Verihubs' ClickHouse Leap: 98% Faster, 50% Cheaper

From Postgres Pain to ClickHouse Gain

Verihubs' journey highlights a common challenge faced by growing tech companies: the limitations of traditional relational databases for large-scale analytical workloads. The shift from a batch-heavy Postgres setup to ClickHouse's real-time OLAP architecture, powered by streaming ingestion via Kafka and Debezium, is a textbook example of modernizing data infrastructure. The reported 98% query speed improvement and 50% cost reduction are compelling metrics that underscore the benefits of specialized analytical databases. The lessons learned regarding database design, table engine selection, and the nuances of ClickHouse's update/delete behavior are particularly valuable for engineers contemplating similar migrations. This case study provides practical guidance on how to achieve significant performance gains and cost efficiencies by aligning database technology with specific use cases.

However, it's important to note potential limitations. While ClickHouse excels at analytical queries, its suitability for transactional workloads (OLTP) remains less pronounced compared to traditional RDBMS like Postgres. The article focuses on the data warehousing aspect, but Verihubs' core business involves sensitive identity infrastructure, implying a need for robust OLTP capabilities elsewhere in their stack. The article also briefly mentions ClickHouse's ClickPipes but notes they haven't adopted it yet; exploring the benefits and potential complexities of this feature could offer further optimization opportunities. Furthermore, the six-month migration timeline, while efficient, likely involved significant engineering effort and potential disruption. The success hinges on careful planning and execution, and the 'lessons learned' suggest there were non-trivial challenges encountered, particularly around mutations and materialized view backfills. The article could benefit from a more detailed discussion of the trade-offs and the specific complexities faced during the migration, offering a more nuanced perspective on the implementation challenges.

Key Points

• Verihubs migrated their data warehouse from Postgres to ClickHouse to handle large-scale traffic analysis, reconciliation, and performance reporting.
• The move involved replacing daily batch pulls from Postgres with real-time streaming ingestion via Kafka and Debezium.
• This resulted in up to 98% faster query performance, reducing query times from 20-30 minutes to 2-3 seconds.
• Cloud costs were reduced by up to 50% due to ClickHouse's efficient architecture.
• Key lessons learned include the importance of database design, careful table engine selection (MergeTree family), understanding ClickHouse's mutation behavior, and planning for backfills, especially with materialized views.

---

📖 Source: 98% faster queries, 50% lower cloud costs: Verihubs’ journey from Postgres to ClickHouse