Apache Kylin vs Databend
Apache Kylin
kylin.apache.org
Databend
databend.comSide by side
| Figure | Apache Kylin | Databend |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $23/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 5 |
| Spec score · Analytical Data Store Software | 8.5 (#6) | 9.2 (#1) |
| Downloads | The download page offers version 5.0.4 source and binary packages, with ASC and SHA-256 verification files. | The download page offers Databend Ubuntu x86-64 and ARM64 binaries plus BendSQL builds for Apple Silicon, Intel Mac, ARM64 and x86-64 Ubuntu and generic Linux. |
| License | The project homepage states that Apache Kylin is distributed under the Apache License v2. | The repository is Apache 2.0, while a small set of enterprise features uses the Elastic 2.0 license. |
| Product | Apache Kylin is an open source OLAP engine for big data analytics, designed for sub-second queries on trillions of records. | Databend describes itself as an open-source, Rust-powered, cloud-native warehouse for analytics, search, and AI workloads. |
| Storage | Kylin supports HDFS or S3-compatible file systems for data storage, and MySQL or PostgreSQL for metadata. | The homepage lists S3, Azure, GCS, OSS, R2, MinIO, HDFS, and HF as storage options. |
| Support | The project directs users to its user mailing list and Apache Kylin JIRA for questions and issues. | The company page advertises 24/7 support, while plan details specify tier-specific response commitments. |
Plans
Databend
- CommunityFree
- Databend CommunityFree
- Business$23 a month
- Personal$23 a month
- DedicatedPriced on request
In their own words
Apache Kylin
Apache Kylin is an open-source OLAP engine for data analytics, designed for large-scale workloads with many concurrent users. Its pre-calculation approach is intended to support sub-second SQL queries. Kylin 5 can build models from SQL text, suggest index changes using query history, and use Apache Gluten as a native compute engine; the product overview describes a 2–4× improvement compared with vanilla Spark. For mixed data workloads, it supports Kafka streaming sources and fusion models for batch and streaming analysis, as well as internal tables for flexible queries and lakehouse scenarios. Teams can connect Tableau, Power BI, or Excel. A web UI supports table management, model design, job execution, and configuration. Deployment offers query, job, or all server modes. Kylin runs on Linux and uses Spark with Yarn or Standalone mode. Data storage can use HDFS or S3-compatible systems, while MySQL or PostgreSQL can hold metadata. The project is free under Apache License v2, with source and binary packages available. APIs use Basic Authentication; HTTPS is supported in Kylin 5 but disabled by default.