Side by side

HeliosProxy vs TiCDC

Both stand on database proxy software. Which one you can start free with, which one lets you read the code, and what each costs once you pay.

HeliosProxy

Free plan APILinuxSelf-hosted

HeliosProxy combines pooling, routing, caching, and failover controls for PostgreSQL-compatible systems. Check which session state is lost during failover when deciding whether its replay behavior fits your workloads.

Visit HeliosProxy

TiCDC

Free plan Open source APILinuxMac+1

TiCDC provides incremental TiDB replication with filtering, multiple sink types, and cluster-to-cluster options. Plan for its at-least-once delivery behavior, table index requirements, and documented unsupported cases before relying on a replication path.

Visit TiCDC

The facts

	HeliosProxy	TiCDC
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Open source	Not published	Yes
Runs on	API, Linux, Self-hosted	API, Linux, Mac, Self-hosted
Lowest paid plan	Free or on request	Free or on request
Plans published	1	1
Maker	Not published	Not published
Website	heliosdb.com	docs.pingcap.com
On database proxy software	#7 of 31	#3 of 31

HeliosProxy: what it does well

Offers session, transaction, and statement pooling.
Supports up to 100:1 connection multiplexing.
Routes by replica lag and workload.
Supports JWT, OAuth 2.0, LDAP, and API keys.
Deploys with Docker, Kubernetes, or standalone.

What to know first

Several kinds of session state are not restored after failover.
Replay depends on conditions being suitable.
Requires a self-hosted deployment.

TiCDC: what it does well

Replicates to databases, Kafka, cloud storage, and NFS.
Supports bidirectional TiDB cluster replication.
Filters databases, tables, DMLs, and DDLs.
Nodes can be added or removed dynamically.

What to know first

At-least-once delivery can repeat statements or Kafka messages.
Tables generally need a valid index.
Large transactions have partial support and out-of-memory risk.
RawKV-only clusters are unsupported.

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