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Huawei GaussDB vs openGauss

Huawei GaussDB: Huawei's distributed enterprise RDBMS built on openGauss, aimed at replacing Oracle in Chinese finance. openGauss: Huawei-originated open-source RDBMS forked from PostgreSQL, with in-memory and column engines.

key differences

  • Licensing: Huawei GaussDB is proprietary (Proprietary commercial license); openGauss is open source (permissive) (Mulan Permissive Software License v2).
  • Horizontal scaling is native in Huawei GaussDB and none in openGauss.
  • Only openGauss has geospatial, in-memory.

choose huawei-gaussdb for

  • +Core banking replacement of Oracle in China
  • +Government and telecom systems under domestic-technology mandates
  • +Large distributed OLTP on Huawei Cloud

best at · OLTP, HTAP, Vector search

choose opengauss for

  • +Chinese banking and telecom core systems
  • +Domestic-database replacements for Oracle in China
  • +HTAP workloads mixing row and column tables
  • +On-prem deployments on ARM servers

best at · OLTP, HTAP, Vector search

Huawei GaussDBHuawei's distributed enterprise RDBMS built on openGauss, aimed at replacing Oracle in Chinese finance.
openGaussHuawei-originated open-source RDBMS forked from PostgreSQL, with in-memory and column engines.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Vector
Columnar / OLAP, Vector, Document
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Huawei
openGauss Community (Huawei-led)
First release
2019
2020
Latest version
–
7.0.0 LTS (Sep 2026)
License
ProprietaryProprietary commercial license
Open source (permissive)Mulan Permissive Software License v2
Free tier
—
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
6.8
6.7
Rank
#351
#357
GitHub stars
–
795
Stack Overflow questions
–
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
None
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Primary replica, Client server
Single node, Primary replica, Client server, In memory
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
Huawei Cloud
Huawei 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, PL/pgSQL-style procedural SQL
SQL, PL/pgSQL
Client languages
Java, C, Python, Go
Java, C, Python, Go, C#
Best for
OLTP, HTAP, Vector search
OLTP, HTAP, Vector search
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Huawei GaussDB vs openGauss: FAQ

What is the difference between Huawei GaussDB and openGauss?

Huawei GaussDB: Huawei's distributed enterprise RDBMS built on openGauss, aimed at replacing Oracle in Chinese finance. openGauss: Huawei-originated open-source RDBMS forked from PostgreSQL, with in-memory and column engines. Licensing: Huawei GaussDB is proprietary (Proprietary commercial license); openGauss is open source (permissive) (Mulan Permissive Software License v2). Horizontal scaling is native in Huawei GaussDB and none in openGauss. Only openGauss has geospatial, in-memory.

When should I choose Huawei GaussDB over openGauss?

Choose Huawei GaussDB for core banking replacement of Oracle in China; government and telecom systems under domestic-technology mandates; and large distributed OLTP on Huawei Cloud. Choose openGauss for chinese banking and telecom core systems; domestic-database replacements for Oracle in China; and HTAP workloads mixing row and column tables.

Is Huawei GaussDB or openGauss more popular?

Huawei GaussDB ranks #351 on the WhichDB Score (6.8/100) and openGauss ranks #357 (6.7/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Huawei GaussDB and openGauss open source?

No. Huawei GaussDB is proprietary, closed-source software. Yes. openGauss is open source. License: Mulan Permissive Software License v2.