head to head · open source
Elasticsearch vs ClickHouse
Elasticsearch has 77,926 GitHub stars, 26,071 forks, 6,059 open issues and last shipped today. ClickHouse has 49,952 stars, 8,970 forks, 7,547 open issues and last shipped today. Elasticsearch leads on adoption by 56% (77,926 vs 49,952 stars). Elasticsearch is written in Java under a custom or non-standard licence; ClickHouse is written in C++ under Apache-2.0. Elasticsearch has attracted 33% as many forks as stars, ClickHouse 18%. ClickHouse was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
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
| Elasticsearch | ClickHouse | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 78K | ★ 50K |
| License | Custom / other | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Java | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-18 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 26K | ⑂ 9.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Elasticsearch if
- You weight community size — 78K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick ClickHouse if
- You want the ClickHouse feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and ClickHouse fits your workflow better
About Elasticsearch
Elasticsearch is a distributed search and analytics engine built in Java, designed for near real time search, scalability, and high performance data querying on production workloads. It serves as the core storage and indexing layer of Elastic’s open stack and supports full text, structured, and vector based search.
read the full Elasticsearch overview →
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 →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Elasticsearch or ClickHouse more popular?
Elasticsearch has 77,926 GitHub stars and ClickHouse has 49,952. Elasticsearch has the larger community by that measure.
Are Elasticsearch and ClickHouse free?
Both are open source. Elasticsearch has no licence declared in this registry, and ClickHouse is licensed under Apache-2.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Elasticsearch and ClickHouse?
Elasticsearch is written in Java and ClickHouse 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, Elasticsearch or ClickHouse?
Choose Elasticsearch if you want the larger community (77,926 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose ClickHouse if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.