SingleStore (formerly MemSQL) is a distributed SQL database for real-time analytics. Compare pricing tiers, key features, pros and cons, and use cases.
SingleStore is a distributed SQL database purpose-built to handle high-throughput data ingest, transactional processing, and analytical queries within a single system, rather than requiring separate operational and analytical databases.
Originally launched as MemSQL in 2011, the company rebranded to SingleStore in 2020 as its architecture matured beyond an in-memory-only design into a tiered storage model that spans memory, local disk, and cloud object storage for cost-efficient scale.
The platform is commonly used for real-time dashboards, customer-facing analytics, IoT and time-series workloads, and increasingly for AI applications that require fast vector search alongside standard SQL queries.
SingleStore supports full ANSI SQL, giving teams a familiar query language while gaining the performance benefits of a distributed, massively parallel architecture that can scale horizontally across nodes.
Hybrid transactional and analytical processing (HTAP) is a core differentiator, allowing writes and analytical reads to run concurrently against the same tables without the lag typically introduced by ETL pipelines into a separate warehouse.
Native vector search and JSON support let SingleStore serve as an operational store for AI and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) applications, combining structured, semi-structured, and vector data in one queryable engine.
SingleStore's managed cloud product, Helios, offers a free Shared tier intended for evaluation and light development work, including one free workspace with core SQL and programmability features.
Paid usage-based tiers start with Standard at 0.99 dollars per hour, which adds read replicas, database branching, and 30-day monitoring history, while Enterprise starts at 1.49 dollars per hour and layers on point-in-time recovery, audit logging, and customer-managed encryption keys.
Larger organizations can opt for a Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) deployment, which runs SingleStore inside the customer's own cloud VPC under custom, sales-negotiated pricing; new users are also commonly offered several hundred dollars in free usage credits.
SingleStore was originally called MemSQL. The company rebranded to SingleStore in October 2020 to reflect its evolution beyond purely in-memory workloads.
SingleStore offers a free Shared tier on its Helios cloud platform for evaluation and development. Production workloads typically move to usage-based Standard or Enterprise pricing.
SingleStore is commonly used for real-time analytics, hybrid transactional and analytical processing (HTAP), operational dashboards, and AI applications that need vector search alongside SQL.
SingleStore is headquartered in San Francisco, California, with additional offices in Raleigh, Sunnyvale, Seattle, London, Hyderabad, and Lisbon.
Yes. SingleStore includes native vector data types and indexing, allowing it to serve as an operational store for AI and retrieval-augmented generation workloads.
SingleStore was founded in 2011 by Eric Frenkiel, Adam Prout, and Nikita Shamgunov under the original name MemSQL.
Yes. SingleStore was acquired by a private equity firm in October 2025 for approximately 500 million dollars.
Yes. SingleStore offers a Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) deployment option that runs inside a customer's own cloud VPC under custom pricing.