Sequin vs TiCDC
Sequin
sequinstream.comTiCDC
docs.pingcap.comSide by side
| Figure | Sequin | TiCDC |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | — |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Change Data Capture Software | 7.9 (#12) | 8.1 (#8) |
| Deployment | Sequin runs as a Docker image alongside Postgres and uses Postgres to store sink state. | TiCDC can be deployed with a new TiDB cluster or added to an existing cluster using TiUP. |
| Security | 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. | The deployment guide documents enabling TLS between TiDB components, including TiCDC. |
| Support | The documentation offers help through Discord, Slack, GitHub issues, and scheduled calls. | PingCAP directs paid-plan users to support tickets and all users to community Slack support. |
Plans
In their own words
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.
TiCDC
TiCDC is a free, open-source, self-hosted tool for replicating incremental data changes from TiDB. It captures TiKV change logs, sorts the changes, and exports row-based data to systems including TiDB, MySQL-compatible databases, Kafka, Amazon S3, GCS, Azure Blob Storage, and NFS. Recommended Kafka formats include Canal-JSON, Avro, and Debezium. Filters can select databases, tables, DMLs, and DDLs, while the Open API can check task status, change task configuration, and create or delete tasks. TiCDC supports replication between TiDB clusters for disaster recovery, with second-level RPO and minute-level RTO, as well as bidirectional replication for multi-active deployments. It can be deployed with a new cluster or added to an existing one; production guidance recommends at least two instances. The system has no single point of failure and allows nodes to be added or removed dynamically. Delivery is at least once, so failures can lead to repeated statements or Kafka messages.