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Dameng (DM) vs OceanBase

Dameng (DM): China's leading home-grown RDBMS; DM9 (2026) adds distributed, HTAP and AI features. OceanBase: Alipay-proven distributed SQL with MySQL (and Oracle, in Enterprise) compatibility, HTAP and vector search.

key differences

  • Licensing: Dameng (DM) is proprietary (Proprietary commercial license); OceanBase is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0 (Community Edition)).
  • OceanBase is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Dameng (DM) (≤ 1 PB).
  • Horizontal scaling is addon in Dameng (DM) and native in OceanBase.
  • Only OceanBase has vector search, geospatial, change data capture, time travel, online schema changes.

choose dameng for

  • +Replacing Oracle in government and state-owned enterprises
  • +Power-grid and energy management systems
  • +Financial back-office systems on domestic infrastructure

best at · OLTP, OLAP, HTAP

choose oceanbase for

  • +Core banking and payment systems
  • +Oracle-to-distributed-SQL migrations
  • +Consolidating many MySQL instances into one multi-tenant cluster
  • +HTAP reporting on live order data

best at · OLTP, HTAP, Real-time analytics

Dameng (DM)China's leading home-grown RDBMS; DM9 (2026) adds distributed, HTAP and AI features.
OceanBaseAlipay-proven distributed SQL with MySQL (and Oracle, in Enterprise) compatibility, HTAP and vector search.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Columnar / OLAP, Document
Document, Columnar / OLAP, Vector, Spatial
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Wuhan Dameng Database Co., Ltd.
OceanBase (Ant Group)
First release
1988
2010
Latest version
DM9 (Apr 22, 2026)
5.0.1 CE (Aug 6, 2026)
License
ProprietaryProprietary commercial license
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0 (Community Edition)
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
6.7
19.4
Rank
#355
#168
GitHub stars
–
10.4K
Stack Overflow questions
–
20
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Addon
Native
Multi-region
Read replicas
Active active
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Client server, Primary replica, Shared storage, Distributed
Distributed, Client server, Single node
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
—
✓
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
–
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Alibaba Cloud, Huawei Cloud, Tencent 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, DMSQL (PL/SQL-compatible)
SQL, PL/SQL (Enterprise Oracle mode)
Client languages
Java, C, C#, Python, Go, PHP
Java, Python, Go, C, JavaScript, C#
Best for
OLTP, OLAP, HTAP, Warehouse
OLTP, HTAP, Real-time analytics, Vector search
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Dameng (DM) vs OceanBase: FAQ

What is the difference between Dameng (DM) and OceanBase?

Dameng (DM): China's leading home-grown RDBMS; DM9 (2026) adds distributed, HTAP and AI features. OceanBase: Alipay-proven distributed SQL with MySQL (and Oracle, in Enterprise) compatibility, HTAP and vector search. Licensing: Dameng (DM) is proprietary (Proprietary commercial license); OceanBase is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0 (Community Edition)). OceanBase is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Dameng (DM) (≤ 1 PB). Horizontal scaling is addon in Dameng (DM) and native in OceanBase.

When should I choose Dameng (DM) over OceanBase?

Choose Dameng (DM) for replacing Oracle in government and state-owned enterprises; power-grid and energy management systems; and financial back-office systems on domestic infrastructure. Choose OceanBase for core banking and payment systems; oracle-to-distributed-SQL migrations; and consolidating many MySQL instances into one multi-tenant cluster.

Is Dameng (DM) or OceanBase more popular?

OceanBase ranks #168 on the WhichDB Score (19.4/100) and Dameng (DM) ranks #355 (6.7/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Dameng (DM) and OceanBase open source?

No. Dameng (DM) is proprietary, closed-source software. Yes. OceanBase is open source. License: Apache License 2.0 (Community Edition).