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ClickHouse vs Firebolt

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. Firebolt: Low-latency analytical database with a Postgres-compliant dialect, as cloud service or self-hosted Core.

key differences

  • Licensing: ClickHouse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Firebolt is source-available (Elastic License 2.0 (Firebolt Core); open-source release in preview).
  • ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Firebolt (≤ 1 PB).
  • Transactions: ClickHouse offers limited ACID; Firebolt offers full.
  • Only ClickHouse has secondary indexes, full-text search, vector search, geospatial, ttl / expiry.
  • ClickHouse has a serverless option; Firebolt 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 firebolt for

  • +Customer-facing analytics in SaaS products
  • +High-concurrency dashboards
  • +Serving data to AI agents
  • +Self-hosted analytics on Kubernetes

best at · OLAP, Real-time analytics, Warehouse

ClickHouseOpen-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows.
FireboltLow-latency analytical database with a Postgres-compliant dialect, as cloud service or self-hosted Core.
overview
Primary model
Columnar / OLAP
Columnar / OLAP
Also supports
Relational, Document, Vector, Time-Series
Relational, Document
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
ClickHouse, Inc.
Firebolt Analytics
First release
2016
2020
Latest version
26.10.2.103 (Oct 24, 2026)
–
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Source-availableElastic License 2.0 (Firebolt Core); open-source release in preview
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
69.8
7.8
Rank
#10
#334
GitHub stars
50.6K
256
Stack Overflow questions
2.2K
–
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, Shared storage, Single node
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 (PostgreSQL-compliant dialect)
Client languages
Python, Go, Java, JavaScript, Rust, C++, C#
Python, JavaScript, Java, Go, .NET
Best for
Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability, Warehouse
OLAP, Real-time analytics, Warehouse, Lakehouse
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

ClickHouse vs Firebolt: FAQ

What is the difference between ClickHouse and Firebolt?

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. Firebolt: Low-latency analytical database with a Postgres-compliant dialect, as cloud service or self-hosted Core. Licensing: ClickHouse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Firebolt is source-available (Elastic License 2.0 (Firebolt Core); open-source release in preview). ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Firebolt (≤ 1 PB). Transactions: ClickHouse offers limited ACID; Firebolt offers full.

When should I choose ClickHouse over Firebolt?

Choose ClickHouse for product and web analytics; log and observability backends; and real-time dashboards over event streams. Choose Firebolt for customer-facing analytics in SaaS products, high-concurrency dashboards and serving data to AI agents.

Is ClickHouse or Firebolt more popular?

ClickHouse ranks #10 on the WhichDB Score (69.8/100) and Firebolt ranks #334 (7.8/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are ClickHouse and Firebolt open source?

Yes. ClickHouse is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Not in the OSI sense. Firebolt is source-available: you can read the code, but the license restricts some uses, typically offering it as a competing managed service. License: Elastic License 2.0 (Firebolt Core); open-source release in preview.