Softwr

No-Code · head to head

Corteza vs Timeplus

Corteza logo

Corteza

No-Code

Apache-licensed open source low-code platform, formerly Crust, positioned against Salesforce

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit CortezaFull review
Timeplus logo

Timeplus

Databases

Streaming SQL engine built on ClickHouse internals, shipping as one small binary

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit TimeplusFull review

The short version

  • Corteza is free; Timeplus starts at $199/mo.
  • Only Corteza lists Corteza Low Code; only Timeplus lists streaming SQL.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Corteza and Timeplus actually diverge.

Attributes where Corteza and Timeplus differ
AttributeCortezaTimeplus
Pricing modelOpen source, no licence feePer month for cloud, quoted for self-hosted
PlatformsWeb, Linux, Self-hostedLinux, macOS, Self-hosted, Web
CategoryNo-CodeDatabases

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes).

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 Corteza

  • Corteza Low Code
  • Automation and workflow
  • Bundled CRM
  • Case management
  • Federation
  • Role-based access control
  • Corteza Messaging and integrations
  • Self-hosted deployment

Only in Timeplus

  • Streaming SQL
  • Unified streaming and historical
  • ClickHouse-based engine
  • Single binary deployment
  • External streams
  • Materialised views

What people use each for

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

Corteza

  • A European public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor feenot Timeplus
  • An NGO replacing a Salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring costnot Timeplus
  • An integrator building a regulated vertical application it intends to resell, requiring a permissive licence it can ship commerciallynot Timeplus
  • A mid-size European company that wants one platform for internal applications and a sales pipeline without paying per seat as headcount growsnot Timeplus

Timeplus

  • Real-time alerting on Kafka topics where standing up a Flink cluster is more work than the use case justifiesnot Corteza
  • Fraud or anomaly detection that must join a live event stream against recent history in one querynot Corteza
  • Streaming ETL from Kafka or MySQL change data capture into ClickHouse without writing Javanot Corteza
  • A small data team that needs continuous aggregation but has no platform engineers to operate JVM infrastructurenot Corteza

Where each one falls short

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

Corteza

  • Planet Crust is a small company of roughly a dozen or so people, so the entire commercial support capability behind Corteza is thin and a large deployment can outgrow the vendors ability to respond
  • No pricing is published for Planet Crusts support, hosting or implementation services, so the true running cost of a supported deployment cannot be estimated without a sales conversation
  • The connector ecosystem is small compared with commercial low-code platforms, so integrations with common SaaS tools usually mean writing against the REST API rather than installing something
  • Hiring is hard: almost nobody has Corteza on a CV, so you are training internal developers on a niche platform and you cannot easily replace them
  • The bundled CRM is a starting point rather than a mature product, and teams that expect Salesforce-equivalent sales functionality out of the box will spend months building the gap themselves

Timeplus

  • Proton, the free version, is single-node by design, so any requirement for high availability or horizontal scale forces the commercial licence; the open source edition is a trial in practical terms
  • It is a young project against Apache Flink’s decade of production history, so the hiring pool, the connector library and the body of known failure modes are all much smaller
  • Inheriting ClickHouse internals also inherits ClickHouse constraints: memory-hungry queries, awkward updates and a SQL dialect that is not portable to other engines
  • Exactly-once semantics and state recovery guarantees are less battle-tested than Flink checkpointing, which matters if the pipeline moves money
  • Cloud pricing is by provisioned instance size rather than usage, so a bursty workload pays for peak capacity around the clock or has to be resized by hand

Pricing, plan by plan

Corteza

Free
  • Corteza communityFree
    • Apache 2.0 licensed with no feature gating
    • Low-code builder, workflow engine, CRM and case management included
    • Self-hosted on your own infrastructure
  • Planet Crust support and servicesOn request
    • Commercial support, hosting and implementation from Planet Crust
    • Custom application development
    • Training

Timeplus

Free
  • Timeplus ProtonFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence
    • Single node only
    • Full streaming SQL engine
  • Timeplus Cloud$199/mo
    • One to thirty-two CPUs
    • 4 GB to 128 GB memory
    • From 250 GB SSD storage
  • Self-hosted or BYOCOn request
    • Multi-node clustering
    • Kubernetes or bare metal
    • Customisable compute and storage

Which should you pick?

Choose Corteza if

  • You need corteza low code.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux, Self-hosted.
  • You also want automation and workflow.
Corteza review

Choose Timeplus if

  • You need streaming sql.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, macOS, Self-hosted, Web.
  • You also want unified streaming and historical.
Timeplus review

Questions people ask

Is Corteza or Timeplus better?
Neither clearly leads. Corteza starts at Free and Timeplus at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Corteza or Timeplus?
Corteza starts at Free and Timeplus at Free.
Does Corteza or Timeplus run on more platforms?
Corteza runs on Web, Linux, Self-hosted. Timeplus runs on Linux, macOS, Self-hosted, Web.
Can I use Corteza for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Corteza best used for?
Corteza is most often used for a european public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor fee, an ngo replacing a salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring cost, an integrator building a regulated vertical application it intends to resell, requiring a permissive licence it can ship commercially, a mid-size european company that wants one platform for internal applications and a sales pipeline without paying per seat as headcount grows. Of those, a european public body that needs a case management system on servers inside its own jurisdiction with an auditable licence and no per-seat vendor fee and an ngo replacing a salesforce donation that has run out, needing to keep the data model but remove the recurring cost are not what Timeplus is typically brought in for.
What can Corteza do that Timeplus cannot?
Corteza covers Corteza Low Code, Automation and workflow, Bundled CRM, Case management. Timeplus covers Streaming SQL, Unified streaming and historical, ClickHouse-based engine, Single binary deployment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Corteza: Is Corteza the same thing as Crust?

Yes. The project was branded Crust and renamed Corteza in 2019 when Crust Technology donated it to the Commons Conservancy.

Timeplus: Is Timeplus open source?

The core engine, Timeplus Proton, is Apache 2.0. Timeplus Enterprise and Cloud are commercial.

Corteza: Who owns the code?

The Commons Conservancy, a Dutch foundation. Planet Crust in Cork is the primary developer and sells commercial services around it.

Timeplus: What is the difference from Flink?

Timeplus is one binary with SQL as the only interface; Flink is a JVM cluster with a Java and SQL API and far more operational surface.

Corteza: Is there a paid enterprise edition?

No. Corteza is Apache 2.0 with no feature gating. Planet Crust sells support, hosting and development instead of a restricted edition.

Timeplus: Can Proton run in production?

It can, but it is single-node only, so there is no high availability without the commercial edition.

Corteza: Can it genuinely replace Salesforce?

For case management and a straightforward sales pipeline on a self-hosted footprint, yes. For a large sales organisation relying on AppExchange products and a mature ecosystem, no.

Timeplus: How much is the cloud?

From 199 US dollars a month, sized by CPU and memory, with a fourteen day trial.

Share

Related pages

More on Corteza

More on Timeplus

Keep looking

Other head to heads