Citus
by Citus Data · Distributed Postgres as an open source extension
BenchRank score
Screenshots of Citus
Homepage
Overview
Citus is an open source extension to PostgreSQL that adds distributed tables, spreading data and queries across nodes. It supports schema-based and row-based sharding, with sharding, SQL query and transaction routing handled in the database layer. You can start on a single Citus node, then add nodes and rebalance shards as you grow.
- Best for
- Teams scaling multi-tenant SaaS or analytics workloads on Postgres beyond a single node
- Pricing
- The Citus extension is free and open source; the Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL managed service starts at about $0.27/hour (East US), billed pay-as-you-go or as reserved capacity.
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Postgres extension, not a fork, so it tracks new Postgres releases
- 100% open source and free to download and self-manage
- Schema-based and row-based sharding for existing apps
- Start on one node, then add nodes and rebalance shards
Trade-offs
- The only managed option shown is Azure Cosmos DB for PostgreSQL
- Self-hosting means running and scaling the cluster yourself
- Managed pricing varies by region; only an East US rate is quoted
- Sharding works best with a distribution key such as tenant_id
How Citus markets itself
A structured read of the promise, proof and page design on Citus’s captured homepage.
Homepage capture
“Citus 14 is here—with support for Postgres 18”
- Angle: Scale / performance
- Hero: Illustration
Pricing
Published plans and prices from Citus’s own pricing page.
How this score is made up
Each dimension is scored out of 100 and combined into the headline score using fixed weights.
MCP support
Whether an agent can drive the product through the Model Context Protocol, and how much setup that takes.
API quality
Public API surface: machine-readable spec, official SDKs, documented auth, errors, rate limits and versioning.
Documentation
Publicly reachable docs — coverage, freshness, code samples and machine readability.
Agent friendliness
How readable the site is to an automated client: llms.txt, structured data, server-rendered content, crawler access.
Pricing transparency
Whether real prices are published, self-serve signup exists, and usage costs are knowable without a sales call.
Changelog
A public, dated record of what shipped and when — the clearest signal that a product is still alive.
Marketing site structure
Whether the site answers a buyer's questions: clear positioning, the pages that matter, and accessibility.
Page speed
How fast the site loads for real visitors: Chrome UX Report 75th-percentile LCP, INP and CLS, with a Lighthouse mobile run standing in where a site has too little traffic for field data.
Operational trust
Status page and incident history, security disclosure, compliance and data-processing documentation.
Measured, but not part of the score
Useful to know, but not a mark for or against the product — so these do not affect the ranking.
Openness
Source availability, self-hosting, data export and open standards. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — paid SaaS is not worse for being paid SaaS.
Maintenance
Release cadence and repository activity. Scored and shown, but not part of the composite — it is only measurable for open repositories.
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Where this comes from
The Citus pages BenchRank reads when it scores the product — its documentation, release notes, status and security pages, and its repository where there is one.
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Is this your product?
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