head to head · open source
ClickHouse vs rustfs
ClickHouse has 50,719 GitHub stars, 9,204 forks, 7,547 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. rustfs has 35,662 stars, 1,641 forks, 28 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. ClickHouse leads on adoption by 42% (50,719 vs 35,662 stars). ClickHouse is written in C++ under Apache-2.0; rustfs is written in Rust under Apache-2.0. ClickHouse has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, rustfs 5%. ClickHouse was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (cloud-native), 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 | rustfs | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 51K | ★ 36K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Rust |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.2K | ⑂ 1.6K |
| 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 rustfs if
- You want the rustfs feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You evaluated both and rustfs 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 rustfs
RustFS is a high performance, distributed object storage system built in Rust. Getting Started · Docs · Bug reports · Discussions English 简体中文 Deutsch Español français 日本語 한국어 Portuguese Русский RustFS is a high performance, distributed object storage system built in Rust—one of the most loved programming languages worldwide. RustFS combines the simplicity of MinIO with the memory safety and raw performance of Rust. It offers broad S3 API compatibility for supported features, is completely open source, and is optimized for data lakes, AI, and big data workloads. Unlike other storage systems, RustFS is released…
read the full rustfs overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ClickHouse or rustfs more popular?
ClickHouse has 50,719 GitHub stars and rustfs has 35,662. ClickHouse has the larger community by that measure.
Are ClickHouse and rustfs free?
Both are open source. ClickHouse is licensed under Apache-2.0 and rustfs under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ClickHouse and rustfs?
ClickHouse is written in C++ and rustfs in Rust. 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 rustfs?
Choose ClickHouse if you want the larger community (50,719 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose rustfs if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.