Canal vs Sequin
Canal
github.comSequin
sequinstream.comSide by side
| Figure | Canal | Sequin |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | — | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Change Data Capture Software | 8.7 (#3) | 7.9 (#12) |
| Database support | The README lists MySQL 5.1.x, 5.5.x, 5.6.x, 5.7.x, and 8.0.x as supported source versions. | The database reference says PostgreSQL 14 or higher is supported and versions 12 and 13 are soft-supported with limitations. |
| Deployment | The README says Canal provides native Docker image support. | Sequin runs as a Docker image alongside Postgres and uses Postgres to store sink state. |
| License | The repository identifies its license as Apache-2.0. | The maker says Sequin is open source under the MIT license. |
| Monitoring | The README says Canal has native Prometheus monitoring support. | Sequin exposes Prometheus metrics and provides a Grafana dashboard. |
| Security | The v1.1.8 release notes list SSL/TLS connections to source MySQL and RabbitMQ SSL authentication support. | The security page describes encryption standards supporting NIST-approved protocols such as TLS and says customers will be notified of incidents without undue delay, and where feasible within 72 hours. |
| Support | The project asks users to report bugs and feature requests through GitHub issues. | The documentation offers help through Discord, Slack, GitHub issues, and scheduled calls. |
| Use cases | Listed uses include database mirroring, real-time database backup, index building and maintenance, business cache refresh, and incremental data processing. | The maker highlights event streaming, audit logging, cache synchronization, and search indexing as use cases. |
Plans
In their own words
Canal
Canal is a free, self-hosted project that parses MySQL binary logs so applications can subscribe to and consume database changes incrementally. It acts like a MySQL replica, requesting binlog data from a master and parsing the events. Listed uses include database mirroring and real-time backup, index maintenance, cache refresh, and business-logic processing. The README lists source versions MySQL 5.1.x, 5.5.x, 5.6.x, 5.7.x, and 8.0.x. Canal can send change records to Kafka and RocketMQ; the quick start also lists RabbitMQ and Pulsar server modes. Its Protocol Buffers 3.0 client-server design has clients for Java, C#, Go, and Python. Canal Admin provides a web interface for managing configuration, tasks, and logs, and the project lists native Prometheus monitoring. Docker images and a Docker QuickStart are available, but the default setup runs only one Canal instance per Docker instance. The project is licensed under Apache-2.0.
Sequin
Sequin streams changes from PostgreSQL to destinations such as Kafka, Redis, queues, search indexes, and webhooks. It runs as a Docker image alongside the database and can be started with Docker Compose, so deployment is self-hosted. Users can filter and transform changes, add data from Postgres, and route results to destinations including AWS SQS, GCP Pub/Sub, NATS, Elasticsearch, Typesense, and Meilisearch. Backfills can start at the beginning of a table or a chosen point, and can replay selected rows. Sequin describes delivery as using automatic retries, exponential backoff, strict ordering, and exactly-once processing. Sinks can be managed through a console, CLI, YAML configuration, or API. Monitoring includes a Prometheus metrics endpoint and Grafana dashboard. PostgreSQL 14 or later is supported; versions 12 and 13 have limitations. Sequin is open source under the MIT license, with a listed self-hosted plan at free. Sequin Cloud shut down on October 23, 2025; the project continues in maintenance mode with security patches and critical bug fixes.