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ClickHouse vs HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB)

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB): GPU-native columnar SQL database with visual analytics, fully open-sourced by NVIDIA in 2026.

key differences

  • ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB) (≤ 10 TB).
  • Only ClickHouse has secondary indexes, full-text search, vector search, json, materialized views.
  • Only HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB) has in-memory.
  • ClickHouse has a serverless option; HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB) 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 heavydb for

  • +Geospatial visual analytics
  • +Telecom and RF network planning
  • +Interactive exploration of large telemetry datasets

best at · OLAP, Geo, Real-time analytics

ClickHouseOpen-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows.
HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB)GPU-native columnar SQL database with visual analytics, fully open-sourced by NVIDIA in 2026.
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.
NVIDIA (HEAVY.AI)
First release
2016
2017
Latest version
26.10.2.103 (Oct 24, 2026)
10.0.0 (Oct 8, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
69.8
14.3
Rank
#10
#234
GitHub stars
50.6K
3.1K
Stack Overflow questions
2.2K
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Read replicas
None
ACID
Limited
Limited
Consistency
Eventual
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage, Single node, Client server
Single node, Distributed, In memory
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
—
Serverless
✓
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Aiven
–
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, Java, JavaScript, C++
Best for
Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability, Warehouse
OLAP, Geo, Real-time analytics
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

ClickHouse vs HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB): FAQ

What is the difference between ClickHouse and HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB)?

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB): GPU-native columnar SQL database with visual analytics, fully open-sourced by NVIDIA in 2026. ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB) (≤ 10 TB). Only ClickHouse has secondary indexes, full-text search, vector search, json, materialized views. Only HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB) has in-memory.

When should I choose ClickHouse over HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB)?

Choose ClickHouse for product and web analytics; log and observability backends; and real-time dashboards over event streams. Choose HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB) for geospatial visual analytics; telecom and RF network planning; and interactive exploration of large telemetry datasets.

Is ClickHouse or HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB) more popular?

ClickHouse ranks #10 on the WhichDB Score (69.8/100) and HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB) ranks #234 (14.3/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are ClickHouse and HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB) open source?

Yes. ClickHouse is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. HEAVY.AI (HeavyDB) is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.