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ClickHouse vs TimescaleDB

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. TimescaleDB: PostgreSQL extension adding hypertables, columnar compression and continuous aggregates for time series.

key differences

  • ClickHouse is primarily a columnar / OLAP database; TimescaleDB is time-series.
  • Licensing: ClickHouse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); TimescaleDB is source-available (Apache-2.0 core + Timescale License (TSL) for advanced features).
  • ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than TimescaleDB (≤ 10 TB).
  • Horizontal scaling is native in ClickHouse and none in TimescaleDB.
  • Transactions: ClickHouse offers limited ACID; TimescaleDB offers full.
  • Only ClickHouse has geospatial, encryption at rest, online schema changes, streaming ingest.
  • Only TimescaleDB has transactions, triggers, stored procedures, pub/sub, branching.
  • ClickHouse has a serverless option; TimescaleDB 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 timescaledb for

  • +IoT and sensor data joined with relational metadata
  • +Financial tick and market data analytics in SQL
  • +Product and application metrics dashboards
  • +Energy and utility metering

best at · Time-series, Real-time analytics, IoT

ClickHouseOpen-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows.
TimescaleDBPostgreSQL extension adding hypertables, columnar compression and continuous aggregates for time series.
overview
Primary model
Columnar / OLAP
Time-Series
Also supports
Relational, Document, Vector, Time-Series
Relational, Columnar / OLAP
Type
Database engine
Extension
Status
Active
Active
Developer
ClickHouse, Inc.
TigerData (formerly Timescale)
First release
2016
2017
Latest version
26.10.2.103 (Oct 24, 2026)
2.31.0 (Oct 20, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Source-availableApache-2.0 core + Timescale License (TSL) for advanced features
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
69.8
47.1
Rank
#10
#34
GitHub stars
50.6K
23.8K
Stack Overflow questions
2.2K
775
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
None
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Limited
Full
Consistency
Eventual
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
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
AWS, Azure
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, PL/pgSQL
Client languages
Python, Go, Java, JavaScript, Rust, C++, C#
C, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust, C#, Ruby
Best for
Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability, Warehouse
Time-series, Real-time analytics, IoT, Observability
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

ClickHouse vs TimescaleDB: FAQ

What is the difference between ClickHouse and TimescaleDB?

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. TimescaleDB: PostgreSQL extension adding hypertables, columnar compression and continuous aggregates for time series. ClickHouse is primarily a columnar / OLAP database; TimescaleDB is time-series. Licensing: ClickHouse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); TimescaleDB is source-available (Apache-2.0 core + Timescale License (TSL) for advanced features). ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than TimescaleDB (≤ 10 TB).

When should I choose ClickHouse over TimescaleDB?

Choose ClickHouse for product and web analytics; log and observability backends; and real-time dashboards over event streams. Choose TimescaleDB for IoT and sensor data joined with relational metadata; financial tick and market data analytics in SQL; and product and application metrics dashboards.

Is ClickHouse or TimescaleDB more popular?

ClickHouse ranks #10 on the WhichDB Score (69.8/100) and TimescaleDB ranks #34 (47.1/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are ClickHouse and TimescaleDB open source?

Yes. ClickHouse is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Not in the OSI sense. TimescaleDB is source-available: you can read the code, but the license restricts some uses, typically offering it as a competing managed service. License: Apache-2.0 core + Timescale License (TSL) for advanced features.