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ClickHouse vs QuestDB

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. QuestDB: Columnar time-series SQL database built for market data and very high ingest rates.

key differences

  • ClickHouse is primarily a columnar / OLAP database; QuestDB is time-series.
  • ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than QuestDB (≤ 10 TB).
  • Horizontal scaling is native in ClickHouse and none in QuestDB.
  • Only ClickHouse has full-text search, vector search, geospatial, json, encryption at rest.
  • ClickHouse has a serverless option; QuestDB 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 questdb for

  • +Market data and order book analytics
  • +Trading and risk dashboards
  • +Industrial and aerospace telemetry
  • +Crypto exchange tick storage

best at · Time-series, Tick data, Real-time analytics

ClickHouseOpen-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows.
QuestDBColumnar time-series SQL database built for market data and very high ingest rates.
overview
Primary model
Columnar / OLAP
Time-Series
Also supports
Relational, Document, Vector, Time-Series
Columnar / OLAP, Relational
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
ClickHouse, Inc.
QuestDB
First release
2016
2019
Latest version
26.10.2.103 (Oct 24, 2026)
10.1.0 (Oct 22, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
69.8
34.1
Rank
#10
#60
GitHub stars
50.6K
17.5K
Stack Overflow questions
2.2K
282
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
None
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Limited
Limited
Consistency
Eventual
Strong
Schema
Strict
Flexible
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage, Single node, Client server
Single node, Primary replica, Client server
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#
Java, Python, Go, Rust, C, C++, C#, JavaScript
Best for
Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability, Warehouse
Time-series, Tick data, Real-time analytics, IoT
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

ClickHouse vs QuestDB: FAQ

What is the difference between ClickHouse and QuestDB?

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. QuestDB: Columnar time-series SQL database built for market data and very high ingest rates. ClickHouse is primarily a columnar / OLAP database; QuestDB is time-series. ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than QuestDB (≤ 10 TB). Horizontal scaling is native in ClickHouse and none in QuestDB.

When should I choose ClickHouse over QuestDB?

Choose ClickHouse for product and web analytics; log and observability backends; and real-time dashboards over event streams. Choose QuestDB for market data and order book analytics; trading and risk dashboards; and industrial and aerospace telemetry.

Is ClickHouse or QuestDB more popular?

ClickHouse ranks #10 on the WhichDB Score (69.8/100) and QuestDB ranks #60 (34.1/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are ClickHouse and QuestDB open source?

Yes. ClickHouse is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. QuestDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial.