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ClickHouse vs Exasol

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. Exasol: In-memory MPP columnar analytics database from Germany, tuned for fast BI with little tuning.

key differences

  • Licensing: ClickHouse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Exasol is proprietary (Proprietary).
  • ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Exasol (≤ 1 PB).
  • Transactions: ClickHouse offers limited ACID; Exasol offers full.
  • Only ClickHouse has secondary indexes, full-text search, vector search, materialized views, ttl / expiry.
  • Only Exasol has transactions, stored procedures, in-memory.
  • ClickHouse has a serverless option; Exasol does not.

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 exasol for

  • +BI acceleration layer for Tableau or Power BI
  • +EU data-sovereign analytics
  • +Replacing slow legacy warehouses
  • +In-database data science

best at · Warehouse, OLAP

ClickHouseOpen-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows.
ExasolIn-memory MPP columnar analytics database from Germany, tuned for fast BI with little tuning.
overview
Primary model
Columnar / OLAP
Columnar / OLAP
Also supports
Relational, Document, Vector, Time-Series
Relational, Spatial
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
ClickHouse, Inc.
Exasol AG
First release
2016
2000
Latest version
26.10.2.103 (Oct 24, 2026)
2026.1.0 (May 26, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
ProprietaryProprietary
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
69.8
31.0
Rank
#10
#83
GitHub stars
50.6K
–
Stack Overflow questions
2.2K
89
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Read replicas
None
ACID
Limited
Full
Consistency
Eventual
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage, Single node, Client server
Distributed, In memory, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
✓
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Aiven
AWS, Azure, Google Cloud
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, Lua, Python UDFs, R UDFs, Java UDFs
Client languages
Python, Go, Java, JavaScript, Rust, C++, C#
Python, Java, .NET, Go, JavaScript
Best for
Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability, Warehouse
Warehouse, OLAP
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

ClickHouse vs Exasol: FAQ

What is the difference between ClickHouse and Exasol?

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. Exasol: In-memory MPP columnar analytics database from Germany, tuned for fast BI with little tuning. Licensing: ClickHouse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Exasol is proprietary (Proprietary). ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Exasol (≤ 1 PB). Transactions: ClickHouse offers limited ACID; Exasol offers full.

When should I choose ClickHouse over Exasol?

Choose ClickHouse for product and web analytics; log and observability backends; and real-time dashboards over event streams. Choose Exasol for BI acceleration layer for Tableau or Power BI, EU data-sovereign analytics and replacing slow legacy warehouses.

Is ClickHouse or Exasol more popular?

ClickHouse ranks #10 on the WhichDB Score (69.8/100) and Exasol ranks #83 (31.0/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are ClickHouse and Exasol open source?

Yes. ClickHouse is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. No. Exasol is proprietary, closed-source software.