head to head · open source
ClickHouse vs bigfunctions
ClickHouse has 50,719 GitHub stars, 9,204 forks, 7,547 open issues and last shipped yesterday. bigfunctions has 761 stars, 69 forks, 31 open issues and last shipped 2 months ago. ClickHouse leads on adoption by 6,565% (50,719 vs 761 stars). ClickHouse is written in C++ under Apache-2.0; bigfunctions is written in Python under MIT. ClickHouse has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, bigfunctions 9%. ClickHouse was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| ClickHouse | bigfunctions | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 51K | ★ 761 |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-08-23 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.2K | ⑂ 69 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ClickHouse if
- You weight community size — 51K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick bigfunctions if
- You want the bigfunctions feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and bigfunctions fits your workflow better
About ClickHouse
ClickHouse® is an open source column oriented database management system that allows generating analytical data reports in real time. How To Install (Linux, macOS, FreeBSD) Useful Links Official website has a quick high level overview of ClickHouse on the main page. ClickHouse Cloud ClickHouse as a service, built by the creators and maintainers. Tutorial shows how to set up and query a small ClickHouse cluster. Documentation provides more in depth information. YouTube channel has a lot of content about ClickHouse in video format. ClickHouse Theater contains presentations and videos about ClickHouse. Slack and…
read the full ClickHouse overview →
About bigfunctions
Supercharge BigQuery with BigFunctions 🔍️ 1. Supercharge BigQuery with BigFunctions 1. BigFunctions is a framework to build a governed catalog of BigQuery functions to supercharge BigQuery . 2. It also comes with 150+ functions built by the community that you can call directly (no install) or redeploy in YOUR catalog. 3. You can now perform any advanced data task, be it load, transform or take actions by running SQL commands in BigQuery. Learn more 👀 2. Call public BigFunctions without install from your GCP project All BigFunctions represented by a 'yaml' file in bigfunctions folder are deployed in public…
read the full bigfunctions overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ClickHouse or bigfunctions more popular?
ClickHouse has 50,719 GitHub stars and bigfunctions has 761. ClickHouse has the larger community by that measure.
Are ClickHouse and bigfunctions free?
Both are open source. ClickHouse is licensed under Apache-2.0 and bigfunctions under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ClickHouse and bigfunctions?
ClickHouse is written in C++ and bigfunctions in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, ClickHouse or bigfunctions?
Choose ClickHouse if you want the larger community (50,719 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose bigfunctions if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.