# Index-based pruning in ClickHouse

DevFeed: [Index-based pruning in ClickHouse](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/index-based-pruning-in-clickhouse-5312.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://clickhouse.com/blog/index-based-pruning>)

Author: Mark Needham

Published: 2026-04-15T00:00:00Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [ClickHouse Blog](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/clickhouse-blog.md>)

Topics: [clickhouse](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/clickhouse.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/data.md>), [dataset](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/dataset.md>), [Sorting](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/sorting.md>)

Tags: [blog](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/blog.md>), [clickhouse](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/clickhouse.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/data.md>), [learn](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/learn.md>), [post](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/post.md>), [sorting](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/sorting.md>), [speed](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/speed.md>), [techniques](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/techniques.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial explains three ClickHouse index-based pruning techniques--primary indexes, lightweight projections, and skip indexes--using a 243-million-row UK property sales dataset. It shows how sorting and alternative data layouts allow ClickHouse to skip granules and reduce the amount of data read by analytical queries.

## Source excerpt

Learn how ClickHouse uses primary indexes, lightweight projections, and skip indexes to prune data before reading it. Demonstrated on a 243 million row UK property sales dataset.