# RisingWave

> Apache-2.0 streaming database for fresh, queryable data

**Category:** Databases  
**Pricing:** open-source  
**URL:** https://risingwave.com  
**GitHub:** https://github.com/risingwavelabs/risingwave  
**Added:** 2026-10-18

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## The Hook

RisingWave is an event streaming database: it ingests from database CDC, Kafka-style streams and webhooks, keeps materialized views up to date incrementally, and serves fresh results with Postgres-compatible SQL.

## What's Good

Apache-2.0 (risingwavelabs/risingwave), release v3.1.0 (2026-09-21), written in Rust. It aims to replace the Debezium + Kafka + Flink + serving DB chain with one system: native CDC from Postgres and MySQL, ingestion from Kafka, Pulsar and Kinesis, batch loads from S3, and streaming SQL with materialized views. Docker and Kubernetes quick starts. ★~9.4k.

## The Catch

Streaming SQL is a different mental model from batch: state size, watermarks and view design decide your costs. A cluster has several components and uses object storage for state. The project's marketing leans on agentic AI; the core value is incremental views, not AI. RisingWave Cloud is the commercial option.

## Verdict

A real Flink alternative you can write in SQL — great for live dashboards and alerts.