whichdb

Yellowbrick

active

by Yellowbrick Data · since 2017 · also known as Yellowbrick Data

PostgreSQL-compatible MPP warehouse that runs on its appliance, any cloud or Kubernetes.

columnar / olaprelationalspatialdocumentdatabase engineproprietarymature
Website Docs Compare Find similar

Overview

Yellowbrick is an MPP SQL data warehouse with a PostgreSQL-compatible front end and a custom C++ columnar engine that bypasses the OS for flash and memory access. It originally shipped as a high-density appliance and now runs as a Kubernetes-based software stack in AWS, Azure, GCP or on-prem, with storage on object stores and independent compute clusters. It targets enterprises replacing Netezza, Teradata or Greenplum who want predictable performance and deployment choice. In early 2026 its founder left to start a separate lakehouse company, Floe, while Yellowbrick kept shipping releases.

Data warehouseAnalytics (OLAP)Real-time analytics

Strengths & trade-offs

Strengths

  • +PostgreSQL-compatible SQL and drivers ease migration
  • +Same software on appliance, private cloud, AWS, Azure and GCP
  • +High concurrency with workload management and isolated clusters
  • +Popular migration target for Netezza and Teradata customers

Trade-offs

  • −Small vendor with leadership changes in 2026
  • −Closed source with limited community resources
  • −Fewer lakehouse and AI integrations than larger rivals

Great for

  • +Netezza and Teradata replacement
  • +Hybrid on-prem and cloud warehousing
  • +Regulated industries needing private deployment

Think twice for

  • −Small teams wanting serverless SaaS
  • −OLTP
  • −Open-source requirements

Capabilities

Native or official first-party support · 10 of 25 tracked

✓Transactions
✓Joins
✓Geospatial
✓JSON
✓Stored procedures
✓Columnar storage
✓Durable persistence
✓Compression
✓Encryption at rest
✓Role-based access
–Secondary indexes
–Full-text search
–Vector search
–Change data capture
–Triggers
–Materialized views
–TTL / expiry
–Pub/Sub
–In-memory
–Time travel
–Branching
–Online schema changes
–Streaming ingest
–Offline sync
–Runs in WebAssembly

Scale & consistency

Comfortable data size
Large · ≤ 1 PB
Horizontal scaling
Native
Multi-region
Read replicas
Transactions
Full ACID
Consistency
Strong
Schema
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage
Query languages
SQL (PostgreSQL dialect), PL/pgSQL

Independent compute clusters over shared storage; asynchronous replication between instances.

Deployment

Self-hosted Vendor-managed cloud Serverless Embedded Edge Kubernetes operator

available on · AWS · Azure · Google Cloud

Ecosystem

compatible withPostgreSQL
apis & protocolsPostgreSQL wire protocol, JDBC, ODBC
client languagesJava, Python, C, Go, .NET

Alternatives to Yellowbrick

Compare all→
IBM NetezzaRelational15.1

IBM's FPGA-accelerated MPP warehouse, now offered as NPS on-prem, in Cloud Pak and as a service.

yellowbrick vs ibm-netezza →
Teradata VantageRelational38.5

The original MPP data warehouse, now VantageCloud with open table formats and in-database analytics.

yellowbrick vs teradata-vantage →
GreenplumRelational20.7

PostgreSQL-based MPP data warehouse, closed-sourced by Broadcom in 2024 and sold in Tanzu Data.

yellowbrick vs greenplum →
VerticaColumnar / OLAP33.1

Veteran MPP columnar analytics database from the C-Store lineage, now owned by Rocket Software.

yellowbrick vs vertica →
SnowflakeColumnar / OLAP74.4

Fully managed cloud data warehouse with separate storage and compute, now spanning AI and apps.

yellowbrick vs snowflake →
Amazon RedshiftColumnar / OLAP55.8

AWS's MPP columnar data warehouse, available as provisioned RA3 clusters or Serverless.

yellowbrick vs amazon-redshift →

Yellowbrick FAQ

What is Yellowbrick?

Yellowbrick is a columnar / OLAP database by Yellowbrick Data, first released in 2017. Yellowbrick is an MPP SQL data warehouse with a PostgreSQL-compatible front end and a custom C++ columnar engine that bypasses the OS for flash and memory access. It originally shipped as a high-density appliance and now runs as a Kubernetes-based software stack in AWS, Azure, GCP or on-prem, with storage on object stores and independent compute clusters. It targets enterprises replacing Netezza, Teradata or Greenplum who want predictable performance and deployment choice. In early 2026 its founder left to start a separate lakehouse company, Floe, while Yellowbrick kept shipping releases.

Is Yellowbrick open source?

No. Yellowbrick is proprietary, closed-source software.

Does Yellowbrick support ACID transactions?

Yes. Yellowbrick supports full ACID transactions, with strong consistency.

Does Yellowbrick scale horizontally?

Yellowbrick scales horizontally out of the box, with built-in sharding or partitioning. It is comfortable at large scale (≤ 1 PB). It supports cross-region read replicas.

How can I run Yellowbrick?

You can self-host it. It is available on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.

What is Yellowbrick best for?

Yellowbrick is a strong fit for netezza and Teradata replacement; hybrid on-prem and cloud warehousing; and regulated industries needing private deployment. Think twice for small teams wanting serverless SaaS.

What are the best alternatives to Yellowbrick?

Common alternatives to Yellowbrick include IBM Netezza, Teradata Vantage, Greenplum, Vertica and Snowflake. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.

How popular is Yellowbrick?

Yellowbrick ranks #420 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (4.1/100), and #37 among columnar / OLAP databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.