# ClickHouse vs M3DB

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** ClickHouse

| Attribute | ClickHouse | M3DB |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 65.7 (60% (medium)) | 50.5 (51% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 50 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 1 | 10 |
| adoption.github_stars | 50,255 | 4,905 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"An open-source columnar database system designed to handle large-scale analytical workloads with extremely low latency. Excels at real-time analytics, observability (logs, metrics, traces), data warehousing, and AI/ML applications. It is indexed under Time-Series Databases.","source":"https://clickhouse.com/pricing","question":"What is ClickHouse?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"ClickHouse offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Paid plans start at $0.22 per hour. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://clickhouse.com","question":"Is ClickHouse free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"ClickHouse supports the web, Linux and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://clickhouse.com/pricing","question":"What platforms does ClickHouse support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. ClickHouse can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://clickhouse.com/pricing","question":"Can ClickHouse be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 11 integrations for ClickHouse, including Amazon S3, Kafka, Airbyte, Vector, PostgreSQL, MySQL, Microsoft Azure Data Factory and dbt, plus 3 more. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://clickhouse.com/pricing","question":"What does ClickHouse integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, ISO 27001, HIPAA and GDPR for ClickHouse. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as ClickHouse not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://clickhouse.com/legal/agreements/security-addendum","question":"What security certifications does ClickHouse have?","confidence":0.7},{"answer":"Yes. ClickHouse is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse","question":"Is ClickHouse open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"M3 is a metrics platform consisting of a distributed time-series database, query engine, and ingestion system designed to handle massive metric volumes efficiently. It provides Prometheus and Graphite compatibility while optimizing for performance and cost efficiency through purpose-built storage and querying components. It is indexed under Time-Series Databases.","source":"https://m3db.io","question":"What is M3DB?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"M3DB is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://m3db.io","question":"Is M3DB free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"M3DB supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://m3db.io","question":"What platforms does M3DB support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. M3DB can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://m3db.io","question":"Can M3DB be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 4 integrations for M3DB, including Prometheus, Graphite, Kubernetes and Docker. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://m3db.io","question":"What does M3DB integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. M3DB is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/m3db/m3","question":"Is M3DB open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A column-oriented database that processes analytical queries efficiently on large datasets using compression and vectorized execution. It supports fast aggregations and search over logs, metrics, and traces, with vector search capabilities for AI workloads. | M3 is a distributed time series database built for storing and querying high-volume metrics with multiple query languages. It can be deployed as a single node or multi-node cluster using Docker, Kubernetes, or binaries. |
| features.capabilities | `{"hosting":"both","clustering":"distributed","data_model":"both","deployment":"self_hosted","compression":"columnar","replication":true,"sql_support":true,"ingest_model":"both","licence_class":"permissive_oss","managed_cloud":true,"vector_search":true,"query_language":"SQL","replication_ha":true,"high_cardinality":"strong","sql_compatibility":"full_sql","horizontal_scaling":true}` | `{"clustering":"distributed","data_model":"metrics","deployment":"self_hosted","compression":"columnar","downsampling":"retention_policies","ingest_model":"push","licence_class":"permissive_oss","retention_ttl":"automatic","query_language":"PromQL, Graphite","replication_ha":true,"high_cardinality":"strong","sql_compatibility":"non_sql","prometheus_remote_write":true}` |
| integrations.count | 100 | 4 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Amazon S3"},{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"Airbyte"},{"name":"Vector"},{"name":"PostgreSQL"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"Microsoft Azure Data Factory"},{"name":"dbt"},{"name":"Calyptia"},{"name":"Dataddo"},{"name":"GrowthBook"},{"name":"OpenTelemetry","native":false,"category":"observability","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"HyperDX","native":true,"category":"visualization","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Langfuse","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Cassandra","native":false},{"name":"Google","native":true,"category":"authentication","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Microsoft","native":true,"category":"authentication","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"AWS","native":true,"category":"cloud","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Google Cloud","native":true,"category":"cloud","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"Azure","native":true,"category":"cloud","direction":"bidirectional"},{"name":"GitHub","native":false,"category":"development","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Slack","native":false,"category":"chat"}]` | `[{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Graphite"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"InfluxDB","native":true,"category":"metrics","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"etcd","native":true,"direction":"inbound"}]` |
| language.primary | C++ | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"hqCountry":"US","primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true,"linux":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"usage","plans":[{"free":false,"name":"Basic","features":["Up to 1 TB storage","1 availability zone","Export backups to own cloud account","Expert support with 1 business day response time","SSO with Google or Microsoft","Multi-factor authentication"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":53,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.2181,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Development and testing with limited storage","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"storage":"1 TB"}},{"free":false,"name":"Scale","features":["Unlimited storage","2+ availability zones","24x7 expert support with 1 hour response for Severity 1 issues","S3 role-based access","Automatic vertical scaling","Manual horizontal scaling"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":437,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.2985,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Production environments with unlimited scalable storage","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"storage":"Unlimited"}},{"free":false,"name":"Enterprise","features":["SAML SSO","Private regions","Enterprise support with 30 minute response time","Named Lead Support Engineer","Transparent data encryption and CMEK","HIPAA and PCI compliance"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":571,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},{"per":{"qty":1,"unit":"TB"},"kind":"metered","amount":0.3903,"currency":"USD"}],"description":"Enterprise deployments with compliance and advanced security controls","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"storage":"Unlimited"}}],"summary":"From $53/month plus usage-based compute and storage. Free tier with $300 credits for 30 days.","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://clickhouse.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-10-05T10:14:01.496Z","freeTrialDays":30,"startingPrice":{"amount":53,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://m3db.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:30:20.373Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | mid | free |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":53,"currency":"USD"}` | - |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | - | 12 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.9.10.4-stable","date":"2026-10-04T07:07:07Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.9.10.4-stable"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.8.17.4-lts","date":"2026-10-04T16:53:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.8.17.4-lts"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.7.21.2-stable","date":"2026-10-04T15:39:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.7.21.2-stable"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.3.41.4-lts","date":"2026-10-04T14:18:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.3.41.4-lts"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.9.9.28-stable","date":"2026-10-03T18:04:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.9.9.28-stable"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.8.16.41-lts","date":"2026-10-03T16:29:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.8.16.41-lts"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.7.20.28-stable","date":"2026-10-03T15:08:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.7.20.28-stable"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.3.40.16-lts","date":"2026-10-03T13:51:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.3.40.16-lts"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.3.39.7-lts","date":"2026-10-02T12:39:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.3.39.7-lts"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.9.8.3-stable","date":"2026-10-01T15:14:40Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.9.8.3-stable"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.7.19.5-stable","date":"2026-10-01T13:48:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.7.19.5-stable"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.3.38.2-lts","date":"2026-10-01T12:32:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.3.38.2-lts"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.9.7.9-stable","date":"2026-09-30T15:30:54Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.9.7.9-stable"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.7.18.2-stable","date":"2026-09-30T13:56:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.7.18.2-stable"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.3.37.3-lts","date":"2026-09-30T12:37:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.3.37.3-lts"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.9.6.6-stable","date":"2026-09-29T17:05:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.9.6.6-stable"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.8.15.10-lts","date":"2026-09-29T15:11:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.8.15.10-lts"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.7.17.7-stable","date":"2026-09-29T13:50:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.7.17.7-stable"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.3.36.6-lts","date":"2026-09-29T12:29:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.3.36.6-lts"},{"url":"https://github.com/ClickHouse/ClickHouse/releases/tag/v26.9.5.2-stable","date":"2026-09-28T16:25:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v26.9.5.2-stable"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.6.0","date":"2026-09-25T21:06:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.5.0","date":"2022-04-07T21:38:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.4.2","date":"2022-01-19T19:13:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.4.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.4.1","date":"2021-11-20T18:35:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.4.0","date":"2021-11-19T23:14:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.3.0","date":"2021-10-10T12:38:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.2.0","date":"2021-09-18T16:49:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.1.0","date":"2021-02-03T16:58:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc.2","date":"2020-11-19T10:32:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0-rc.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.0.0","date":"2020-11-16T16:36:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc.1","date":"2020-11-19T10:29:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc.0","date":"2020-11-09T22:23:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.5","date":"2020-12-11T20:04:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.4","date":"2020-12-07T08:08:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.2","date":"2020-10-28T19:59:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.1","date":"2020-10-28T19:40:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.3","date":"2020-11-17T23:03:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.0","date":"2020-10-23T19:02:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17","date":"2020-10-08T14:27:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.16","date":"2020-10-02T06:41:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.16"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | - |
| security.certifications | `[{"name":"SOC 2 Type II","level":"Type II","status":"active"},{"name":"ISO 27001","status":"active"},{"name":"HIPAA","status":"active"},{"name":"PCI DSS Level 1 Service Provider","level":"Level 1","status":"active"}]` | - |
| security.disclosure_policy | yes | - |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.hipaa | yes | - |
| security.iso27001 | yes | - |
| security.pci | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | 4.8 | 3.4 |
| security.soc2 | yes | - |
| security.trust_center | https://clickhouse.com/legal/agreements/security-addendum | - |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2FClickHouse%2FClickHouse&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fm3db%2Fm3&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Time-Series Databases)

| Capability | ClickHouse | M3DB |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Query** |  |  |
| Query language (SQL / PromQL / InfluxQL-Flux / Graphite) | SQL | PromQL, Graphite |
| SQL compatibility | Full SQL | Non-SQL |
| **Ingest** |  |  |
| Ingest model | Both | Push |
| **Model** |  |  |
| Data model | Both | Metrics (labels/tags) |
| **Lifecycle** |  |  |
| Downsampling / rollups | - | Retention policies |
| Retention / TTL | - | Automatic |
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Compression (columnar / delta / Gorilla) | columnar | columnar |
| **Performance** |  |  |
| High-cardinality handling | Strong | Strong |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Clustering / horizontal scale | Distributed / sharded | Distributed / sharded |
| Replication / HA | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Self-hosted |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| Prometheus remote-write compatible | - | ✓ |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Licence class | Permissive OSS | Permissive OSS |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:18:14.232Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*