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Databases · head to head

RavenDB vs RisingWave

RavenDB logo

RavenDB

Databases

The fully transactional NoSQL document database

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
RisingWave logo

RisingWave

Databases

Streaming database that maintains incremental materialised views in SQL instead of Flink jobs

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: RavenDB the free Developer licence bars commercial use and expires every 6 months, requiring renewal; RisingWave anything that does not fit SQL, such as custom windowing, complex event processing or heavy stateful logic, still needs Flink, so RisingWave often adds a system rather than removing one.
  • They diverge on capability: RavenDB covers ACID Transactions, RisingWave covers SQL materialised views.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which RavenDB and RisingWave actually diverge.

Attributes where RavenDB and RisingWave differ
AttributeRavenDBRisingWave
Pricing modelfreemiumPer RisingWave Unit hour
PlatformsLinux, Windows, Mac, Docker, WebLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud
Founded2010Unknown

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

  • ACID Transactions
  • Auto-indexing
  • Full-text Search
  • Graph Queries
  • Distributed Counters
  • Time Series
  • Document Compression
  • .NET

Only in RisingWave

  • SQL materialised views
  • Postgres wire compatibility
  • Object storage state
  • Source connectors
  • Sink connectors
  • Iceberg tables
  • Watermarks and windowing
  • User defined functions

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 RisingWave
  • Self hosting a multi node database cluster on your own hardwarenot RisingWave
  • Replicating operational data out to analytics systems through ETLnot RisingWave

RisingWave

  • A team with Kafka topics that needs continuously fresh aggregates for a dashboard without standing up a Flink clusternot RavenDB
  • A fraud or risk team maintaining rolling counters and joins across event streams expressed as SQL viewsnot RavenDB
  • A company doing Postgres CDC into a real-time denormalised view for search or servingnot RavenDB
  • An analytics group that wants streaming results landed directly into Apache Iceberg without a separate writer jobnot 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

RisingWave

  • Anything that does not fit SQL, such as custom windowing, complex event processing or heavy stateful logic, still needs Flink, so RisingWave often adds a system rather than removing one.
  • The Apache 2.0 community edition excludes premium features behind a licence key, and which capabilities sit on which side of that line moves between releases, so a self-hosted plan can be invalidated by an upgrade.
  • Long-running materialised views accumulate state in object storage, and cost and recovery time grow with retention in ways that are hard to forecast before you are in production.
  • The Postgres compatibility is protocol level; it is not a transactional Postgres and using it as a general purpose database, with point updates or high write concurrency, goes badly.
  • It is a comparatively young venture-funded project competing with Flink, Materialize and warehouse-native streaming, and the ecosystem of connectors, operators and third-party expertise is much thinner.

Pricing, plan by plan

RavenDB

Free
  • CommunityFree
    • 3 cores
    • 6GB RAM
    • Community support
  • Professional$499/year
    • Production use
    • Professional support
    • Advanced features

RisingWave

Free
  • Community EditionFree
    • Apache 2.0 licence, self-hosted
    • Core streaming engine and connectors
    • Premium features excluded and require a licence key
  • Cloud Basic$0.227/hour
    • Billed per RisingWave Unit hour
    • Hosted on AWS, GCP or Azure
    • Capped at 64 cores
  • Cloud Pro$undefined/year
    • No core limit
    • Bring your own cloud option
    • Premium features included
  • Self-managed Enterprise$undefined/year
    • On premises or Kubernetes
    • Premium features unlocked by licence
    • Annual contract with SLA

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.
RavenDB review

Choose RisingWave if

  • You need sql materialised views.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want postgres wire compatibility.
RisingWave review

Questions people ask

Is RavenDB or RisingWave better?
Neither clearly leads. RavenDB starts at Free and RisingWave at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, RavenDB or RisingWave?
RavenDB starts at Free and RisingWave at Free.
Does RavenDB or RisingWave run on more platforms?
RavenDB runs on Linux, Windows, Mac, Docker, Web. RisingWave runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
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 RisingWave is typically brought in for.
What can RavenDB do that RisingWave cannot?
RavenDB covers ACID Transactions, Auto-indexing, Full-text Search, Graph Queries. RisingWave covers SQL materialised views, Postgres wire compatibility, Object storage state, Source connectors.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

RavenDB: Is RavenDB free or open source?

RavenDB is open source under the AGPLv3 license and available on GitHub. It also offers a free developer license with enterprise-level features limited to 9 cores, 36GB max RAM, 3 nodes, and non-commercial use.

Source
RisingWave: Is RisingWave open source?

The community edition is Apache 2.0 and self-hostable, but a set of premium features requires a paid licence key.

RavenDB: Can I use RavenDB commercially for free?

RavenDB offers a free Community License that permits commercial deployment with unlimited databases and sizes, subject to a 60-core maximum per customer and requirement to run the latest major version.

Source
RisingWave: What does the cloud cost?

It starts at 0.227 US dollars per RisingWave Unit hour on the Basic tier, which is capped at 64 cores.

RavenDB: What commercial licensing options does RavenDB offer?

RavenDB offers Professional, Enterprise, and AI tiers for commercial use. Pricing for these tiers requires contacting their sales team at [email protected].

Source
RisingWave: Does it replace Flink?

For SQL-expressible transformations, often yes. For custom stateful processing and complex event handling, no.

RavenDB: Does RavenDB offer a cloud hosting option?

RavenDB Cloud provides a fully managed cloud database with maintenance, failover, and backups included. Pricing is available at cloud.ravendb.net/pricing.

Source
RisingWave: Can I query it like Postgres?

Yes over the Postgres wire protocol, but it is an analytical streaming engine, not a transactional database.

RavenDB: Is there a refund window if I purchase RavenDB?

RavenDB offers a 30-day refund window for purchased licenses.

Source
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