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The official C# clients connect to ClickHouse over either HTTP or the native TCP protocol. Both clients ship in the ClickHouse.Driver NuGet package.

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HTTP

The HTTP client provides the high-level, thread-safe ClickHouseClient API and the ADO.NET API used by ORMs. It targets .NET 6.0 and newer and is recommended for most applications. Use the HTTP client when you need:
  • ADO.NET or an ORM;
  • CSV, JSONEachRow, Parquet, or raw stream input and output;
  • bearer authentication or custom HTTP headers;
  • custom parameter type resolution, parameter formatting, or read conversion;
  • a per-query database or role;
  • better JSON performance. The TCP client can transfer JSON values only as text.
Read the HTTP client documentation.

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Native TCP

The native TCP client is experimental, and its public API may change in a future release. It provides the ClickHouseTcpClient API for columnar block reads, native compression, pooled connections, and pinned sessions. It targets .NET 8.0 and newer. Use the native TCP client when you need:
  • better performance, especially when processing data in columns;
  • columnar data blocks;
  • persistent connections;
  • pinned sessions through OpenSessionAsync;
  • progress, profile, log, totals, and extremes callbacks;
  • W3C trace context propagation to ClickHouse.
Read the native TCP client documentation.
Last modified on September 28, 2026