Database Systems tools cover different workloads, so readers need a consistent way to compare analytics databases, in-process SQL systems, and search platforms without treating popularity as proof of fit. This September 2026 section uses the supplied ToolVitals records and their scores, health and shipping measures, openness and license labels, descriptions, and GitHub-star counts.
The ranking includes open/source-visible tools and orders them by ToolVitals score descending, with health and shipping used for equal composite scores. GitHub stars are context only and do not determine the ordering.
Rankings
| Rank | Tool | Openness | License | Health | Shipping | GitHub Stars | Score | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ClickHouse | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 99 | 99 | 49585 | 99 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 2 | DuckDB | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 99 | 99 | 40886 | 99 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 3 | Elasticsearch | Open core | AGPL-3.0 | 99 | 99 | 77886 | 99 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 4 | YDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 99 | 99 | 4772 | 99 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 5 | YTsaurus | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 99 | 99 | 2203 | 99 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 6 | SeMI | OSI-approved OSS | BSD-3-Clause | 98 | 99 | 16776 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 7 | Weaviate | OSI-approved OSS | BSD-3-Clause | 98 | 99 | 16776 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 8 | Turso | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 98 | 98 | 24103 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 9 | Milvus | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 98 | 97 | 45920 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 10 | StarRocks | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 98 | 97 | 12062 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 11 | Spice.ai | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 98 | 3074 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 12 | OpenSearch | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 98 | 97 | 13632 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 13 | Convex | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 98 | 12462 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 14 | Dragonfly | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 97 | 31129 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 15 | ParadeDB | OSI-approved OSS | AGPL-3.0 | 97 | 97 | 9218 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 16 | RisingWave | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 97 | 9296 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 17 | Trino | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 97 | 13198 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 18 | CrateDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 96 | 4432 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 19 | LadybugDB | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 97 | 96 | 1692 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 20 | SpacetimeDB | OSI-approved OSS | AGPL-3.0 | 97 | 96 | 25086 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 21 | TDengine | OSI-approved OSS | AGPL-3.0 | 97 | 96 | 25096 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 22 | Valkey | OSI-approved OSS | BSD-3-Clause | 97 | 96 | 27093 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 23 | arcadedb | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 98 | 1115 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 24 | harper | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 97 | 86 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 25 | QuestDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 96 | 17294 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 26 | TiDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 95 | 40478 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 27 | etcd | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 95 | 52216 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 28 | DXOS | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 97 | 518 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 29 | Manticore Search | OSI-approved OSS | GPL-3.0 | 96 | 96 | 11973 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 30 | XTDB | OSI-approved OSS | MPL-2.0 | 96 | 96 | 3048 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 31 | Infinispan | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 95 | 1348 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 32 | Qdrant | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 95 | 34315 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 33 | Rayforce | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 95 | 96 | 266 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 34 | RxDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 96 | 23371 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 35 | S2 | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 96 | 95 | 723 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 36 | MariaDB | OSI-approved OSS | GPL-2.0 | 96 | 94 | 8165 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 37 | Xata | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 94 | 1056 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 38 | HelixDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 95 | 5876 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 39 | SereneDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 94 | 705 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 40 | PowerSync | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 93 | 720 | 94 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 41 | Electric SQL | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 92 | 10351 | 94 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 42 | Sonic | OSI-approved OSS | MPL-2.0 | 92 | 95 | 21329 | 93 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 43 | data-api-builder | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 94 | 90 | 1503 | 92 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 44 | TerminusDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 90 | 93 | 3399 | 91 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 45 | PgLite | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 91 | 87 | 15945 | 90 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 46 | PocketBase | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 85 | 92 | 60911 | 88 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 47 | SQLite | Public-domain source | Public domain | 89 | 85 | 10386 | 87 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 48 | Apache AGE | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 88 | 81 | 4788 | 86 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 49 | YantrikDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 83 | 88 | 172 | 85 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 50 | Typesense | OSI-approved OSS | GPL-3.0 | 80 | 66 | 26496 | 75 | 🟢 Good |
Top 3 Highlights
ClickHouse ranks first with a ToolVitals score of 99, a health score of 99, and a shipping score of 99. Its official description identifies it as a real-time analytics database management system. ToolVitals labels it OSI-approved OSS with an Apache-2.0 license; its 49,585 GitHub stars provide context only.
DuckDB ranks second with a ToolVitals score of 99, a health score of 99, and a shipping score of 99. Its official description identifies it as an analytical in-process SQL database management system, making its embedded analytical design the key distinction in the top three. ToolVitals labels it OSI-approved OSS with an MIT license; its 40,886 GitHub stars provide context only.
Elasticsearch ranks third with a ToolVitals score of 99, a health score of 99, and a shipping score of 99. Its official description identifies it as a distributed search and analytics engine with an open-source core and additional license options. ToolVitals labels it Open core with an AGPL-3.0 license; its 77,886 GitHub stars provide context only.
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