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YDB

ydb.tech

Free plan LinuxAPISelf-hosted
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Spec score 7.3 #17 of 25 in Distributed SQL Databases

What it is

YDB is an open-source distributed SQL database for OLTP, OLAP and streaming workloads. It provides global ACID transactions, strong consistency, automatic sharding and rebalancing, and independent scaling for compute and storage. Columnar tables and a distributed vectorized query engine support analytics. YDB Topics supports Kafka API 3.4.0, exactly-once delivery and automatic partitioning. A native vector index handles approximate nearest-neighbor queries for semantic search, recommendations and retrieval-augmented generation pipelines. Deployments can run on premises, on virtual machines with Ansible, or in cloud environments with Kubernetes. Security includes internal and directory-based external users, plus user and group rights. Integrations listed include DBeaver, DataGrip, Grafana, Airflow, Spark, Kafka API, dbt, SQLAlchemy and LangChain. Open-Source costs nothing under Apache 2.0. Managed Serverless is also free, usage-billed with monthly free allowances.

Spec sheet

Product
YDB is a distributed SQL database for OLTP, OLAP, and streaming workloads.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Intended users
YDB describes its enterprise edition as intended for business-critical applications, with enhanced security, compliance, and SLA-backed commercial support.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Deployment
YDB can be deployed on premises and on virtual machines with Ansible, or in cloud environments with Kubernetes.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Integrations
The integrations documentation lists DBeaver, DataGrip, Grafana, Apache Airflow, Apache Spark, Kafka API, dbt, SQLAlchemy, and LangChain among supported integrations.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Security
YDB supports internal users and external users from directory services such as LDAP and IAM, along with user and group access rights.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Compliance
YDB states that its security features help meet requirements including PCI-DSS, SOC 2, and ISO 27001.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Support
Commercial support offers a Basic 8×5 ticket service and an Advanced 24×7 service through tickets, chat, and videoconferencing.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
AI and vector search
YDB provides a native vector index for approximate nearest-neighbor queries and documents use in semantic search, recommendations, and RAG pipelines.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Analytics
YDB provides columnar tables and a distributed vectorized query engine for analytical workloads.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Notable limitation
The dbt-YDB connector is marked Preview and does not currently support all dbt features.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Observability and backups
YDB integrates with observability software using Prometheus and OpenTelemetry protocols, and backups can use S3-compatible object stores or a filesystem.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Scaling
YDB automatically shards and rebalances data, and compute and storage can scale independently.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Streaming
YDB Topics supports the Kafka API 3.4.0, exactly-once delivery, and automatic partitioning.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Transactions
YDB supports global ACID transactions and strong consistency.Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech

Plans and prices

Managed YDB Serverless Free Usage-based; billed for queries and stored data, with a monthly free package First 1,000,000 operations and first 1 GB/month of storage free Read 4 Oct 2026 · yandex.cloud
Open-Source Free Apache 2.0 · community-supported · self-host anywhere Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Enterprise Priced on request Enhanced security and compliance · 24×7 SLA-backed commercial support Read 4 Oct 2026 · ydb.tech
Managed YDB Dedicated Priced on request Hourly for dedicated resources, regardless of actual use Compute and storage resources specified by customer Read 4 Oct 2026 · yandex.cloud

Every YDB plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Global ACID transactions and strong consistency
  • Independent compute and storage scaling
  • Kafka-compatible topics with exactly-once delivery
  • Native vector index for nearest-neighbor search
  • Runs on premises or in Kubernetes

Limits

  • dbt connector is Preview and incomplete
  • Managed services bill by usage or hourly resources
  • Commercial support is a separate offering

Who it suits

YDB suits teams building transaction, analytical, streaming or vector-search systems across self-hosted and cloud environments. Its enterprise edition targets business-critical applications needing enhanced security, compliance and SLA-backed support.

Verdict

YDB combines transactional, analytical, streaming and vector capabilities in one deployable database. The open-source option is self-hosted, while managed and enterprise choices add usage charges or unlisted pricing.

Where Specifiction places it

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