CH-UI vs Tabix for ClickHouse
Tabix is the classic lightweight ClickHouse web client: open a browser tab, point it at your server, run SQL. It needs no backend and no install, and for a quick look at a database that is genuinely hard to beat. The trade-off is that the project has been effectively dormant since mid-2022, and it stops at querying and basic charts. CH-UI is a self-hosted workspace that covers the rest of the job — dashboards you can share, ingestion pipelines, dbt-style models, cluster health, query-log analytics, cost showback, governance, and an AI copilot — at the cost of actually running a (single) binary.
Choose Tabix if…
- You want zero installation — a static web page pointed straight at ClickHouse HTTP
- You need a quick, throwaway SQL console for a dev or demo server
- You have no place (or no desire) to run any extra service at all
- Free and Apache-2.0 is a hard requirement and querying is all you need
Choose CH-UI if…
- You want dashboards, pipelines, models, and alerts around the same ClickHouse, not just a SQL console
- You need cluster-level visibility: replication, merges, mutations, Keeper, query-log analytics, cost
- Multiple people use the workspace and you care about auth, audit, and governance
- You want a maintained project with active releases (v2.7.0 shipped August 2026)
Tabix vs CH-UI, feature by feature
| Tabix | CH-UI | |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Static browser app — use the hosted page or serve the files yourself; talks directly to ClickHouse HTTP from the browser. Nothing to run server-side. | One self-hosted binary (or Docker/Helm) with state in a local SQLite file. Connects directly or over an outbound tunnel, so ClickHouse needs no inbound exposure. |
| Maintenance status | Effectively unmaintained — the last commit to tabixio/tabix was May 2022. It still works, but do not expect fixes or new ClickHouse feature support. | Actively developed; regular releases (v2.7.0 in August 2026), public changelog, signed release artifacts. |
| SQL editing | Solid SQL editor with autocomplete for fields/functions/dictionaries, query formatting, and a process list with KILL QUERY. | SQL workspace with streaming results, sort and filter on results, automatic query history, ClickHouse error parsing with jump-to-error, and Ask AI query generation (Pro). |
| Dashboards | Inline charts and simple drawn dashboards for query results. | Dashboard builder with shareable public links (rate-limited, sanitized), scheduled refresh, and alerting on top (Pro). |
| ClickHouse operations | Realtime metrics view from system.metrics / system.events, process list. | Cluster Health (per-node replication, merges, mutations, parts, Keeper, backups) and Query Insights (query_log latency percentiles, slow patterns, failures, hot tables) as Pro modules. |
| Cost visibility | None. | Cost Center (Pro, v2.7.0): showback/chargeback from query_log CPU time and parts storage, team attribution, CSV export. |
| Ingestion & modeling | None — query-only. | Pipelines (Kafka, S3, webhooks, databases) and dbt-style SQL models with scheduling and GitHub sync (Pro). |
| AI | None. | Brain copilot and in-editor Ask AI, bring-your-own-key — your provider, your data path. |
| Auth & governance | Credentials live in the browser; no workspace users, audit, or roles beyond what ClickHouse itself enforces. | Workspace users with roles, SSO/OIDC (Pro), immutable audit log, governance catalog and guardrails (Pro). |
| Licensing & price | Free, Apache-2.0. | Core free, Apache-2.0. Pro modules (BSL, source-available) at $1,199/year flat per instance — never per seat. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Tabix still maintained?
The tabixio/tabix repository has had no commits since May 2022. It still works for basic querying against current ClickHouse versions, but new ClickHouse features, bug fixes, and security updates are not arriving. CH-UI ships regular releases; v2.7.0 landed in August 2026.
Tabix needs no server — does CH-UI?
Yes, one. CH-UI is a single self-hosted binary (also available as Docker image and Helm chart) with all state in a local SQLite file — no external database or services to operate. Tabix runs entirely in the browser, which is genuinely simpler if a SQL console is all you need.
Is CH-UI free like Tabix?
The core is free and Apache-2.0: SQL workspace, dashboards, pipelines, models, Brain AI copilot (bring your own key), and the OpenTelemetry log explorer. Pro modules — Cluster Health, Query Insights, Cost Center, Governance, Schedules, Alerts, SSO — cost $1,199/year flat per instance, with a 30-day free trial.
Can I migrate from Tabix to CH-UI?
There is nothing to migrate — Tabix stores no server-side state. Install CH-UI, add your ClickHouse connection (direct URL or outbound tunnel), and your databases, tables, and data appear as-is.
Try CH-UI on your own ClickHouse
Self-host the Apache-2.0 core for free, or start a 30-day Pro trial — no card, no sales call, license delivered by email.