vs

Concourse vs XTDB

Concourse: Self-tuning document-graph database with automatic indexing, full version history and time-travel reads. XTDB: Bitemporal SQL database on object storage that keeps every version of every row.

key differences

  • Concourse is primarily a document database; XTDB is relational.
  • Licensing: Concourse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); XTDB is open source (copyleft) (Mozilla Public License 2.0).
  • XTDB is built for larger datasets (≤ 10 TB) than Concourse (≤ 100 GB).
  • Horizontal scaling is none in Concourse and manual in XTDB.
  • Only Concourse has secondary indexes, full-text search.
  • Only XTDB has joins, columnar storage, compression.

choose concourse for

  • +Applications that need audit trails and point-in-time reads
  • +Exploratory data where queries are not known in advance
  • +Integrating heterogeneous records with search across them

best at · OLTP, Search, Real-time analytics

choose xtdb for

  • +Financial and insurance systems needing as-of reporting
  • +Audit trails with retroactive corrections
  • +Event-sourced systems wanting SQL over history

best at · OLTP, Event sourcing, Ledger

overview
Primary model
Document
Relational
Also supports
Graph
Document, Columnar / OLAP
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Cinchapi Inc.
JUXT Ltd
First release
2012
2019
Latest version
1.0.6 (Oct 2026)
2.2.0 (Oct 21, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Open source (copyleft)Mozilla Public License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
0.9
8.3
Rank
#593
#328
GitHub stars
–
3.1K
Stack Overflow questions
–
7
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Small (≤ 100 GB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
None
Manual
Multi-region
None
None
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Schemaless
Flexible
Architecture
Client server, Distributed
Distributed, Shared storage
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
—
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
–
–
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
CCL
SQL, XTQL
Client languages
Java
Java, Kotlin, Clojure, Python, JavaScript, Go
Best for
OLTP, Search, Real-time analytics
OLTP, Event sourcing, Ledger, HTAP

Concourse vs XTDB: FAQ

What is the difference between Concourse and XTDB?

Concourse: Self-tuning document-graph database with automatic indexing, full version history and time-travel reads. XTDB: Bitemporal SQL database on object storage that keeps every version of every row. Concourse is primarily a document database; XTDB is relational. Licensing: Concourse is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); XTDB is open source (copyleft) (Mozilla Public License 2.0). XTDB is built for larger datasets (≤ 10 TB) than Concourse (≤ 100 GB).

When should I choose Concourse over XTDB?

Choose Concourse for applications that need audit trails and point-in-time reads; exploratory data where queries are not known in advance; and integrating heterogeneous records with search across them. Choose XTDB for financial and insurance systems needing as-of reporting; audit trails with retroactive corrections; and event-sourced systems wanting SQL over history.

Is Concourse or XTDB more popular?

XTDB ranks #328 on the WhichDB Score (8.3/100) and Concourse ranks #593 (0.9/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Concourse and XTDB open source?

Yes. Concourse is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. XTDB is open source. License: Mozilla Public License 2.0.