head to head · open source
ClickHouse vs duckdb
ClickHouse has 49,952 GitHub stars, 8,970 forks, 7,547 open issues and last shipped today. duckdb has 41,472 stars, 3,800 forks, 858 open issues and last shipped today. ClickHouse leads on adoption by 20% (49,952 vs 41,472 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 9%. 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.
← all 13541 open source comparisons
Side by side
| ClickHouse | duckdb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 41K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | C++ | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.0K | ⑂ 3.8K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick ClickHouse if
- You weight community size — 50K 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 written in C++ that delivers real time analytical query performance on massive datasets. It operates within the broader data infrastructure ecosystem, serving as a high performance alternative to traditional row oriented databases for OLAP workloads.
read the full ClickHouse overview →
About duckdb
DuckDB is an analytical, in process SQL database management system written in C++ and released under the MIT license. It runs inside the application process rather than as a separate server, and it is distributed as a standalone command line application as well as through clients for Python, R, Java, and WebAssembly. The project lives in the analytical SQL ecosystem, where the topics listed for it are analytics, database, embedded database, OLAP, and SQL. It has been developed for about eight years, with the last push recorded on 15 September 2026.
read the full duckdb overview →
More in Data & Analytics
Related comparisons
More Data Warehousing & Processing projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Data Warehousing & Processing field.
Frequently asked questions
Is ClickHouse or duckdb more popular?
ClickHouse has 49,952 GitHub stars and duckdb has 41,472. 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 (49,952 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose duckdb if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.