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ClickHouse vs Scuba

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. Scuba: Meta's internal in-memory store for real-time event analytics; described at VLDB 2013, rebuilt as Kraken.

key differences

  • Licensing: ClickHouse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Scuba is proprietary (Internal (not distributed)).
  • Transactions: ClickHouse offers limited ACID; Scuba offers none.
  • Only ClickHouse has joins, secondary indexes, full-text search, vector search, geospatial.
  • Only Scuba has in-memory.
  • ClickHouse has a serverless option; Scuba 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 scuba for

  • +Design reference for real-time event analytics and observability systems
  • +Understanding sampled, in-memory log analytics at internet scale

best at · Real-time analytics, Observability, OLAP

ClickHouseOpen-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows.
ScubaMeta's internal in-memory store for real-time event analytics; described at VLDB 2013, rebuilt as Kraken.
overview
Primary model
Columnar / OLAP
Columnar / OLAP
Also supports
Relational, Document, Vector, Time-Series
Time-Series
Type
Database engine
Research prototype
Status
Active
Active
Developer
ClickHouse, Inc.
Meta Platforms (Facebook)
First release
2016
2013
Latest version
26.10.2.103 (Oct 24, 2026)
–
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
ProprietaryInternal (not distributed)
Free tier
✓
—
popularity
WhichDB Score
69.8
0.5
Rank
#10
#638
GitHub stars
50.6K
–
Stack Overflow questions
2.2K
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Read replicas
None
ACID
Limited
None
Consistency
Eventual
Eventual
Schema
Strict
Flexible
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage, Single node, Client server
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 (CLI), GUI query builder
Client languages
Python, Go, Java, JavaScript, Rust, C++, C#
PHP, C++, Java, Python, JavaScript
Best for
Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability, Warehouse
Real-time analytics, Observability, OLAP
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

ClickHouse vs Scuba: FAQ

What is the difference between ClickHouse and Scuba?

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. Scuba: Meta's internal in-memory store for real-time event analytics; described at VLDB 2013, rebuilt as Kraken. Licensing: ClickHouse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Scuba is proprietary (Internal (not distributed)). Transactions: ClickHouse offers limited ACID; Scuba offers none. Only ClickHouse has joins, secondary indexes, full-text search, vector search, geospatial.

When should I choose ClickHouse over Scuba?

Choose ClickHouse for product and web analytics; log and observability backends; and real-time dashboards over event streams. Choose Scuba for design reference for real-time event analytics and observability systems; and understanding sampled, in-memory log analytics at internet scale.

Is ClickHouse or Scuba more popular?

ClickHouse ranks #10 on the WhichDB Score (69.8/100) and Scuba ranks #638 (0.5/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are ClickHouse and Scuba open source?

Yes. ClickHouse is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. No. Scuba is proprietary, closed-source software. License: Internal (not distributed).