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Comparison · Infra & APIs

ClickHouse vs Depot

A side-by-side editorial comparison of ClickHouse and Depot — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

ClickHouse vs Depot: at a glance

FeatureClickHouseDepot
SectorInfra & APIs, AnalyticsInfra & APIs
Velocity score5.07.5
Sparks · 30d01
Top themesparallel maintenance branches, lts cadence, version-only entries, scraping issueci-cd, container-builds, agent-compute, sandboxes
Last editorial update1mo ago5d ago
WebsiteVisit →

What is ClickHouse?

ClickHouse is shipping six active version branches in parallel — but the captured feed has only tags, no notes.

What's visible in the captured feed is high-cadence GitHub release tagging across at least six parallel branches in two weeks: 25.8.x-lts, 25.10.x, 25.12.x, 26.1.x, 26.2.x, and 26.5.x. Each entry is title-only with no release notes captured. The branch fan-out is itself meaningful — ClickHouse is maintaining LTS plus several stable branches simultaneously, which is the cadence pattern of a mature OSS database serving enterprises that pin to specific minor versions.

Read the full ClickHouse trajectory →

What is Depot?

Depot turns its build-acceleration compute into a metered backend for AI agents.

Depot is shipping fast across two fronts: hardening its CI platform and opening its compute to AI workloads. Recent CI work includes native step retries, durable cache disks, and a generally available API and CLI with full dashboard parity. On the AI front it added SOCI v2 to cut startup time for large CUDA and PyTorch images and launched a Sandbox SDK to run untrusted or agent-generated code in ephemeral, billed sandboxes.

Read the full Depot trajectory →

ClickHouse vs Depot: editorial side-by-side

ClickHouse logo
ClickHouse
INFRA · APISANALYTICS
5.0

ClickHouse is shipping six active version branches in parallel — but the captured feed has only tags, no notes.

◆ Current state

What's visible in the captured feed is high-cadence GitHub release tagging across at least six parallel branches in two weeks: 25.8.x-lts, 25.10.x, 25.12.x, 26.1.x, 26.2.x, and 26.5.x. Each entry is title-only with no release notes captured. The branch fan-out is itself meaningful — ClickHouse is maintaining LTS plus several stable branches simultaneously, which is the cadence pattern of a mature OSS database serving enterprises that pin to specific minor versions.

◆ Where it's heading

Without per-release content we can't comment on feature direction. The branch shape says enterprise-grade backporting is alive and well; the new 26.5 branch starting in late April implies a forward-development cycle is underway alongside the maintenance work. Worth fixing the changelog ingest to pull release-note bodies from GitHub before the next pass — there's a real signal here being lost.

◆ Prediction

Once the scraper captures release-note bodies, expect to see continued cherry-pick patches on 25.x-LTS for at least 12 more months in parallel with 26.x feature work. Unable to predict feature direction from version tags alone.

D
Depot
INFRA · APIS
7.5

Depot turns its build-acceleration compute into a metered backend for AI agents.

◆ Current state

Depot is shipping fast across two fronts: hardening its CI platform and opening its compute to AI workloads. Recent CI work includes native step retries, durable cache disks, and a generally available API and CLI with full dashboard parity. On the AI front it added SOCI v2 to cut startup time for large CUDA and PyTorch images and launched a Sandbox SDK to run untrusted or agent-generated code in ephemeral, billed sandboxes.

◆ Where it's heading

Depot is extending from build and CI acceleration toward being a general compute backend for agents. The Sandbox SDK, the agent-friendly GA API, and ML-image startup optimizations point the same way: sell fast, isolated, metered compute that AI tools and pipelines can drive programmatically. The CI improvements keep the core product sticky while the platform broadens.

◆ Prediction

Expect the Sandbox SDK to move toward general availability with more language and filesystem surface, and continued convergence of CI and sandbox compute under one metered, API-first platform.

Alternatives to ClickHouse and Depot

Other Infra & APIs products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either ClickHouse or Depot.

See all ClickHouse alternatives → · See all Depot alternatives →

Recent activity from ClickHouse and Depot

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 8d agoDepotSOCI v2 support for Depot container builds
  2. 9d agoDepotSandbox SDK is now available in private beta
  3. 15d agoDepotNative step retries in Depot CI
  4. 17d agoDepotDurable cache disks for Depot CI jobs are now available in beta
  5. 23d agoDepotDepot CI API and CLI are now generally available
  6. 24d agoDepotSSH into Depot CI sandboxes now uses exec.depot.dev
  7. 1mo agoClickHousePatch on 25.8 LTS branch (notes not captured)
  8. 1mo agoClickHousePatch on 26.2 stable branch (notes not captured)
  9. 1mo agoClickHousePatch on 25.12 stable branch (notes not captured)
  10. 1mo agoClickHousePatch on 25.10 stable branch (notes not captured)
  11. 1mo agoClickHousePatch on 25.12 stable branch (notes not captured)
  12. 2mo agoClickHousePatch on 25.12 stable branch (notes not captured)

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between ClickHouse and Depot?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Depot is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is ClickHouse better than Depot?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Depot is currently shipping more aggressively (velocity 7.5 vs 5.0), with 1 editorial sparks in the last 30 days against 0. For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other Infra & APIs products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to ClickHouse?

Top ClickHouse alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "ClickHouse alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/clickhouse for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Depot?

Top Depot alternatives in Infra & APIs are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Depot alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/depot for the full list with editorial commentary on each.