ClickHouse ® vs CedarDB: Is Cedar really faster?

CedarDB has recently outperformed ClickHouse® in the ClickBench benchmark, raising interest because ClickBench is ClickHouse®'s own benchmark, and ClickHouse® has been a leader in analytical database performance. This comparison explores the differences in architecture, performance patterns, and operational trade-offs between CedarDB and ClickHouse®. CedarDB, developed by a research team at the Technical University of Munich, compiles SQL queries directly to machine code, potentially offering faster execution for complex queries, and supports both OLAP and OLTP workloads. In contrast, ClickHouse®, released in 2016, is optimized for analytical queries with a focus on compression and distributed processing. While CedarDB shows quicker query completion times in benchmarks like ClickBench, especially with complex operations, ClickHouse® excels in scalable setups across multiple nodes and high-throughput streaming ingestion. Both systems have unique strengths: ClickHouse® is suitable for large-scale analytical workloads with extensive ecosystem support, while CedarDB offers integrated analytical and transactional capabilities with a simpler single-node setup. The choice between them should be based on specific requirements, considering factors like workload nature, scalability needs, and ecosystem maturity.