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Citus vs CockroachDB

Citus: Postgres extension that shards tables across nodes for multi-tenant SaaS and real-time analytics. CockroachDB: Postgres-wire distributed SQL built to survive node, zone and region failures with serializable transactions.

key differences

  • Licensing: Citus is open source (copyleft) (GNU AGPL v3); CockroachDB is source-available (CockroachDB Software License).
  • Only Citus has columnar storage.
  • Only CockroachDB has ttl / expiry, encryption at rest, time travel.
  • CockroachDB has a serverless option; Citus does not.

choose citus for

  • +Multi-tenant B2B SaaS sharded by customer
  • +Real-time analytics dashboards over event data
  • +Time-series and IoT ingestion with rollups
  • +Scaling an existing Postgres app without changing databases

best at · OLTP, Real-time analytics, HTAP

choose cockroachdb for

  • +Global payments and ledger systems of record
  • +Identity, account and session metadata across regions
  • +Inventory and order management with strict consistency
  • +Data-residency workloads that must pin rows to a country

best at · OLTP, Geo, Metadata

CitusPostgres extension that shards tables across nodes for multi-tenant SaaS and real-time analytics.
CockroachDBPostgres-wire distributed SQL built to survive node, zone and region failures with serializable transactions.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Document, Columnar / OLAP, Spatial
Document, Spatial, Vector
Type
Extension
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Microsoft (Citus Data)
Cockroach Labs
First release
2016
2015
Latest version
14.3.0 (Oct 23, 2026)
26.3 (Aug 19, 2026)
License
Open source (copyleft)GNU AGPL v3
Source-availableCockroachDB Software License
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
21.1
47.1
Rank
#144
#33
GitHub stars
12.8K
32.6K
Stack Overflow questions
149
467
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
None
Active active
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Client server
Distributed, Multi primary, Client server, Serverless
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
✓
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
Azure
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
capabilities
Transactions
✓
✓
Joins
✓
✓
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
✓
✓
Vector search
✓
✓
Geospatial
✓
✓
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
✓
✓
Triggers
✓
✓
Stored procedures
✓
✓
Materialized views
✓
✓
TTL / expiry
—
✓
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
✓
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
—
✓
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
—
✓
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
✓
✓
Streaming ingest
—
—
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
SQL, PL/pgSQL
SQL, PL/pgSQL
Client languages
Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, Ruby, C#, PHP, Rust
Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, C#, Ruby, Rust, PHP
Best for
OLTP, Real-time analytics, HTAP, Time-series
OLTP, Geo, Metadata, Ledger
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Citus vs CockroachDB: FAQ

What is the difference between Citus and CockroachDB?

Citus: Postgres extension that shards tables across nodes for multi-tenant SaaS and real-time analytics. CockroachDB: Postgres-wire distributed SQL built to survive node, zone and region failures with serializable transactions. Licensing: Citus is open source (copyleft) (GNU AGPL v3); CockroachDB is source-available (CockroachDB Software License). Only Citus has columnar storage. Only CockroachDB has ttl / expiry, encryption at rest, time travel.

When should I choose Citus over CockroachDB?

Choose Citus for multi-tenant B2B SaaS sharded by customer; real-time analytics dashboards over event data; and time-series and IoT ingestion with rollups. Choose CockroachDB for global payments and ledger systems of record; identity, account and session metadata across regions; and inventory and order management with strict consistency.

Is Citus or CockroachDB more popular?

CockroachDB ranks #33 on the WhichDB Score (47.1/100) and Citus ranks #144 (21.1/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Citus and CockroachDB open source?

Yes. Citus is open source. License: GNU AGPL v3. Not in the OSI sense. CockroachDB is source-available: you can read the code, but the license restricts some uses, typically offering it as a competing managed service. License: CockroachDB Software License.