Apache 2.0 Creates a Level Playing Field

Since the ClickHouse Apache 2.0 license places no restriction on business use, we can expect many competing services that leverage ClickHouse in one way or another. This includes hosted ClickHouse and value-added analytic services built on top of ClickHouse capabilities. It also extends to add-ons for countless existing services ranging from web analytics to network flow log management to financial asset valuation and everything in between.

The competition will be distressing for unprepared vendors, but it’s great for users. Competing services mean that users have alternatives. It also means that innovation is not random but focused on things that users care about: SQL features, performance, security, cost-efficiency, and time to market.

The same vendors that offer ClickHouse managed services have contributed popular features to ClickHouse like [S3 storage integration], [Role-based Access Control], [Common Table Expressions], and many more. ClickHouse is experiencing the same [co-opetition]feedback effect that helped fuel the success of Linux, Kubernetes, PostgreSQL, and other open-source projects.

#database #apache 2.0 licensing #clickhouse