From Neon Postgres to ClickHouse Managed Postgres

Summary

This user story describes three teams that moved production Postgres workloads from Neon to ClickHouse Managed Postgres after encountering reliability, performance, cost, and network-transfer problems as usage grew. ClickPipes handled schema migration, a parallel initial load, and change data capture, allowing teams to test synchronized databases before cutover. Reported outcomes included zero downtime or connection restarts, faster and more predictable queries, lower CPU or transfer costs, and p99 latency improving from seconds to single-digit milliseconds in one case. The post attributes these gains to local NVMe storage and eliminating transfer fees when analytics already runs on ClickHouse, while noting differences from Neon such as slower branch creation and manual application of several DDL changes.

Takeaways

1. 1

   ClickPipes supports schema migration, parallel initial loading, and CDC, allowing teams to keep Neon and ClickHouse Managed Postgres synchronized until cutover.

2. 2

   Reported improvements included a 99% cache hit rate with about 10% CPU at peak for Shipsidekick, roughly 30% faster queries for socialpruf., and p99 latency falling from seconds to single-digit milliseconds at Infinitas Learning.

3. 3

   The migration examples took hours: Shipsidekick moved its data in four to five hours, socialpruf. migrated 0.5 TB in a few hours, and Infinitas Learning migrated 750 GB in under 16 hours.