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DolphinDB vs QuestDB

DolphinDB: Distributed time-series database and scripting platform for quant finance and industrial analytics. QuestDB: Columnar time-series SQL database built for market data and very high ingest rates.

key differences

  • Licensing: DolphinDB is proprietary (Commercial (free community edition with limits)); QuestDB is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial).
  • DolphinDB is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than QuestDB (≤ 10 TB).
  • Horizontal scaling is native in DolphinDB and none in QuestDB.
  • Only DolphinDB has transactions, stored procedures, pub/sub, in-memory.
  • Only QuestDB has materialized views, ttl / expiry, online schema changes.

choose dolphindb for

  • +Quant research and factor computation
  • +Real-time market data processing
  • +Trading risk and surveillance
  • +Industrial IoT analytics with streaming rules

best at · Tick data, Time-series, Streaming

choose questdb for

  • +Market data and order book analytics
  • +Trading and risk dashboards
  • +Industrial and aerospace telemetry
  • +Crypto exchange tick storage

best at · Time-series, Tick data, Real-time analytics

DolphinDBDistributed time-series database and scripting platform for quant finance and industrial analytics.
QuestDBColumnar time-series SQL database built for market data and very high ingest rates.
overview
Primary model
Time-Series
Time-Series
Also supports
Columnar / OLAP, Relational
Columnar / OLAP, Relational
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
DolphinDB Inc.
QuestDB
First release
2018
2019
Latest version
3.00.6.1 (Sep 2026)
10.1.0 (Oct 22, 2026)
License
ProprietaryCommercial (free community edition with limits)
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
11.6
34.1
Rank
#281
#60
GitHub stars
–
17.5K
Stack Overflow questions
–
282
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
None
Multi-region
None
Read replicas
ACID
Limited
Limited
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Flexible
Architecture
Distributed, Single node, Client server
Single node, Primary replica, Client server
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
SQL, DolphinDB script
SQL
Client languages
Python, C++, Java, C#, Go, JavaScript
Java, Python, Go, Rust, C, C++, C#, JavaScript
Best for
Tick data, Time-series, Streaming, Real-time analytics
Time-series, Tick data, Real-time analytics, IoT
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

DolphinDB vs QuestDB: FAQ

What is the difference between DolphinDB and QuestDB?

DolphinDB: Distributed time-series database and scripting platform for quant finance and industrial analytics. QuestDB: Columnar time-series SQL database built for market data and very high ingest rates. Licensing: DolphinDB is proprietary (Commercial (free community edition with limits)); QuestDB is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial). DolphinDB is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than QuestDB (≤ 10 TB). Horizontal scaling is native in DolphinDB and none in QuestDB.

When should I choose DolphinDB over QuestDB?

Choose DolphinDB for quant research and factor computation; real-time market data processing; and trading risk and surveillance. Choose QuestDB for market data and order book analytics; trading and risk dashboards; and industrial and aerospace telemetry.

Is DolphinDB or QuestDB more popular?

QuestDB ranks #60 on the WhichDB Score (34.1/100) and DolphinDB ranks #281 (11.6/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are DolphinDB and QuestDB open source?

No. DolphinDB is proprietary, closed-source software. License: Commercial (free community edition with limits). Yes. QuestDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial.