Xpand; ClustrixDB 9.2 reached EOL in Oct 2021 and MariaDB stopped selling Xpand in Oct 2023.
Overview
Clustrix (ClustrixDB) was one of the first NewSQL databases: a shared-nothing cluster that spoke the MySQL protocol and dialect, automatically split tables into slices that were spread and replicated across nodes, and shipped query fragments to the data so joins and aggregates ran in parallel, with MVCC and distributed locking providing ACID transactions. The Y Combinator-backed company launched it in 2010 as an InfiniBand hardware appliance and moved to downloadable software around 2014. MariaDB Corporation bought Clustrix in 2018 and turned it into MariaDB Xpand, a distributed engine behind MariaDB Enterprise Server and SkySQL. Standalone ClustrixDB 9.2 reached end of life in October 2021, and in October 2023 MariaDB announced it would stop selling Xpand. For MySQL-compatible scale-out today, TiDB, Vitess/PlanetScale and SingleStore are the usual choices.
Strengths & trade-offs
Strengths
- +Automatic data distribution and rebalancing across nodes without application sharding
- +Ran many MySQL applications unchanged over the MySQL protocol
- +Pushed query fragments to the nodes holding the data for parallel joins and aggregates
- +Survived node loss by keeping multiple replicas of every slice
Trade-offs
- −No longer sold or developed by MariaDB
- −Proprietary, with no open-source release to fall back on
- −Not fully MySQL-compatible, e.g. restrictions on some foreign-key actions
Great for
- +Historical reference for early NewSQL design
- +Planning migrations off ClustrixDB or MariaDB Xpand
Think twice for
- −New deployments
Capabilities
Native or official first-party support · 7 of 25 tracked
Scale & consistency
- Comfortable data size
- Medium · ≤ 10 TB
- Horizontal scaling
- Native
- Multi-region
- Read replicas
- Transactions
- Full ACID
- Consistency
- Strong
- Schema
- Strict
- Architecture
- Distributed, Client server
- Query languages
- SQL
Automatic slicing and rebalancing across nodes; parallel replication between clusters for disaster recovery.
Deployment
Ecosystem
Alternatives to Clustrix
MySQL-compatible distributed SQL with a row store for OLTP and a columnar replica for real-time analytics.
clustrix vs tidb →Distributed SQL mixing in-memory rowstore and columnstore for real-time analytics, search and vectors.
clustrix vs singlestore →Performance-focused managed MySQL (Vitess) and Postgres, with NVMe-backed Metal clusters and branching.
clustrix vs planetscale →CNCF-graduated sharding and clustering layer that makes a fleet of MySQL servers look like one database.
clustrix vs vitess →Postgres-wire distributed SQL built to survive node, zone and region failures with serializable transactions.
clustrix vs cockroachdb →Community-led MySQL fork with extra storage engines, built-in Galera and a faster feature cadence.
clustrix vs mariadb →Clustrix FAQ
What is Clustrix?
Clustrix is a relational database by Clustrix, Inc. (acquired by MariaDB Corporation), first released in 2010. Clustrix (ClustrixDB) was one of the first NewSQL databases: a shared-nothing cluster that spoke the MySQL protocol and dialect, automatically split tables into slices that were spread and replicated across nodes, and shipped query fragments to the data so joins and aggregates ran in parallel, with MVCC and distributed locking providing ACID transactions. The Y Combinator-backed company launched it in 2010 as an InfiniBand hardware appliance and moved to downloadable software around 2014. MariaDB Corporation bought Clustrix in 2018 and turned it into MariaDB Xpand, a distributed engine behind MariaDB Enterprise Server and SkySQL. Standalone ClustrixDB 9.2 reached end of life in October 2021, and in October 2023 MariaDB announced it would stop selling Xpand. For MySQL-compatible scale-out today, TiDB, Vitess/PlanetScale and SingleStore are the usual choices.
Is Clustrix open source?
No. Clustrix is proprietary, closed-source software.
Does Clustrix support ACID transactions?
Yes. Clustrix supports full ACID transactions, with strong consistency.
Does Clustrix scale horizontally?
Clustrix scales horizontally out of the box, with built-in sharding or partitioning. It is comfortable at medium scale (≤ 10 TB). It supports cross-region read replicas.
What is Clustrix best for?
Clustrix is a strong fit for historical reference for early NewSQL design and planning migrations off ClustrixDB or MariaDB Xpand. Think twice for new deployments.
What are the best alternatives to Clustrix?
Common alternatives to Clustrix include TiDB, SingleStore, PlanetScale, Vitess and CockroachDB. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.
Is Clustrix still maintained?
Clustrix is discontinued. Acquired by MariaDB (2018) and sold as MariaDB Xpand; ClustrixDB 9.2 reached EOL in Oct 2021 and MariaDB stopped selling Xpand in Oct 2023.
How popular is Clustrix?
Clustrix ranks #488 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (2.2/100), and #152 among relational databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.