Databases and storage · Comparison
PostgreSQL vs ClickHouse
PostgreSQL is built for running an app (many small reads and writes); ClickHouse is built for analysing one (a few enormous reads). Plenty of products use both.
2 options · 6 questions side by side · updated
| Compare | PostgreSQL | ClickHouse |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Transactions (OLTP) | Analytics (OLAP) |
| Storage | Row by row | Column by column, compressed |
| Typical query | Fetch or update one order | Count events per day over a year |
| Updates and deletes | Cheap and frequent | Expensive, best avoided |
| Adding up billions of rows | Slow without extra work | Seconds or less |
| Transactions | Full ACID | Limited |
How to choose between PostgreSQL and ClickHouse
- Keep users, orders and anything that changes in PostgreSQL.
- Send events, logs and metrics to ClickHouse once analytics queries start slowing PostgreSQL down.
The options
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