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Databases · head to head

Canary Labs vs ClickHouse

Canary Labs logo

Canary Labs

Databases

Industrial process historian with published per-tag pricing and no client licence fees

From
$3000/year
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
ClickHouse logo

ClickHouse

Databases

Fast open-source column-oriented database for real-time analytics

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only ClickHouse has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Canary Labs pricing steps by tag band rather than actual tags, so a site sitting just above a threshold pays the next band in full; growth from 3,400 to 3,600 tags is a licence purchase, not a rounding error.; ClickHouse limited multi-row atomic transactions and expensive UPDATE/DELETE operations unsuitable for transactional systems
  • They diverge on capability: Canary Labs covers Loss-less compression, ClickHouse covers Column-oriented Storage.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Canary Labs and ClickHouse actually diverge.

Attributes where Canary Labs and ClickHouse differ
AttributeCanary LabsClickHouse
Starting price$3000/yearFree
Pricing modelPer tag band per yearUnknown
Free tierNoYes
PlatformsWindows, WebLinux, macOS, Windows (via Docker)
FoundedUnknown2021

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Databases).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Canary Labs

  • Loss-less compression
  • Unlimited clients
  • Store and forward
  • Views service
  • Sparkplug B
  • Calculation engine
  • Axiom
  • ODBC and REST

Only in ClickHouse

  • Column-oriented Storage
  • Real-time Analytics
  • SQL Support
  • Linear Scalability
  • Data Compression
  • Vectorized Query Execution
  • Approximate Calculations
  • Kafka

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Canary Labs

  • A manufacturer that needs a compliant historian but cannot justify a PI System enterprise agreementnot ClickHouse
  • A water utility replacing SCADA-embedded logging with a historian that survives the next SCADA replacementnot ClickHouse
  • An Ignition site that wants long-term storage and trending without paying per-client for dashboardsnot ClickHouse
  • A plant with regulatory data-retention obligations where swinging-door compression would not survive an auditnot ClickHouse

ClickHouse

  • Business intelligencenot Canary Labs
  • Data warehousingnot Canary Labs
  • Real-time analyticsnot Canary Labs
  • Reportingnot Canary Labs
  • Machine learningnot Canary Labs

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Canary Labs

  • Pricing steps by tag band rather than actual tags, so a site sitting just above a threshold pays the next band in full; growth from 3,400 to 3,600 tags is a licence purchase, not a rounding error.
  • CustomerCare at 18 percent of licence cost is effectively mandatory on perpetual licences because lapsing it removes upgrades, so the perpetual option is not really a one-time cost.
  • The storage format is proprietary; getting data out at volume means the ODBC connector, an additional 2,500 USD one-time or 1,000 USD a year, or writing against the REST API.
  • Canary is a small vendor with a limited partner network outside North America, so support coverage and integrator availability in Europe and Asia are thinner than for AVEVA or Ignition.
  • It is a Windows-only server product with no Linux or container deployment, which complicates placing collectors in modern edge estates.

ClickHouse

  • Limited multi-row atomic transactions and expensive UPDATE/DELETE operations unsuitable for transactional systems
  • Requires upfront schema design discipline with MergeTree engine choices and sort/partition keys
  • Experimental vector search support, not production-ready for vector operations
  • Different query syntax from standard SQL requiring migration planning
  • Limited JOIN capabilities compared to traditional relational databases
  • Migration complexity with 2-4 weeks estimated for data type mapping and query translation

Pricing, plan by plan

Canary Labs

$3000/year
  • Subscription, 3,500 tags$3000/year
    • Unlimited Axiom clients
    • Unlimited Excel clients
    • Support and upgrades included
  • Perpetual, 3,500 tags$8730/one-time
    • 7,400 USD licence plus 1,330 USD first-year CustomerCare
    • CustomerCare renews at 18 percent of licence cost per year
    • Unlimited clients
  • Private cloud, 3,500 tags$12320/year
    • Hosted by Canary
    • 1,500 USD one-time setup fee per system
    • Scales to around 58,684 USD per year at 60,000 tags
  • Enterprise unlimited$undefined/year
    • Unlimited tags
    • Negotiated licensing terms
    • Quoted pricing

ClickHouse

Free

No published plan breakdown. See the ClickHouse review.

Which should you pick?

Choose Canary Labs if

  • You need loss-less compression.
  • You work on Windows, Web.
  • You also want unlimited clients.
Canary Labs review

Choose ClickHouse if

  • You need column-oriented storage.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Windows (via Docker).
  • You also want real-time analytics.
ClickHouse review

Questions people ask

Is Canary Labs or ClickHouse better?
Neither clearly leads. Canary Labs starts at $3000/year and ClickHouse at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Canary Labs or ClickHouse?
ClickHouse has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at $3000/year for Canary Labs and Free for ClickHouse.
Does Canary Labs or ClickHouse run on more platforms?
Canary Labs runs on Windows, Web. ClickHouse runs on Linux, macOS, Windows (via Docker).
Can I use ClickHouse for free?
Yes. ClickHouse has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Canary Labs starts at $3000/year.
What is Canary Labs best used for?
Canary Labs is most often used for a manufacturer that needs a compliant historian but cannot justify a pi system enterprise agreement, a water utility replacing scada-embedded logging with a historian that survives the next scada replacement, an ignition site that wants long-term storage and trending without paying per-client for dashboards, a plant with regulatory data-retention obligations where swinging-door compression would not survive an audit. Of those, a manufacturer that needs a compliant historian but cannot justify a pi system enterprise agreement and a water utility replacing scada-embedded logging with a historian that survives the next scada replacement are not what ClickHouse is typically brought in for.
What can Canary Labs do that ClickHouse cannot?
Canary Labs covers Loss-less compression, Unlimited clients, Store and forward, Views service. ClickHouse covers Column-oriented Storage, Real-time Analytics, SQL Support, Linear Scalability.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Canary Labs: What does Canary cost?

8,730 USD for a 3,500 tag perpetual system including first-year CustomerCare, or 3,000 USD a year on subscription.

ClickHouse: What is ClickHouse best used for?

ClickHouse is optimized for analytical workloads on large datasets. It excels at fast aggregations and queries, being 10-100x faster than PostgreSQL on large aggregations.

Source
Canary Labs: Are client licences extra?

No. Unlimited Axiom browser clients and unlimited Excel clients are included on every tier.

ClickHouse: Does ClickHouse support transactions?

ClickHouse has limited transaction support and expensive UPDATE/DELETE operations. It is not suitable for transactional workloads requiring strict ACID guarantees.

Source
Canary Labs: Is perpetual cheaper than subscription?

Canary states perpetual pays off after roughly three years, and after that you still pay 18 percent CustomerCare annually.

ClickHouse: How does ClickHouse compare to PostgreSQL?

ClickHouse is 10-100x faster for analytics but PostgreSQL is better for transactional workloads. Many teams use both: PostgreSQL for writes via MaterializedPostgreSQL replication to ClickHouse for analytics.

Source
Canary Labs: Does it use lossy compression?

No. Canary stores every collected value rather than approximating the trend, which matters for regulated data retention.

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