head to head · open source
ClickHouse vs parse-server
ClickHouse has 49,959 GitHub stars, 8,971 forks, 7,547 open issues and last shipped yesterday. parse-server has 21,409 stars, 4,807 forks, 561 open issues and last shipped 6 days ago. ClickHouse leads on adoption by 133% (49,959 vs 21,409 stars). ClickHouse is written in C++ under Apache-2.0; parse-server is written in JavaScript under Apache-2.0. ClickHouse has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, parse-server 22%. ClickHouse was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (hacktoberfest), 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 15422 open source comparisons
Side by side
| ClickHouse | parse-server | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 50K | ★ 21K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | JavaScript |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-13 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.0K | ⑂ 4.8K |
| 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 parse-server if
- You want the parse-server feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches JavaScript
- You evaluated both and parse-server 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 parse-server
Parse Server is an open source backend, built for Node.js and the Express web application framework, that can be deployed to any infrastructure able to run Node.js and that serves applications written against the Parse Platform.
read the full parse-server 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 parse-server more popular?
ClickHouse has 49,959 GitHub stars and parse-server has 21,409. ClickHouse has the larger community by that measure.
Are ClickHouse and parse-server free?
Both are open source. ClickHouse is licensed under Apache-2.0 and parse-server under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ClickHouse and parse-server?
ClickHouse is written in C++ and parse-server in JavaScript. 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 parse-server?
Choose ClickHouse if you want the larger community (49,959 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose parse-server if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.