distributed PostgreSQL / sharding
Citus is a PostgreSQL extension that transforms Postgres into a distributed database via sharding, replication, and a distributed query engine.
Solves the same problem with a different architecture or at a different layer. Expect to rewrite the integration.
Choose when you need a standalone distributed SQL database with PostgreSQL wire compatibility and stronger multi-region replication, rather than a Postgres extension.
YugabyteDB - the cloud native distributed SQL database for mission-critical applications.
Choose when you need a cloud-native, distributed SQL DB with automatic rebalancing and migrations, independent of Postgres.
CockroachDB — the cloud native, distributed SQL database designed for high availability, effortless scale, and control over data placement.
Choose when you want serverless Postgres with autoscaling and branching, not a sharding extension.
Neon: Serverless Postgres. We separated storage and compute to offer autoscaling, code-like database branching, and scale to zero.
Choose when you need a MySQL-compatible distributed SQL DB with HTAP and JSON support, outside the Postgres ecosystem.
TiDB is built for agentic workloads that grow unpredictably, with ACID guarantees and native support for transactions, analytics, and vector search. No data silos. No noisy neighbors. No infrastructure ceiling.
Choose when you want an AI-native HTAP database with built-in vector search, independent of Postgres.
AI-native HTAP database with Git-for-Data and built-in vector search, serving as the data and memory backbone for intelligent agents and applications.
Choose when you need to shard existing PostgreSQL/MySQL databases via middleware/proxy rather than a Postgres extension.
Empowering Data Intelligence with Distributed SQL for Sharding, Scalability, and Security Across All Databases.
Choose when you want a highly scalable distributed SQL database with MySQL compatibility, independent of Postgres.
OceanBase is the unified distributed database for the AI era — open-source, multi-model, one engine for your most demanding workloads.
Choose when you need a distributed SQL database with strong consistency and ACID, from a non-Postgres ecosystem.
YDB is an open source Distributed SQL Database that combines high availability and scalability with strong consistency and ACID transactions
Choose when you need an embeddable replicated SQL engine for lightweight clustering, not a full database server.
Embeddable, replicated and fault-tolerant SQL engine.
Choose when you want a cloud-native Postgres-compatible database with storage/compute separation, rather than sharding.
A cloud-native database based on PostgreSQL developed by Alibaba Cloud.
An earlier or more limited way to do the job. Still the right call when you need something small, proven, or CPU-only.
Choose when you need a lightweight, easy-to-deploy distributed SQLite for small datasets and high availability, not massive sharding.
The lightweight, fault-tolerant database built on SQLite. Designed to keep your data highly available with minimal effort.
Choose when you need a distributed database on SQLite backed by object storage, simpler than Citus.
Open source distributed database built on SQLite and backed by distributed file systems and object storage
Choose when you need an old, lightweight distributed SQL query engine; mostly unmaintained.
Distributed "massively parallel" SQL query engine
These projects were analysed and named citus among their alternatives. The relationship is not symmetric — how citus rates them is a separate judgement, made when citus is analysed in its own right.
calls citus “Distributed PostgreSQL extension, choose when you already run PostgreSQL and want to scale out with sharding instead of a separate database.”
TiDB is built for agentic workloads that grow unpredictably, with ACID guarantees and native support for transactions, analytics, and vector search. No data silos. No noisy neighbors. No infrastructure ceiling.
calls citus “Choose to scale an existing Postgres database with distributed tables via an extension.”
A scalable, distributed, collaborative, document-graph database, for the realtime web
calls citus “choose when you want to scale PostgreSQL with an extension, keeping Postgres compatibility and existing tooling.”
CockroachDB — the cloud native, distributed SQL database designed for high availability, effortless scale, and control over data placement.
calls citus “When you want to scale Postgres by sharding via an extension rather than adopting a storage/compute separated platform.”
Neon: Serverless Postgres. We separated storage and compute to offer autoscaling, code-like database branching, and scale to zero.
calls citus “A PostgreSQL extension that shards tables; choose it when you are in the Postgres ecosystem and want scale-out inside an existing engine.”
Vitess is a database clustering system for horizontal scaling of MySQL.
calls citus “Choose it when you are already on PostgreSQL and prefer distributed tables via an in-database extension over an external middleware (note AGPL).”
Empowering Data Intelligence with Distributed SQL for Sharding, Scalability, and Security Across All Databases.
calls citus “Choose when you already run PostgreSQL and need distributed sharding as an extension instead of a standalone SQLite-based system.”
The lightweight, fault-tolerant database built on SQLite. Designed to keep your data highly available with minimal effort.
calls citus “choose when you already run PostgreSQL and need horizontal scaling via an extension.”
🥑 ArangoDB is a native multi-model database with flexible data models for documents, graphs, and key-values. Build high performance applications using a convenient SQL-like query language or JavaScript extensions.
calls citus “Choose if you already run PostgreSQL and want a familiar extension to shard tables horizontally rather than migrating to a separate database.”
YugabyteDB - the cloud native distributed SQL database for mission-critical applications.
calls citus “Choose when you are already on Postgres and need to shard it horizontally rather than adopt a new embedded engine.”
A simple, fast and versatile Datalog database