How to Use ClickHouse for Free

Is ClickHouse free?

ClickHouse’s core database engine is open-source under the Apache-2.0 license, allowing unlimited free self-hosted usage, while optional cloud and support services are paid.

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Description

Is ClickHouse open-source and license-free?

Yes. The ClickHouse server, client, and official drivers are released under the permissive Apache-2.0 license. You may download, modify, and distribute the software without paying license fees or sharing proprietary code.

What costs appear when self-hosting ClickHouse?

You only pay for infrastructure—VMs, disks, and network traffic. The software itself remains free. Running on commodity hardware or low-cost cloud instances keeps total cost of ownership minimal.

When does ClickHouse become a paid product?

ClickHouse Cloud, enterprise support contracts, and managed Kubernetes operators incur recurring fees. These subscriptions cover SLA guarantees, monitoring, backups, and expert help, not the database bits.

Can I mix free and paid ClickHouse versions?

You can prototype locally with the open-source build, then migrate to ClickHouse Cloud for production. No code changes are required; both variants share identical SQL syntax and storage formats.

How do I install ClickHouse for free on Ubuntu?

Install the public APT repo, then sudo apt-get install clickhouse-server clickhouse-client. After service start, connect with clickhouse-client and run SQL like any other RDBMS.

Which SQL features stay free?

All core features—columnar storage, vectorized execution, compression codecs, joins, window functions, and materialized views—are part of the open-source codebase and cost nothing to use.

Example: free ClickHouse query in an ecommerce schema

SELECT customer_id, sum(total_amount) AS lifetime_value FROM Orders GROUP BY customer_id ORDER BY lifetime_value DESC LIMIT 10;

The query runs locally or in the free tier exactly as it does in paid hosting.

Best practice: separate storage and compute

Mount data on inexpensive object storage (e.g., S3, MinIO) and scale stateless ClickHouse nodes horizontally. This architecture maximises performance while keeping infra costs low.

Why How to Use ClickHouse for Free is important

How to Use ClickHouse for Free Example Usage


-- Calculate average order value without paying for software
SELECT avg(total_amount) AS avg_order_value
FROM Orders;

How to Use ClickHouse for Free Syntax


-- Free, self-hosted ClickHouse installation example
-- Ubuntu 22.04 LTS
curl -fsSL https://clickhouse.com/ | sudo bash
sudo apt-get install -y clickhouse-server clickhouse-client

-- Start service (free)
sudo service clickhouse-server start

-- Connect and create ecommerce tables
CREATE TABLE Customers (
  id UInt32,
  name String,
  email String,
  created_at DateTime
) ENGINE = MergeTree() ORDER BY id;

CREATE TABLE Orders (
  id UInt32,
  customer_id UInt32,
  order_date Date,
  total_amount Decimal(10,2)
) ENGINE = MergeTree() ORDER BY (customer_id, order_date);

-- All commands above use 100 % free ClickHouse binaries.

Common Mistakes

Assuming ClickHouse Cloud pricing applies to self-hosted installs. Cloud bills by storage and compute, but on-premise binaries are always 0 $; only your hardware bills grow.
Overlooking infrastructure expenses. While software is free, under-provisioned disks or network can throttle performance. Estimate hardware needs early to avoid surprise costs.