BenchRank
#17 in DatabasesUpdated 2026-08

CrateDB

by CrateDB · Distributed SQL analytics on live operational data

BenchRank score

63.6 — BenchRank score out of 100

Screenshots of CrateDB

Homepage · CrateDB

Homepage of CrateDB

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.

This doesn’t look right — report a problem with CrateDB’s score

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.

Alternatives in Databases

  • Ranked 1

    88.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Supabase

    Supabase · Hosted Postgres with auth, storage, realtime and edge functions

    Best for: Developers who want a hosted Postgres database with auth, storage and APIs in one platform

  • Ranked 2

    81.5 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Neon

    Neon Postgres · Serverless Postgres with branching, auth, functions and object storage

    Best for: Developers wanting serverless Postgres with branching for app, agent and per-tenant workloads.

  • Ranked 3

    73.2 — BenchRank score out of 100

    Bytebase

    Bytebase · Database change management and access control across many engines

    Best for: Engineering and platform teams that need reviewed, audited schema changes and query access

See all 58 alternatives to CrateDB

Is this your product?

Claim CrateDB to manage its profile. Claiming lets you suggest edits to the descriptive fields — it never changes scores or rankings.

Claim this business

Report a problem with this page

Report an issue with CrateDB