head to head · open source
ClickHouse vs duckdb
ClickHouse has 50,719 GitHub stars, 9,204 forks, 7,547 open issues and last shipped yesterday. duckdb has 42,733 stars, 4,168 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped 4 days ago. ClickHouse leads on adoption by 19% (50,719 vs 42,733 stars). ClickHouse is written in C++ under Apache-2.0; duckdb is written in C++ under MIT. ClickHouse has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, duckdb 10%. ClickHouse was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (analytics, database), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
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 | duckdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 51K | ★ 43K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-10-30 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.2K | ⑂ 4.2K |
| 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 duckdb if
- You want the duckdb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and duckdb 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 duckdb
DuckDB DuckDB is a high performance analytical database system. It is designed to be fast, reliable, portable, and easy to use. DuckDB provides a rich SQL dialect with support far beyond basic SQL. DuckDB supports arbitrary and nested correlated subqueries, window functions, collations, complex types (arrays, structs, maps), and several extensions designed to make SQL easier to use. DuckDB is available as a standalone CLI application and has clients for Python, R, Java, Wasm, etc., with deep integrations with packages such as pandas and dplyr. For more information on using DuckDB, please refer to the DuckDB…
read the full duckdb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ClickHouse or duckdb more popular?
ClickHouse has 50,719 GitHub stars and duckdb has 42,733. ClickHouse has the larger community by that measure.
Are ClickHouse and duckdb free?
Both are open source. ClickHouse is licensed under Apache-2.0 and duckdb under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ClickHouse and duckdb?
ClickHouse is written in C++ and duckdb in C++. 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 duckdb?
Choose ClickHouse if you want the larger community (50,719 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose duckdb if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.