whichdb
vs

ClickHouse vs VeloDB

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. VeloDB: Commercial cloud and enterprise distribution of Apache Doris from its core maintainers.

key differences

  • Licensing: ClickHouse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); VeloDB is proprietary (Proprietary (on an Apache-2.0 Doris core)).
  • ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than VeloDB (≤ 1 PB).
  • Only ClickHouse has online schema changes.
  • ClickHouse has a serverless option; VeloDB 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 velodb for

  • +Managed real-time analytics
  • +Log analytics as an Elasticsearch alternative
  • +Lakehouse query acceleration

best at · Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability

ClickHouseOpen-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows.
VeloDBCommercial cloud and enterprise distribution of Apache Doris from its core maintainers.
overview
Primary model
Columnar / OLAP
Columnar / OLAP
Also supports
Relational, Document, Vector, Time-Series
Relational, Document, Search Engine, Vector
Type
Database engine
Managed service
Status
Active
Active
Developer
ClickHouse, Inc.
VeloDB
First release
2016
2022
Latest version
26.10.2.103 (Oct 24, 2026)
–
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
ProprietaryProprietary (on an Apache-2.0 Doris core)
Free tier
✓
—
popularity
WhichDB Score
69.8
2.3
Rank
#10
#485
GitHub stars
50.6K
–
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
Limited
Consistency
Eventual
Strong
Schema
Strict
Flexible
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage, Single node, Client server
Distributed, Shared storage
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
✓
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, Aiven
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Alibaba Cloud
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 (MySQL dialect)
Client languages
Python, Go, Java, JavaScript, Rust, C++, C#
Java, Python, Go, JavaScript
Best for
Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability, Warehouse
Real-time analytics, OLAP, Observability, Lakehouse
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

ClickHouse vs VeloDB: FAQ

What is the difference between ClickHouse and VeloDB?

ClickHouse: Open-source columnar OLAP database known for very fast aggregations over billions of rows. VeloDB: Commercial cloud and enterprise distribution of Apache Doris from its core maintainers. Licensing: ClickHouse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); VeloDB is proprietary (Proprietary (on an Apache-2.0 Doris core)). ClickHouse is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than VeloDB (≤ 1 PB). Only ClickHouse has online schema changes.

When should I choose ClickHouse over VeloDB?

Choose ClickHouse for product and web analytics; log and observability backends; and real-time dashboards over event streams. Choose VeloDB for managed real-time analytics, log analytics as an Elasticsearch alternative and lakehouse query acceleration.

Is ClickHouse or VeloDB more popular?

ClickHouse ranks #10 on the WhichDB Score (69.8/100) and VeloDB ranks #485 (2.3/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are ClickHouse and VeloDB open source?

Yes. ClickHouse is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. No. VeloDB is proprietary, closed-source software.