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Automation Integration · head to head

Decodable vs Timeplus

Decodable logo

Decodable

Automation Integration

Managed Apache Flink and Debezium with credit-based pricing and a free tier

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Timeplus logo

Timeplus

Databases

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

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: Decodable credit pricing rewards intermittent work and penalises always-on pipelines: a single small task running continuously costs roughly 86 US dollars a month before any parallelism.; 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.
  • They diverge on capability: Decodable covers Managed Flink, Timeplus covers Streaming SQL.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Decodable and Timeplus actually diverge.

Attributes where Decodable and Timeplus differ
AttributeDecodableTimeplus
Pricing modelPer credit by task hourPer month for cloud, quoted for self-hosted
PlatformsWeb, LinuxLinux, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes, Web
CategoryAutomation IntegrationDatabases

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated).

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 Decodable

  • Managed Flink
  • Change data capture
  • SQL pipelines
  • Custom Flink jobs
  • Credit-based metering
  • Managed connectors

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.

Decodable

  • Streaming Postgres change data capture into Snowflake or Iceberg without running Debezium and Kafka Connect yourselfnot Timeplus
  • Real-time enrichment and filtering of event streams before they reach an expensive warehousenot Timeplus
  • A team that already writes Flink jobs but does not want to operate the cluster, checkpoint store or upgradesnot Timeplus
  • Replacing a fragile set of cron jobs and Lambda functions that move data between operational systemsnot Timeplus

Timeplus

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

Where each one falls short

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

Decodable

  • Credit pricing rewards intermittent work and penalises always-on pipelines: a single small task running continuously costs roughly 86 US dollars a month before any parallelism.
  • Parallelism multiplies tasks, so scaling a pipeline to keep up with throughput multiplies the bill in a way that is easy to under-forecast at design time.
  • The free tier retains streams for only 24 hours, which is too short to debug an intermittent failure that surfaces days later.
  • Java and Python transformations are gated behind paid plans, so anything the SQL layer cannot express means moving off the free tier immediately.
  • The operational layer is proprietary even though Flink and Debezium are not, so migrating to self-managed Flink later means rebuilding connectors, schema handling and monitoring from scratch.

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

Decodable

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Up to four concurrent tasks
    • Small and medium task sizes
    • 24 hour or 10 GB stream retention
  • On Demand$undefined/month
    • 0.12 USD per credit, billed monthly
    • Unlimited concurrent tasks
    • Small, medium and large task sizes
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • 0.10 USD per credit on pre-purchased annual capacity
    • Custom task sizes
    • Extensible retention

Timeplus

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

Which should you pick?

Choose Decodable if

  • You need managed flink.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Linux.
  • You also want change data capture.
Decodable review

Choose Timeplus if

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

Questions people ask

Is Decodable or Timeplus better?
Neither clearly leads. Decodable 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, Decodable or Timeplus?
Decodable starts at Free and Timeplus at Free.
Does Decodable or Timeplus run on more platforms?
Decodable runs on Web, Linux. Timeplus runs on Linux, macOS, Docker, Kubernetes, Web.
Can I use Decodable for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Decodable best used for?
Decodable is most often used for streaming postgres change data capture into snowflake or iceberg without running debezium and kafka connect yourself, real-time enrichment and filtering of event streams before they reach an expensive warehouse, a team that already writes flink jobs but does not want to operate the cluster, checkpoint store or upgrades, replacing a fragile set of cron jobs and lambda functions that move data between operational systems. Of those, streaming postgres change data capture into snowflake or iceberg without running debezium and kafka connect yourself and real-time enrichment and filtering of event streams before they reach an expensive warehouse are not what Timeplus is typically brought in for.
What can Decodable do that Timeplus cannot?
Decodable covers Managed Flink, Change data capture, SQL pipelines, Custom Flink jobs. Timeplus covers Streaming SQL, Unified streaming and historical, ClickHouse-based engine, Single binary deployment.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Decodable: What is a credit worth?

0.12 US dollars on On Demand and 0.10 on Enterprise. A small task consumes one credit per hour, medium two, large four.

Timeplus: Is Timeplus open source?

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

Decodable: Is there a free plan?

Yes, up to four concurrent tasks with 24 hour or 10 GB stream retention.

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.

Decodable: Is it really Apache Flink underneath?

Yes, Flink for processing and Debezium for change data capture, both managed by Decodable.

Timeplus: Can Proton run in production?

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

Decodable: Can I run my own Flink jobs?

Yes, Java and Python jobs on paid plans; the free plan is SQL only.

Timeplus: How much is the cloud?

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

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