Readers comparing database systems need to separate workload fit from project health and license terms. For October 2026, this ToolVitals snapshot compares the listed open/source-visible tools using their supplied descriptions, ToolVitals scores, health and shipping scores, openness labels, and license labels.
The ranking uses ToolVitals score first in descending order, then health and shipping for equal composite scores. GitHub stars are context only, so repository popularity does not override the supplied ranking.
Rankings
| Rank | Tool | Openness | License | Health | Shipping | GitHub Stars | Score | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ClickHouse | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 99 | 99 | 50149 | 99 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 2 | DuckDB | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 98 | 99 | 41793 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 3 | Elasticsearch | Open core | AGPL-3.0 | 98 | 98 | 78095 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 4 | Turso | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 98 | 98 | 24471 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 5 | YDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 98 | 98 | 4772 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 6 | YTsaurus | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 98 | 98 | 2214 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 7 | Convex | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 98 | 97 | 12625 | 98 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 8 | Spice.ai | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 97 | 3096 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 9 | harper | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 97 | 90 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 10 | Milvus | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 96 | 46282 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 11 | ParadeDB | OSI-approved OSS | AGPL-3.0 | 97 | 96 | 9316 | 97 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 12 | HelixDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 96 | 6103 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 13 | LadybugDB | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 97 | 96 | 1797 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 14 | RisingWave | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 96 | 9353 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 15 | Dragonfly | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 95 | 31724 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 16 | OpenSearch | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 95 | 13787 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 17 | StarRocks | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 95 | 12150 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 18 | Trino | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 97 | 95 | 13287 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 19 | Valkey | OSI-approved OSS | BSD-3-Clause | 97 | 95 | 27337 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 20 | DXOS | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 97 | 524 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 21 | arcadedb | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 97 | 1167 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 22 | CrateDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 95 | 4441 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 23 | Neo4j | OSI-approved OSS | GPL-3.0 | 96 | 95 | 17263 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 24 | SpacetimeDB | OSI-approved OSS | AGPL-3.0 | 96 | 95 | 25245 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 25 | Qdrant | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 94 | 34882 | 96 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 26 | Manticore Search | OSI-approved OSS | GPL-3.0 | 96 | 95 | 12035 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 27 | etcd | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 94 | 52323 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 28 | TiDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 96 | 93 | 40611 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 29 | RxDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 95 | 23393 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 30 | XTDB | OSI-approved OSS | MPL-2.0 | 95 | 95 | 3077 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 31 | S2 | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 95 | 94 | 748 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 32 | SereneDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 94 | 848 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 33 | Infinispan | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 93 | 1354 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 34 | Rayforce | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 94 | 96 | 269 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 35 | Sonic | OSI-approved OSS | MPL-2.0 | 94 | 95 | 21357 | 95 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 36 | QuestDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 93 | 17383 | 94 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 37 | Xata | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 93 | 1072 | 94 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 38 | MariaDB | OSI-approved OSS | GPL-2.0 | 95 | 92 | 8296 | 94 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 39 | PowerSync | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 95 | 92 | 726 | 94 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 40 | TDengine | OSI-approved OSS | AGPL-3.0 | 95 | 92 | 25151 | 94 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 41 | Electric SQL | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 93 | 89 | 10379 | 92 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 42 | data-api-builder | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 91 | 85 | 1514 | 89 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 43 | MySQL | Open core | GPL-2.0 | 91 | 84 | 12438 | 88 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 44 | PocketBase | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 85 | 91 | 61211 | 88 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 45 | SQLite | Public-domain source | Public domain | 89 | 85 | 10567 | 87 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 46 | Typesense | OSI-approved OSS | GPL-3.0 | 84 | 76 | 26610 | 81 | 🟢 Excellent |
| 47 | YantrikDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 78 | 79 | 175 | 78 | 🟢 Good |
| 48 | Apache AGE | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 80 | 68 | 4859 | 75 | 🟢 Good |
| 49 | Marmot | OSI-approved OSS | MIT | 71 | 58 | 2822 | 66 | 🟢 Good |
| 50 | InfluxDB | OSI-approved OSS | Apache-2.0 | 68 | 46 | 31760 | 60 | 🟢 Good |
Top 3 Highlights
ClickHouse ranks first with a ToolVitals score of 99, a health score of 99, and a shipping score of 99. The supplied first-party description identifies it as a real-time analytics database management system. Its openness label is OSI-approved OSS and its license label is Apache-2.0. The listed 50,149 GitHub stars provide context only and do not determine its rank.
DuckDB ranks second with a ToolVitals score of 98, a health score of 98, and a shipping score of 99. Its supplied first-party description identifies it as an analytical in-process SQL database management system, making its execution model the main distinction in the description. Its openness label is OSI-approved OSS and its license label is MIT. The listed 41,793 GitHub stars are context only.
Elasticsearch ranks third with a ToolVitals score of 98, a health score of 98, and a shipping score of 98. The supplied first-party description identifies it as a distributed search and analytics engine with an open-source core and additional license options. Its openness label is Open core and its license label is AGPL-3.0. The listed 78,095 GitHub stars are context only.
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