
CrateDB
by CrateDB · Distributed SQL analytics on live operational data
BenchRank score
Screenshots of CrateDB
Homepage
Overview
CrateDB is a distributed SQL database for real-time analytics on operational data. It stores time-series, JSON, full-text, vector and geospatial data in one engine and queries them with standard SQL, using columnar storage and parallel execution. It scales out by adding nodes, with automatic sharding, replication and failover.
- Best for
- Teams with high-volume sensor, log or event data who want SQL analytics on live data without ETL
- Pricing
- Free plan with 2 vCPUs, 2 GB RAM and 8 GB storage; shared cloud from $0.073/hour, dedicated from $0.246/hour, and custom plans by contact.
- Runs on
- WebSelf-hosted
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Apache 2.0 core; run on-prem, edge, cloud or fully managed
- Standard SQL with JOINs, aggregations and window functions
- Time-series, JSON, full-text, vector and geospatial in one engine
- PostgreSQL wire protocol, REST, plus Kafka, Spark and dbt connectors
Trade-offs
- Free and shared plans are single-node, stated for non-critical workloads
- Uptime SLAs and hourly backups only from the dedicated plan up
- Cloud is billed per hour from $0.073; no monthly totals published
- No pricing shown for CrateDB Enterprise or self-managed deployments
How CrateDB markets itself
A structured read of the promise, proof and page design on CrateDB’s captured homepage.
Homepage capture
“Distributed SQL.”
- Angle: Scale / performance
- Hero: Typography only
Pricing
Published plans and prices from CrateDB’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 CrateDB 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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