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CrateDB vs Elasticsearch

CrateDB: Distributed SQL database built on Lucene for real-time analytics over machine, IoT and JSON data. Elasticsearch: Lucene-based distributed search and analytics engine for text, vectors, logs and metrics.

key differences

  • CrateDB is primarily a relational database; Elasticsearch is search engine.
  • Licensing: CrateDB is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Elasticsearch is open source (copyleft) (AGPL-3.0, SSPL 1.0 or Elastic License 2.0 (your choice)).
  • Elasticsearch is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than CrateDB (≤ 1 PB).
  • Only CrateDB has columnar storage.
  • Only Elasticsearch has streaming ingest.
  • Elasticsearch has a serverless option; CrateDB does not.

choose cratedb for

  • +Industrial IoT and machine data analytics
  • +Fleet and vehicle telemetry
  • +Log and event analytics with SQL
  • +Hybrid search over JSON documents

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

choose elasticsearch for

  • +E-commerce and site search with faceting
  • +Log, metrics and SIEM analytics
  • +Hybrid keyword plus semantic retrieval for RAG
  • +Geospatial search and aggregations

best at · Search, Vector search, RAG

CrateDBDistributed SQL database built on Lucene for real-time analytics over machine, IoT and JSON data.
ElasticsearchLucene-based distributed search and analytics engine for text, vectors, logs and metrics.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Search Engine
Also supports
Document, Time-Series, Search Engine, Spatial, Vector
Document, Vector, Spatial, Time-Series
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Crate.io
Elastic N.V.
First release
2014
2010
Latest version
6.4.6 (Oct 8, 2026)
9.5.5 (Oct 6, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Open source (copyleft)AGPL-3.0, SSPL 1.0 or Elastic License 2.0 (your choice)
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
27.3
75.1
Rank
#104
#6
GitHub stars
4.4K
78.4K
Stack Overflow questions
139
58.2K
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Limited
Limited
Consistency
Eventual
Eventual
Schema
Flexible
Flexible
Architecture
Distributed, Client server
Distributed, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
✓
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Azure, Google Cloud
AWS, Google Cloud, 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
Query DSL, ES|QL, SQL, EQL
Client languages
Python, Java, JavaScript, Go, C#, PHP
Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, .NET, Ruby, PHP, Rust
Best for
Real-time analytics, IoT, Time-series, Search
Search, Vector search, RAG, Observability
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

CrateDB vs Elasticsearch: FAQ

What is the difference between CrateDB and Elasticsearch?

CrateDB: Distributed SQL database built on Lucene for real-time analytics over machine, IoT and JSON data. Elasticsearch: Lucene-based distributed search and analytics engine for text, vectors, logs and metrics. CrateDB is primarily a relational database; Elasticsearch is search engine. Licensing: CrateDB is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Elasticsearch is open source (copyleft) (AGPL-3.0, SSPL 1.0 or Elastic License 2.0 (your choice)). Elasticsearch is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than CrateDB (≤ 1 PB).

When should I choose CrateDB over Elasticsearch?

Choose CrateDB for industrial IoT and machine data analytics; fleet and vehicle telemetry; and log and event analytics with SQL. Choose Elasticsearch for E-commerce and site search with faceting; log, metrics and SIEM analytics; and hybrid keyword plus semantic retrieval for RAG.

Is CrateDB or Elasticsearch more popular?

Elasticsearch ranks #6 on the WhichDB Score (75.1/100) and CrateDB ranks #104 (27.3/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are CrateDB and Elasticsearch open source?

Yes. CrateDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. Elasticsearch is open source. License: AGPL-3.0, SSPL 1.0 or Elastic License 2.0 (your choice).