kdb+ Alternatives
Contents
One Integrated Existing Platform
kdb+ provides a powerful, fully integrated platform where every process can communicate via its efficient inter-process communication (IPC) protocol. This tight coupling offers performance benefits and simplicity—until the day comes when you need to migrate.
The same tight integration that makes kdb+ powerful also makes it difficult to decouple. Every part of the system often relies on kdb+'s proprietary components, making gradual migration challenging.
There is currently no single technology that replaces everything kdb+/q offers. However, by adopting open standards, you can move toward a more modular and future-proof architecture.
Open Standards
To prevent vendor lock-in in future and to allow many tools to operate on the same data, essential technologies include:
- Apache Arrow defines a language-independent columnar memory format for flat and nested data, organized for efficient analytic operations on modern hardware like CPUs and GPUs.
- Apache Parquet is an open source, column-oriented data file format designed for efficient data storage and retrieval. It provides efficient data compression and encoding schemes with enhanced performance to handle complex data in bulk. Apache Parquet is designed to be a common interchange format for both batch and interactive workloads.
- Apache Iceberg is a high performance open-source format for large analytic tables. Iceberg enables the use of SQL tables for big data while making it possible for engines like Spark, StarRocks, Doris, QuestDB, and DuckDB to safely work with the same tables, at the same time.
Using parquet and iceberg for storage, allows many tools to be used for analysis including: ClickHouse , DuckDB, QuestDB, DolphinDB.
Utilising Arrow or a similarly open format for process communication means each component could be replaced and minimal changes would need made. Arrow is highly efficient for columnar data and allows reusing the same data in memory between different systems making it more efficient than proprietary options for many use-cases.
Steps to Migrate
Here’s a phased approach for migrating from kdb+ to an open-standard ecosystem:
- Introduce Open IPC Standards
Begin by layering in support for open communication protocols (e.g., Apache Arrow Flight). This may involve a temporary conversion layer, which can be removed once all components transition. - Parallel Data Format Support
Maintain a parallel copy of your kdb+ data in Parquet or Iceberg to facilitate gradual tool migration and testing. - Gradual System Transition
Start migrating analytics workloads and user APIs to new systems built on open standards. - Custom APIs for Complex Cases
Identify edge cases and build targeted conversion APIs or services to handle them smoothly.
kdb Alternatives
Alternatives where possible should use open standards, be open source or supplied from vendors with strong pricing guarantees.
kdb+ Alternative Databases
- QuestDB is the world's fastest growing open-source time-series database. It offers massive ingestion throughput, millisecond queries, powerful time-series SQL extensions, and scales well with minimal and maximal hardware.
- ClickHouse is a very fast open-source column-oriented DBMS for online analytical processing that allows users to generate analytical reports using SQL queries in real-time.
- DolphinDB Real-time Platform for Analytics and Stream Processing Powered by High-performance Time Series Database
- DuckDB is a fast in-process analytical database system
PyKX Alternatives
- Kola the Fastest kdb+ Python Interface
- Polars - is an open-source library for data manipulation, known for being one of the fastest data processing solutions on a single machine. It features a well-structured, typed API that is both expressive and easy to use.
- DuckDB Python
- Modin - Scale your Pandas workflows by changing a single line of code
Visualisation KX Dashboard Alternatives
- Pulse - Specialized data application builder for finance that is compatible with 30+ databases and source available (including escrow). This is a TimeStored product. (Product Comparison)
- Grafana - Open source observability platform.
The Missing Piece: Open Source Q
To date there has been no credible open-source alternative to q. TimeStored produced a tech demo you can try online:
JQ.
Ngn/growler k are interesting,
but we are still waiting for the real open q.
Conclusion
Migrating from a tightly coupled system like kdb+ is no small feat. But by leaning on open standards such as Arrow, Parquet, and Iceberg, and gradually replacing components with open-source or well-supported alternatives, you can unlock greater flexibility, avoid vendor lock-in, and prepare for the future.
