The 2025 Guide to the Best ClickHouse-Compatible Query Editors

Introduction

ClickHouse excels at terabyte‑scale analytics with sub‑second latency—but only if your SQL editor keeps pace. We gathered release histories, community chatter, and hands‑on testing to build the definitive ranking below. Galaxy tops the list for its AI copilot and low‑memory WebAssembly core, but the other nine tools shine in their own right.

1. Galaxy SQL Editor (🥇 Editor’s Choice)

• Public beta: June 2025
• Creator: Galaxy Team, New York City

Galaxy brings the polish of a modern code IDE to ClickHouse, plus a context‑aware AI copilot that autocompletes ALTER TABLE … UPDATE statements, optimizes FINAL queries, and explains compression codecs in plain English. Workspace‑level Collections let data engineers endorse canonical dashboards, while granular permissioning keeps PII safe.

Pros

• AI copilot rewrites queries when AggregatingMergeTree schemas evolve.
• Team Collections with “Endorse” badges ensure query trust.

Cons

• Still invite‑only
• Visualization module (sparklines, histograms) in active development.

2. ClickHouse Cloud Console

• Initial GA: November 2022
• Creator: ClickHouse, Inc.

The Cloud Console ships with every ClickHouse Cloud cluster, offering table explorer, saved queries, and basic chart widgets.

Pros

• Zero install, auto‑auth via ClickHouse Cloud SSO.
• Built‑in cost estimates for LIMIT/OFFSET queries.

Cons

• Cloud‑only—no on‑prem clusters.
• Limited keyboard shortcuts; heavy mouse usage.

3. Tabix (Open Source)

• GitHub stars: 2.3 k (as of May 2025)
• Creator: Denis Zaitsev & community (GPL‑3.0)

Tabix is a lightweight web UI purpose‑built for ClickHouse, featuring graphical query history, result exporting, and cluster monitoring tabs.

Pros

• Docker‑compose up in minutes; works with self‑hosted clusters.
• Visual query plan with color‑coded pipeline stages.

Cons

• UI looks dated; no dark mode.
• Lacks column autocomplete.

4. JetBrains DataGrip

• First released: 2016
• Creator: JetBrains s.r.o.

DataGrip’s JDBC layer supports ClickHouse, unlocking smart SQL completion, refactor‑safe renames, and Git integration.

Pros

• Intellisense for ClickHouse functions (quantileExact, arrayJoin).
• Built‑in CSV/Parquet import wizard.

Cons

• Subscription pricing ($9.90/mo).
• JVM memory footprint.

5. DBeaver (Community & Ultimate)

• Open‑sourced: 2011
• Creator: Serge Rider + community

DBeaver offers a robust ClickHouse driver with result‑set pivoting, ER diagrams, and AI chat (Ultimate version).

Pros

• Free tier supports clusters, partitions, and materialized views.
• ER diagram generates from system.columns metadata.

Cons

• Eclipse‑based UI can feel dense.
• Autocomplete slower on 200‑column tables.

6. ClickHouse Playground (Web)

• Launched: 2021
• Creator: ClickHouse, Inc.

ClickHouse Playground is an online sandbox with curated sample datasets. Perfect for learning functions like uniqCombined64 without spinning up infra.

Pros

• Zero signup; runs entirely in the browser.
• Shareable URL for demos or Stack Overflow answers.

Cons

• Read‑only; cannot connect to your own cluster.
• 10 MB result limit.

7. Redash

• Open‑sourced: 2013; latest v10 GA 2024
• Creator: Arik Fraimovich (acquired by Databricks 2021)

Redash is a query + dashboard platform that supports ClickHouse via SQLAlchemy. Great for team visualizations on a budget.

Pros

• Scheduled queries with Slack/Email alerts.
• Drag‑and‑drop chart builder.

Cons

• Requires separate worker for result caching.
• SQL editor lacks linting.

8. Grafana Data Source (Infinity + ClickHouse Plug‑in)

• Plug‑in ID: vertamedia‑clickhouse‑datasource
• Creator: Grafana Labs community

Grafana’s ClickHouse plug‑in lets you plot time‑series panels and write SQL with templated variables.

Pros

• Gorgeous dashboards with alerting.
• Ad‑hoc variable editor for rapid drill‑downs.

Cons

• SQL textarea minimal—better suited for visualization than heavy editing.
• Requires separate Grafana server.

9. Apache Superset

• Incubating since: 2017; TLP graduate 2021
• Creator: Airbnb (now Apache Foundation)

Superset’s ClickHouse connector powers no‑code dashboards plus a SQL Lab for raw queries.

Pros

• Role‑based access control and OAuth.
• Visual explorer supports MaterializedView refresh scheduling.

Cons

• Kubernetes deploy recommended; single‑node setup less performant.
• SQL Lab lacks autocomplete.

10. Metabase

• First ClickHouse driver: 2022 community plugin (official 2024)
• Creator: Metabase, Inc.

Metabase offers self‑hosted or cloud BI with segment filters, pulse emails, and lightweight SQL editor.

Pros

• Non‑tech stakeholders can build drag‑and‑drop dashboards.
• Pulse alerts push CSV snapshots to Slack.

Cons

• SQL editor basic—no multiple tabs, no linting.
• Large result sets (>500k rows) slow the JVM heap.

Conclusion

If you crave an AI‑powered ClickHouse IDE built for modern dev stacks, Galaxy sits at #1. Pure open‑source fans should explore Tabix or ClickHouse Playground, while BI‑centric teams may favor Redash or Superset. Whatever you choose, remember: columnar rockets need clean SQL fuel—so optimize those ORDER BY clauses and watch the millisecond latencies roll in.