vs

Materialize vs RisingWave

Materialize: A Postgres-compatible operational data warehouse that keeps SQL views incrementally up to date. RisingWave: An Apache-licensed, Postgres-compatible streaming database that stores state on S3 and writes Iceberg.

key differences

  • Licensing: Materialize is source-available (Business Source License 1.1); RisingWave is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0).
  • RisingWave is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than Materialize (≤ 10 TB).
  • Only Materialize has transactions, encryption at rest.
  • Only RisingWave has vector search, ttl / expiry, compression.

choose materialize for

  • +Real-time operational dashboards over OLTP data
  • +Fresh feature serving for ML and personalization
  • +Replacing hand-written cache invalidation with SQL views
  • +Event-driven alerting on joined streams

best at · Streaming, Real-time analytics, Feature store

choose risingwave for

  • +Streaming ETL from Kafka or CDC into Iceberg
  • +Real-time monitoring and alerting dashboards
  • +Fresh ML feature computation
  • +IoT telemetry aggregation

best at · Streaming, Real-time analytics, Lakehouse

overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
–
–
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Materialize, Inc.
RisingWave Labs
First release
2020
2022
Latest version
v26.47.1 (Oct 23, 2026)
3.1.0 (Sep 21, 2026)
License
Source-availableBusiness Source License 1.1
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
15.7
17.4
Rank
#205
#191
GitHub stars
6.4K
9.4K
Stack Overflow questions
3.6K
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
None
None
ACID
Limited
Limited
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage, Client server
Distributed, Shared storage, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
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
SQL
Client languages
Python, Java, JavaScript, Go, Rust, C#, Ruby
Python, Java, JavaScript, Go, Rust, C#, Ruby
Best for
Streaming, Real-time analytics, Feature store, Cache
Streaming, Real-time analytics, Lakehouse, IoT

Materialize vs RisingWave: FAQ

What is the difference between Materialize and RisingWave?

Materialize: A Postgres-compatible operational data warehouse that keeps SQL views incrementally up to date. RisingWave: An Apache-licensed, Postgres-compatible streaming database that stores state on S3 and writes Iceberg. Licensing: Materialize is source-available (Business Source License 1.1); RisingWave is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0). RisingWave is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than Materialize (≤ 10 TB). Only Materialize has transactions, encryption at rest.

When should I choose Materialize over RisingWave?

Choose Materialize for real-time operational dashboards over OLTP data; fresh feature serving for ML and personalization; and replacing hand-written cache invalidation with SQL views. Choose RisingWave for streaming ETL from Kafka or CDC into Iceberg; real-time monitoring and alerting dashboards; and fresh ML feature computation.

Is Materialize or RisingWave more popular?

RisingWave ranks #191 on the WhichDB Score (17.4/100) and Materialize ranks #205 (15.7/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Materialize and RisingWave open source?

Not in the OSI sense. Materialize is source-available: you can read the code, but the license restricts some uses, typically offering it as a competing managed service. License: Business Source License 1.1. Yes. RisingWave is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.