Stratum
SQL that branches and beats DuckDB on 35/46 1T benchmarks
Get picks like this daily. Today's launch numbers, the top launches, AI and tech news, and a daily opportunity pick, straight to your inbox.
Want to reach these readers? Sponsor an issue.
HN · launched Mar 12, 2026 · 12 upvotes (top 36%) · 1 view
Niche: database management systems and engines · 162 launches, 5 in the last 7 days ▼ -17% · Explore this niche →
Category and tags
- Horizontal
- Data infrastructure
- Developer
- Not AI
- Commercial product
Visit website ↗ Source listing ↗
More like this: all 162 launches in database management systems and engines →
Could you build this?
No Writing an analytical columnar database engine that implements copy-on-write branching, Java Vector API SIMD acceleration, and outperforms DuckDB is deep database systems research.
What it would actually take: The architecture consists of a custom columnar storage engine utilizing structural sharing (CoW trees) to allow zero-cost branching, combined with vectorized query execution utilizing the Java Incubator Vector API for SIMD instructions, and an embedded Postgres wire-protocol parser. The hard part is authoring custom vectorized SIMD kernels (filter, aggregate, join hash tables) and query execution planners that avoid JVM GC overhead and achieve hardware-saturating scan throughput.
Discussion
3 comments analyzed.
Competitors mentioned: DuckDB, Datahike, Proximum (HNSW vector index), Scriptum (Lucene)
Concerns raised: Columnar overhead for random access writes vs row-wise indices, Inefficient storage of fully variable strings in column format, Lack of benchmark comparisons against alternatives, Write throughput claims not yet validated in formal benchmarks
Feature requests: Better support for variable-length string storage, Online update optimization for random access write workloads
Competitors
Other products that read as similar to this one : 1689 launches clear the similarity bar, closest 8 shown.
Attention rank: #570 of 1690 (itself plus its competitors, highest first, normalized so YC and Product Hunt are compared fairly).
Launched 134 days after the earliest competitor.
- Pivot · hn · 2026-10-08 · 16 upvotes · similarity 0.70
- VaultSQL · hn · 2026-06-06 · 8 upvotes · similarity 0.63
- Real-workload SQLite benchmarks on Hetzner's cheapest VPS · hn · 2026-05-09 · 8 upvotes · similarity 0.62
- Egres: A Postgres-compatible database for heavy, multi-tenant workloads · hn · 2026-10-27 · 7 upvotes · similarity 0.62
- Egres, A Postgres-compatible database for heavy, multi-tenant workloads · hn · 2026-11-01 · 5 upvotes · similarity 0.61
- sqldoom · github · 2026-09-22 · 19 upvotes · similarity 0.61
- TidesDB · hn · 2025-11-09 · 14 upvotes · similarity 0.60
- jevql · github · 2026-09-18 · 11 upvotes · similarity 0.60
The niche, labels, vibe code rating and competitor comparison on this page are analysis by Nicheloom. If you use them, please credit nicheloom.com. How you may use our data.