Software · head to head
RavenDB vs Apache Pinot
Apache Pinot
Software
Real-time distributed OLAP datastore for analytics
- From
- Free
- Rated
- -
The short version
- Each has a real cost: RavenDB the free Developer licence bars commercial use and expires every 6 months, requiring renewal; Apache Pinot self-hosted and distributed, so running it means operating a cluster rather than consuming a service
- They diverge on capability: RavenDB covers ACID Transactions, Apache Pinot covers Real-time Analytics.
Where they differ
Only the attributes on which RavenDB and Apache Pinot actually diverge.
| Attribute | RavenDB | Apache Pinot |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | freemium | open-source |
| Platforms | Linux, Windows, Mac, Docker, Web | Linux, Docker, Kubernetes |
| Founded | 2010 | 1999 |
Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Unknown).
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 RavenDB
- ACID Transactions
- Auto-indexing
- Full-text Search
- Graph Queries
- Distributed Counters
- Time Series
- Document Compression
- .NET
Only in Apache Pinot
- Real-time Analytics
- Column-oriented
- Distributed Processing
- SQL Support
- Pluggable Indexing
- Star-tree Index
- Upsert Support
- Kafka
Both cover
- Linux support
- Docker support
What people use each for
The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.
RavenDB
- Running a distributed document database with ACID transactionsnot Apache Pinot
- Self hosting a multi node database cluster on your own hardwarenot Apache Pinot
- Replicating operational data out to analytics systems through ETLnot Apache Pinot
Apache Pinot
- Sub-second analytics queries on freshly ingested datanot RavenDB
- User-facing dashboards inside a productnot RavenDB
- Real-time metrics at high ingest ratesnot RavenDB
- Petabyte-scale analytics as run at LinkedIn and Ubernot RavenDB
Where each one falls short
Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.
RavenDB
- The free Developer licence bars commercial use and expires every 6 months, requiring renewal
- The free Community licence caps a customer at 60 cores and forces you to stay on the latest major version
- The Professional licence is limited to a single database, a 5 node cluster, 40 cores and 240 GB RAM
- Sharding across nodes, ETL to OLAP, Elasticsearch and Kafka, and data archival are Enterprise only
- Enterprise and AI licence pricing is contact us only with no published rate
Apache Pinot
- Self-hosted and distributed, so running it means operating a cluster rather than consuming a service
- Managed hosting comes from third parties such as StarTree rather than from the project
- Built for user-facing real-time OLAP, so it is not a general purpose database
Pricing, plan by plan
RavenDB
Free- CommunityFree
- 3 cores
- 6GB RAM
- Community support
- Professional$499/year
- Production use
- Professional support
- Advanced features
Apache Pinot
Free- Open SourceFree
- Real-time analytics
- SQL queries
- Horizontal scaling
Which should you pick?
Choose RavenDB if
- You need acid transactions.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Windows, Mac, Docker, Web.
- You also want auto-indexing.
Choose Apache Pinot if
- You need real-time analytics.
- You want to start without paying.
- You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
- You also want column-oriented.
Questions people ask
- Is RavenDB or Apache Pinot better?
- Neither clearly leads. RavenDB starts at Free and Apache Pinot at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
- Which is cheaper, RavenDB or Apache Pinot?
- RavenDB starts at Free and Apache Pinot at Free.
- Does RavenDB or Apache Pinot run on more platforms?
- RavenDB runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Docker, Web. Apache Pinot runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes.
- Can I use RavenDB for free?
- Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
- What is RavenDB best used for?
- RavenDB is most often used for running a distributed document database with acid transactions, self hosting a multi node database cluster on your own hardware, replicating operational data out to analytics systems through etl. Of those, running a distributed document database with acid transactions and self hosting a multi node database cluster on your own hardware are not what Apache Pinot is typically brought in for.
- What can RavenDB do that Apache Pinot cannot?
- RavenDB covers ACID Transactions, Auto-indexing, Full-text Search, Graph Queries. Apache Pinot covers Real-time Analytics, Column-oriented, Distributed Processing, SQL Support. Both handle Linux support, Docker support.