whichdb
vs

KingbaseES vs openGauss

KingbaseES: Chinese PostgreSQL-derived RDBMS with Oracle, MySQL and SQL Server compatibility modes. openGauss: Huawei-originated open-source RDBMS forked from PostgreSQL, with in-memory and column engines.

key differences

  • Licensing: KingbaseES is proprietary (Proprietary commercial license); openGauss is open source (permissive) (Mulan Permissive Software License v2).
  • openGauss is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than KingbaseES (≤ 10 TB).
  • Horizontal scaling is addon in KingbaseES and none in openGauss.
  • Only openGauss has vector search, geospatial, columnar storage, in-memory, compression.

choose kingbase for

  • +Replacing Oracle in Chinese government systems
  • +Energy and utility enterprise applications
  • +Applications that must run on domestic Chinese hardware and OS

best at · OLTP, Warehouse

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

KingbaseESChinese PostgreSQL-derived RDBMS with Oracle, MySQL and SQL Server compatibility modes.
openGaussHuawei-originated open-source RDBMS forked from PostgreSQL, with in-memory and column engines.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Document
Columnar / OLAP, Vector, Document
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
CETC Kingbase (中电科金仓)
openGauss Community (Huawei-led)
First release
1999
2020
Latest version
V9R4C11 (Feb 2025)
7.0.0 LTS (Sep 2026)
License
ProprietaryProprietary commercial license
Open source (permissive)Mulan Permissive Software License v2
Free tier
—
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
0.0
6.7
Rank
#764
#357
GitHub stars
–
795
Stack Overflow questions
–
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
Addon
None
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Client server, Primary replica, Shared storage
Single node, Primary replica, Client server, In memory
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
—
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
–
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/SQL-compatible procedural SQL, PL/pgSQL
SQL, PL/pgSQL
Client languages
Java, C, C#, Python, Go
Java, C, Python, Go, C#
Best for
OLTP, Warehouse
OLTP, HTAP, Vector search
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

KingbaseES vs openGauss: FAQ

What is the difference between KingbaseES and openGauss?

KingbaseES: Chinese PostgreSQL-derived RDBMS with Oracle, MySQL and SQL Server compatibility modes. openGauss: Huawei-originated open-source RDBMS forked from PostgreSQL, with in-memory and column engines. Licensing: KingbaseES is proprietary (Proprietary commercial license); openGauss is open source (permissive) (Mulan Permissive Software License v2). openGauss is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than KingbaseES (≤ 10 TB). Horizontal scaling is addon in KingbaseES and none in openGauss.

When should I choose KingbaseES over openGauss?

Choose KingbaseES for replacing Oracle in Chinese government systems; energy and utility enterprise applications; and applications that must run on domestic Chinese hardware and OS. 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 KingbaseES or openGauss more popular?

openGauss ranks #357 on the WhichDB Score (6.7/100) and KingbaseES ranks #764 (0.0/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are KingbaseES and openGauss open source?

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