ClickHouse vs Databend

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. Databend: Rust-built cloud data warehouse on object storage, open source with a managed Databend Cloud.

key differences

ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Databend (≤ 1 PB).
Transactions: ClickHouse offers limited ACID; Databend offers full.
Only ClickHouse has materialized views, ttl / expiry, encryption at rest, streaming ingest.
Only Databend has transactions, change data capture, time travel, branching.

choose clickhouse for

+Product and web analytics
+Log and observability backends
+Real-time dashboards over event streams
+Time-series and IoT metrics at scale

best at · Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability

choose databend for

+Self-hosted cloud data warehouse
+Lakehouse analytics on object storage
+Log and event analytics
+Cost-sensitive Snowflake alternative

best at · Warehouse, OLAP, Lakehouse

ClickHouseOpen-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows.

DatabendRust-built cloud data warehouse on object storage, open source with a managed Databend Cloud.

overview

Primary model

Columnar / OLAP

Also supports

Relational, Document, Vector, Time-Series

Relational, Document, Vector, Spatial

Type

Database engine

Status

Active

Developer

ClickHouse, Inc.

Databend Labs

First release

2016

2021

Latest version

26.10.2.103 (Oct 24, 2026)

1.2.925-patch-15 (Oct 15, 2026)

License

Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0

Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0 (enterprise features under ELv2)

Free tier

✓

popularity

WhichDB Score

69.8

15.4

Rank

#10

#214

GitHub stars

50.6K

9.5K

Stack Overflow questions

2.2K

–

scale & guarantees

Comfortable data size

Massive (Multi-PB)

Large (≤ 1 PB)

Horizontal scaling

Native

Multi-region

Read replicas

None

ACID

Limited

Full

Consistency

Eventual

Strong

Schema

Strict

Flexible

Architecture

Distributed, Shared storage, Single node, Client server

Distributed, Shared storage, Serverless

deployment

Self-hosted

✓

Vendor-managed cloud

✓

Serverless

✓

Embedded

—

Edge

—

Clouds

AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Aiven

AWS

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 (ClickHouse dialect), PRQL, KQL (experimental)

SQL

Client languages

Python, Go, Java, JavaScript, Rust, C++, C#

Python, Go, Java, JavaScript, Rust

Best for

Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability, Warehouse

Warehouse, OLAP, Lakehouse

Add more to this comparison Not sure either fits? Try smart match

ClickHouse vs Databend: FAQ

What is the difference between ClickHouse and Databend?

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. Databend: Rust-built cloud data warehouse on object storage, open source with a managed Databend Cloud. ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Databend (≤ 1 PB). Transactions: ClickHouse offers limited ACID; Databend offers full. Only ClickHouse has materialized views, ttl / expiry, encryption at rest, streaming ingest.

When should I choose ClickHouse over Databend?

Choose ClickHouse for product and web analytics; log and observability backends; and real-time dashboards over event streams. Choose Databend for self-hosted cloud data warehouse; lakehouse analytics on object storage; and log and event analytics.

Is ClickHouse or Databend more popular?

ClickHouse ranks #10 on the WhichDB Score (69.8/100) and Databend ranks #214 (15.4/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are ClickHouse and Databend open source?

Yes. ClickHouse is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. Databend is open source. License: Apache License 2.0 (enterprise features under ELv2).