PostgreSQL and ClickHouse as the Open Source unified data stack
The article discusses how PostgreSQL and ClickHouse can be used together as an open source unified data stack, combining PostgreSQL's transactional capabilities with ClickHouse's analytical performance for a complete data infrastructure.
Background
- **ClickHouse** is a column-oriented open-source analytics database (fast aggregations over billions of rows). **PostgreSQL** is a row-oriented relational database, the standard for transactional workloads (CRUD, strong consistency).
- Historically, teams used separate stacks: PostgreSQL for operations, and proprietary warehouses like Snowflake or Redshift for analytics. This article argues for an all-open-source unified stack: PostgreSQL + ClickHouse connected via real-time replication tools (PeerDB, pg_chameleon).
- The goal: reduce cost and complexity vs. proprietary alternatives, while keeping each database doing what it does best — no need for a single "HTAP" system that compromises on both sides.