ScramDB vs Oracle Database
Oracle can run columnar analytics, through Database In-Memory: an Enterprise Edition option, licensed separately, and required for every processor on the server. Enterprise itself is licensed per processor with a core factor, so a modern server counts for more than you expect. The free edition stops at 2 CPU cores, 2 GB of memory and 12 GB of data. ScramDB is columnar for everyone, uses every core you own, and its free tier holds 64 GiB.
Side by side
| ScramDB | Oracle Database | |
|---|---|---|
| Columnar analytics | In the engine, for every user | Database In-Memory: an extra-cost Enterprise Edition option, licensed for all processors on the server |
| Licensing | Community free up to 64 GiB stored. Enterprise for clustering and beyond | Per processor with a core factor, or named user plus with minimums, per edition |
| Free edition ceiling | 64 GiB of stored data, every core you have | 2 CPU cores, 2 GB of RAM, 12 GB of user data |
| Row-level security | Policies in the engine, in every edition | Virtual Private Database, bundled with Enterprise Edition only |
| Wire protocol | PostgreSQL wire protocol, every standard driver and BI tool | Oracle Net, with its own client stack |
| Transactions | Full ACID up to serializable isolation, readers never block writers | Full ACID with multiversion read consistency |
| Branching | Fork the database instantly, or open it as it was at any past timestamp | Flashback, RMAN and pluggable database cloning, per edition |
| AI and agents | A semantic layer inside the engine that agents connect to directly, bound by the caller’s own permissions | Native vector type and AI Vector Search, included in Standard and Enterprise |
You already know the licensing story
Oracle prices by processor, with a core factor that turns physical cores into billable processors, and the analytical engine is an option on top of the edition that allows it. Every capacity decision becomes a procurement decision.
ScramDB is a binary. The columnar engine, the parallel execution, the row-level security and the agent interface are the product, not a tier of it.
Everything the application needs, on the same copy
PL/SQL procedures become PL/pgSQL. Triggers stay triggers. Roles, grants, foreign keys and row-level security all carry across, on the PostgreSQL wire protocol that every modern driver already speaks. And the analytical query runs against the live rows without an in-memory option to license first.
When Oracle is the right answer
Decades-deep PL/SQL estates, RAC, Exadata, and regulatory environments where Oracle support contracts are part of the architecture.
Other head to heads
Same wire protocol, same drivers, same SQL. A columnar engine and native-code execution underneath.
ClickHouse cannot hold your transactions, so it lives next to a real database with a pipeline between them. ScramDB is both.
No columnar storage, no vectorized execution, no parallel query in the community server. Every analytical scan is a row walk.
Run it yourself in one line
One static binary, no dependencies. It picks its own config, listens on the postgres port 5432 and runs in the background.
$curl -fsSL https://scramdb.com/install | bash