ClickHouse vs. Druid: Which database do you need?
Both ClickHouse and Druid are designed to handle vast amounts of data very fast. Both are used for real-time analytics. However, that’s about all they have in common. Druid does particularly well when high precision and immediate querying are necessary. ClickHouse is a swifter and much less expensive option that fits all scenarios but a rare few.
Maybe it’s the faster one
Unlike Druid, which is usually deployed across several server nodes, ClickHouse often has a monolithic architecture. As a result, your queries aren’t slowed down by intra-node latency. Additionally, ClickHouse supports materialized views: special tables that store the result of a query and make data retrieval extremely efficient. Materialized views reduce the need to compute on the fly, which means that ClickHouse can deal with complex queries in less than a second, even with very large datasets.
The graph shows a noticeable performance gap between Druid and ClickHouse. These aren’t even the most dramatic examples, just some indicative ones; you can find the full benchmark here.
*Corresponding queries available on the ClickHouse benchmarks page
Or is it the one that’s easier to maintain?
Druid’s distributed architecture makes customization easy but creates a lot of management overhead
A Druid setup can comprise a few thousand nodes of different types, and you need to juggle them carefully to make sure they’re correctly configured and balanced. In addition, Druid stores data in segments that require constant attention.
ClickHouse doesn’t have that many moving parts. It’s not easy to manage, but luckily, DoubleCloud covers that part
Our Managed Service for ClickHouse comes with automated backups, self-healing capabilities, autoscaling, and many built-in integrations included. You can spin up a cluster and do your thing; we’ll take care of the rest.
Or the one that’s cheaper?
Wait, that’s also ClickHouse. Druid calls for a number of servers by design, and servers cost money. Both databases store data in columns, but Druid also utilizes indexing to make queries efficient. For larger datasets and complex queries, you might need hundreds of indexes that can easily take up 10x more space than the data itself. Hence, you’ll need to pay for storage as well.
ClickHouse doesn’t need extra space, and you don’t need to pay for it. End of story.
If you’re using a managed solution, you should keep in mind the cost of data ingestion as well. Here’s a comparison of data ingestion prices between DoubleCloud and Imply Polaris, a popular managed Apache Druid service. It’s fair to note that total cost depends on the structure of your data.
What Druid is actually good for
Apache Druid is a good choice if you’re building an enterprise-scale real-time analytics product that requires data streaming. Not only that, but also if you absolutely must fetch the data as soon as it’s ingested. That’s where Druid really shines thanks to its scalability, native support of streaming data, queries prioritization and immediate return of recently inserted data.
All in all, Druid is a strong contender if you’re building a stock exchange-type product infrastructure, need extensive customization, and have extra budget to spare.
Choose ClickHouse for everything else
ClickHouse is better for most scenarios that involve real-time analytics. Its main advantage is, of course, the speed: hardly any OLAP-database is on par with ClickHouse in that department. But it’s more than speed only. ClickHouse is just a simpler tool that has many, many uses.
One more thing with ClickHouse is that there are plenty of enhancements available. It’s a bit like a swiss army knife: compact, yet all-purpose. For example, to simplify building data pipelines, DoubleCloud offers its own ELT tool with a number of custom-built connectors, and also does integration with Kafka. You can build your whole infrastructure using our platform.
Why choose DoubleCloud Managed Service for ClickHouse®?
Comprehensive support and monitoring
Rest assured with our expert support and constant 24/7 service monitoring. We guarantee a 99.99% service level agreement, ensuring your cloud environment runs optimally at all times.
More savings with Hybrid Storage
Experience up to 5x lower ownership costs with our built-in Hybrid Storage feature. Optimize storage expenses while maintaining the availability and performance of frequently used data.
Built-in integrations
We provide a serverless ETL data service for real-time data synchronization from dozens of systems like ElasticSearch, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, Redshift, Apache Kafka, BigQuery, and others.
Bring your own cloud (BYOC)
Deploy ClickHouse in your own cloud account (AWS or GCP). Stay in control of your data but don’t overwhelm yourself by managing clusters and infrastructure.
Compliance and security
Our platform is equipped with integrated monitoring, logging, and high-level security verified by SOC2 and ISO/IEC 27001 certifications.
Effortless management
Eliminate the complexities of server management and ZooKeeper/Clickhouse Keeper configurations. Automatic updates and patches keep your ClickHouse always current without any intervention.
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