head to head · open source
ClickHouse vs TiDB
ClickHouse has 50,719 GitHub stars, 9,204 forks, 7,547 open issues and last shipped yesterday. TiDB has 40,701 stars, 6,284 forks, 6,976 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ClickHouse leads on adoption by 25% (50,719 vs 40,701 stars). ClickHouse is written in C++ under Apache-2.0; TiDB is written in Go under Apache-2.0. ClickHouse has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, TiDB 15%. ClickHouse was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (ai, cloud-native, database, 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.
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Side by side
| ClickHouse | TiDB | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 51K | ★ 41K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Go |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.2K | ⑂ 6.3K |
| 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 TiDB if
- You want the TiDB feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Go
- You evaluated both and TiDB 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 TiDB
TiDB TiDB (/’taɪdiːbi:/, "Ti" stands for Titanium) is an open source, cloud native, distributed SQL database designed for high availability, horizontal and vertical scalability, strong consistency, and high performance. Key Features Quick Start Need Help? Architecture Contributing License See Also Acknowledgments Key Features Distributed Transactions : TiDB uses a two phase commit protocol to ensure ACID compliance, providing strong consistency. Transactions span multiple nodes, and TiDB's distributed nature ensures data correctness even in the presence of network partitions or node failures. Horizontal and…
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Frequently asked questions
Is ClickHouse or TiDB more popular?
ClickHouse has 50,719 GitHub stars and TiDB has 40,701. ClickHouse has the larger community by that measure.
Are ClickHouse and TiDB free?
Both are open source. ClickHouse is licensed under Apache-2.0 and TiDB under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between ClickHouse and TiDB?
ClickHouse is written in C++ and TiDB in Go. 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 TiDB?
Choose ClickHouse if you want the larger community (50,719 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose TiDB if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.