head to head · open source
ClickHouse vs TimescaleDb
ClickHouse has 50,719 GitHub stars, 9,204 forks, 7,547 open issues and last shipped yesterday. TimescaleDb has 23,788 stars, 1,184 forks, 389 open issues and last shipped yesterday. ClickHouse leads on adoption by 113% (50,719 vs 23,788 stars). ClickHouse is written in C++ under Apache-2.0; TimescaleDb is written in C under a custom or non-standard licence. ClickHouse has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, TimescaleDb 5%. 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 | TimescaleDb | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 51K | ★ 24K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Custom / other |
| Written in | C++ | C |
| Last push | 2026-11-02 | 2026-11-02 |
| Forks | ⑂ 9.2K | ⑂ 1.2K |
| 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 TimescaleDb if
- You want the TimescaleDb feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches C
- You evaluated both and TimescaleDb 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 TimescaleDb
TimescaleDB is a PostgreSQL extension for high performance real time analytics on time series and event data Quick Start with TimescaleDB Get started with TimescaleDB in under 10 minutes. This guide will help you run TimescaleDB locally, create your first hypertable with columnstore enabled, write data to the columnstore, and see instant analytical query performance. What You'll Learn How to run TimescaleDB with a one line install or Docker command How to create a hypertable with columnstore enabled How to insert data directly to the columnstore How to execute analytical queries Prerequisites Docker installed on…
read the full TimescaleDb overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is ClickHouse or TimescaleDb more popular?
ClickHouse has 50,719 GitHub stars and TimescaleDb has 23,788. ClickHouse has the larger community by that measure.
Are ClickHouse and TimescaleDb free?
Both are open source. ClickHouse is licensed under Apache-2.0, and TimescaleDb has no licence declared in this registry. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between ClickHouse and TimescaleDb?
ClickHouse is written in C++ and TimescaleDb 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 TimescaleDb?
Choose ClickHouse if you want the larger community (50,719 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose TimescaleDb if its feature set, stack or Custom / other licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.