Hydra (YC W22)
Data
analytics database
SHOW HN2025
60points
33comments
#1,121of 3,837 in 2025
Top 30%of 2025 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
3 positive, 9 neutral or asking, 0 mixed, 5 critical, out of 17 comments about the project. Thread score -0.10.
Idea: 1 for, 2 againstPricing: 1 for, 1 againstDocs: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Product looks cool and useful for Postgres users wanting analytics
From 2 comments
This is super cool and congrats! Some questions - I understand all of these concepts but so far everything seems to be aimed at people way more immersed in this world than I, so…
nlh on HNmy team is currently looking into offloading some of our analytics data into a columnar database next year. hydra and clickhouse were the top ones on the list. would love a…
cultofmetatron on HN
Objections
Homepage unclear about what the product is and how compute works
From 2 comments
The homepage of this website does a bad job of explaining wtf Hydra actually does. Is it a database? Some type of serverless architecture? Ok analytics, but analytics about what,…
fourseventy on HNI've run through the docs and it's really unclear how the compute model works. "Serverless" is nice, but how exactly is that managed?
switchbak on HN
Pricing bundles storage and compute and limits users per plan
From 1 comment
Hey there, congrats on publicly launching this after your work over the past months! Having followed the project for a while now, I really scratch my head when looking at your…
thenaturalist on HN
Region availability limited; no SJC region
From 1 comment
This is super cool and congrats! Some questions - I understand all of these concepts but so far everything seems to be aimed at people way more immersed in this world than I, so…
nlh on HN
Requests
Remove the per-plan user limit
From 2 comments
Hey there, congrats on publicly launching this after your work over the past months! Having followed the project for a while now, I really scratch my head when looking at your…
thenaturalist on HNHi Joe, much appreciate the response! Resounding yes RE removal of user limits. I would want people to have access, to play around with the tool but also to be able to share…
thenaturalist on HN
Clearer comparison with ClickHouse
From 1 comment
my team is currently looking into offloading some of our analytics data into a columnar database next year. hydra and clickhouse were the top ones on the list. would love a…
cultofmetatron on HN
Hybrid option where regular tables can be queried analytically
From 1 comment
I feel like my ideal would be something more hybrid. It's pretty rare that I have a table that I decide upfront should be columnar. It's a lot more common that I want occasional…
pikdum on HN
Questions
How does serverless compute work and get managed
From 2 comments
I've run through the docs and it's really unclear how the compute model works. "Serverless" is nice, but how exactly is that managed?
switchbak on HNThe homepage of this website does a bad job of explaining wtf Hydra actually does. Is it a database? Some type of serverless architecture? Ok analytics, but analytics about what,…
fourseventy on HN
What data is shared with Hydra when self-hosting
From 2 comments
Hello Joe, thanks a lot for hydra and pg_duckdb. I wanted to confirm that for self hosting hydra i have to generate a token from your platform? what data is shared with hydra for…
thawab on HNthanks a lot, the other part of the question: 1- what data is shared with hydra for this case? 2- whats the pricing for the bare metal deployment?
thawab on HN
How does it compare to ClickHouse and Timescale performance
From 2 comments
my team is currently looking into offloading some of our analytics data into a columnar database next year. hydra and clickhouse were the top ones on the list. would love a…
cultofmetatron on HNCurrent user of Timescale for events processing, with heavy use of materialized views for rolling aggregates. Is this a use case that you think Hydra would be competetive on?
CaveTech on HN
Alternatives named
ClickHouse
From 2 comments
my team is currently looking into offloading some of our analytics data into a columnar database next year. hydra and clickhouse were the top ones on the list. would love a…
cultofmetatron on HNThis is super cool and congrats! Some questions - I understand all of these concepts but so far everything seems to be aimed at people way more immersed in this world than I, so…
nlh on HN
Timescale
From 1 comment
Current user of Timescale for events processing, with heavy use of materialized views for rolling aggregates. Is this a use case that you think Hydra would be competetive on?
CaveTech on HN
Neon with pg_mooncake
From 2 comments
Kudos for the product launch. A bit curious on the product itself, to me the product seems similar to what Neon team does, except Neon doesn't touch the columnar/analytics and…
mohon on HNNeon actually does have a columnstore extension with pg_mooncake today. The key difference with pg_mooncake vs hydra is the bet on open storage formats (Iceberg). (1)…
moonikakiss on HN
Aurora
From 1 comment
from what you wrote above, it seems like a great value add for greenfield projects. we currently use aws aurora. how easy would it be to simply sql dump and load into hydra and…
cultofmetatron on HN