whichdb
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YDB vs YugabyteDB

YDB: Open-source distributed SQL from Yandex combining row and column tables, topics and vector search. YugabyteDB: Apache-licensed distributed SQL that reuses the PostgreSQL query layer on a Raft-replicated storage engine.

key differences

  • YDB is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than YugabyteDB (≤ 1 PB).
  • Only YDB has pub/sub, columnar storage, streaming ingest.
  • Only YugabyteDB has full-text search, triggers, stored procedures, materialized views.
  • YDB has a serverless option; YugabyteDB does not.

choose ydb for

  • +High-load OLTP services needing automatic sharding
  • +Combined transactional and analytical workloads on one platform
  • +Event streaming with transactional consistency to tables
  • +Serverless backends on Yandex Cloud

best at · OLTP, OLAP, HTAP

choose yugabytedb for

  • +Scaling a Postgres application beyond one primary
  • +Multi-region customer and order data with zone/region resilience
  • +Retail and financial OLTP needing horizontal write capacity
  • +IoT and telemetry metadata with TTL on YCQL tables

best at · OLTP, Metadata, IoT

YDBOpen-source distributed SQL from Yandex combining row and column tables, topics and vector search.
YugabyteDBApache-licensed distributed SQL that reuses the PostgreSQL query layer on a Raft-replicated storage engine.
overview
Primary model
Relational
Relational
Also supports
Key-Value, Columnar / OLAP, Document, Vector
Document, Wide-Column, Vector
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
YDB (Yandex)
Yugabyte, Inc.
First release
2022
2017
Latest version
26.2.1.14 (Sep 17, 2026)
2026.1.2.0 (Sep 22, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
27.4
32.7
Rank
#103
#69
GitHub stars
4.8K
10.6K
Stack Overflow questions
6
370
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
Active active
Active active
ACID
Full
Full
Consistency
Strong, Tunable
Strong, Tunable
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Client server, Serverless
Distributed, Multi primary, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
✓
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
–
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
YQL (SQL dialect)
SQL, PL/pgSQL, CQL
Client languages
Java, Go, Python, C++, JavaScript, C#, Rust, PHP
Java, Go, Python, JavaScript, C#, Rust, Ruby, C++
Best for
OLTP, OLAP, HTAP, Queue
OLTP, Metadata, IoT, Vector search
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

YDB vs YugabyteDB: FAQ

What is the difference between YDB and YugabyteDB?

YDB: Open-source distributed SQL from Yandex combining row and column tables, topics and vector search. YugabyteDB: Apache-licensed distributed SQL that reuses the PostgreSQL query layer on a Raft-replicated storage engine. YDB is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than YugabyteDB (≤ 1 PB). Only YDB has pub/sub, columnar storage, streaming ingest. Only YugabyteDB has full-text search, triggers, stored procedures, materialized views.

When should I choose YDB over YugabyteDB?

Choose YDB for high-load OLTP services needing automatic sharding; combined transactional and analytical workloads on one platform; and event streaming with transactional consistency to tables. Choose YugabyteDB for scaling a Postgres application beyond one primary; multi-region customer and order data with zone/region resilience; and retail and financial OLTP needing horizontal write capacity.

Is YDB or YugabyteDB more popular?

YugabyteDB ranks #69 on the WhichDB Score (32.7/100) and YDB ranks #103 (27.4/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are YDB and YugabyteDB open source?

Yes. YDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. YugabyteDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.