The Ultimate TSDB Feature Checklist (2025 Edition)
Comprehensive comparison of Time Series Databases with architecture analysis, performance metrics, and feature evaluation for 2025
Introduction
In a data-driven world, Time Series Databases (TSDBs) are foundational for monitoring systems, real-time analytics, and IoT data ingestion. Whether you're running observability stacks, financial tick tracking, or edge computing platforms, selecting the right TSDB can make or break your performance and scalability.
This article delivers a complete breakdown of the 9 core evaluation pillars every engineer, architect, or CTO should consider before adopting a TSDB.
Let's jump into the most structured, future-proof comparison guide on the web!
Compared TSDB Solutions
Go-Based Solutions
- Prometheus — Kubernetes-native, PromQL, pull-based
- Thanos — Scalable Prometheus, object storage
- Cortex — Multi-tenant, highly scalable Prometheus
- Mimir — Cloud-native Prometheus backend (Grafana Labs)
- InfluxDB — InfluxQL/Flux, great for IoT & TICK stack
- VictoriaMetrics — Fast, scalable, PromQL/VMQL support
C/C++/Java-Based Solutions
- TimescaleDB — PostgreSQL-based, SQL, continuous aggregates
- QuestDB — Real-time ingestion, high-throughput, SQL
- ClickHouse — OLAP analytics, columnar storage, SQL
- Timestream (AWS) — Serverless, SQL-like, AWS-native
- TDengine — Lightweight, IoT/Edge-focused, MQTT support
- OpenTSDB — Java-based, built on HBase, REST interface
- Druid — Real-time OLAP, JSON analytics, SQL
- KairosDB — Java, REST, flexible backend (Cassandra)
- RRDtool — C-based, simple fixed-size round-robin storage
Rust-Based Solutions
- GreptimeDB — Prometheus-compatible, SQL + PromQL, cloud-native
- Custom (Rust) — Build-your-own using tokio, sled, rocksdb, parquet
Architecture & Performance
| TSDB | Language | Query Language | Data Model | Storage Engine | Compression | High Cardinality Support | Write Throughput | Read Latency |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prometheus | Go | PromQL | Metrics (label-based) | Local TSDB | Block compression | Medium (cardinality limits) | High | Low latency |
| Thanos | Go | PromQL | Metrics (label-based) | Object Storage + Prometheus | Block compression + dedup | High | High | Low latency (index cache) |
| Cortex | Go | PromQL | Metrics (label-based) | Chunk storage | Compression on chunks | High | High | Low latency (index cache) |
| Mimir | Go | PromQL | Metrics (label-based) | Chunk storage (Cortex fork) | Compression on chunks | High | High | Low latency |
| InfluxDB | Go | InfluxQL / Flux | Key-value time-series | TSM + WAL | TSM compression | Medium (limits at scale) | Medium | Medium latency |
| VictoriaMetrics | Go | PromQL / VMQL | Metrics (label-based) | LSM-inspired TS storage | Advanced compression | Excellent | Very High | Very Low latency |
| TimescaleDB | C | SQL | Relational hypertables | PostgreSQL engine | Segment compression | Medium | High | Low latency (indexes) |
| QuestDB | C/Java | SQL | Relational column-store | Custom columnar engine | Columnar compression | Medium | Very High | Low latency (vectorized) |
| ClickHouse | C++ | SQL | Columnar analytics | MergeTree columnar engine | ZSTD + LZ4 compression | High | Very High | Very Low latency |
| Timestream (AWS) | N/A | SQL-like | Columnar tiered | AWS proprietary | Built-in compression | High | High | Low latency |
| TDengine | C | SQL | Wide table model | Custom TS engine | TS data compression | Medium | High | Low latency |
| OpenTSDB | Java | REST / CLI | Key-value HBase | HBase / Cassandra | HBase compression | Medium | Medium | Medium latency |
| Druid | Java | SQL | Columnar analytics | Segment storage | Segment compression | High | Very High | Very Low latency |
| KairosDB | Java | REST / JSON | Key-value time-series | Cassandra / Scylla | Cassandra compression | Medium | Medium | Medium latency |
| RRDtool | C | CLI / RRD | Fixed round-robin DB | Fixed-size RRA | Simple compression | Low | Low | Low latency |
| GreptimeDB | Rust | SQL + PromQL | Metrics (label-based) | Columnar TS engine | Advanced compression | High | Very High | Very Low latency |
Scalability & Integrations
| TSDB | Downsampling | Cluster Support | Horizontal Scalability | Multi-tenancy | Prometheus Compatibility | Grafana Integration | Input Protocols |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prometheus | Recording rules (manual) | No (single-node) | Limited (federation) | No | Native | Native | Prometheus exposition format |
| Thanos | Automatic downsampling | Yes (sidecars) | Yes | Yes | Native | Native | Prometheus exposition format |
| Cortex | Automatic downsampling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Native | Native | Prometheus exposition format |
| Mimir | Automatic downsampling | Yes | Yes | Yes | Native | Native | Prometheus exposition format |
| InfluxDB | Continuous queries | Enterprise only | Enterprise only | No | Line protocol | Yes | Line Protocol, Telegraf |
| VictoriaMetrics | Downsampling (built-in) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Native | Native | Prometheus exposition format |
| TimescaleDB | Continuous aggregates | Yes (multi-node) | Yes | No | Telegraf, REST | Yes | SQL connectors |
| QuestDB | Aggregation functions | No | Limited | No | REST, Line protocol | Yes | REST, Influx Line |
| ClickHouse | Materialized views | Yes | Yes | Yes | REST, Kafka | Yes | JDBC, HTTP |
| Timestream (AWS) | Auto rollup | Fully managed | Fully managed | No | AWS SDK | Yes | AWS SDK |
| TDengine | Downsampling | Yes (cluster) | Yes | No | REST, MQTT | Yes | Line Protocol, SQL |
| OpenTSDB | Rollups | Yes (HBase) | Yes | No | Telnet, REST | Yes | REST API |
| Druid | Materialized rollups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Kafka, REST | Yes | HTTP/JSON |
| KairosDB | Rollups | Yes | Yes | No | Telnet, REST | Yes | REST API |
| RRDtool | Round-robin aggregates | No | No | No | CLI | No | CLI |
| GreptimeDB | Downsampling + rollups | Yes (distributed) | Yes | Yes | Native + Prometheus | Yes | SQL + Prometheus API |
Security & DevOps
| TSDB | Authentication | Backup / Restore | Ease of Setup | Client Libraries | Community & Documentation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prometheus | Basic Auth | Snapshots | Easy (binary/helm) | Go, Python, Java, Rust | Large, CNCF |
| Thanos | Basic Auth, TLS | Object storage backup | Medium (helm) | Go, Python, Java | Large, Grafana Labs |
| Cortex | Auth + Multi-tenant | Object storage backup | Medium (helm) | Go, Python, Java | Grafana Labs / CNCF |
| Mimir | Auth + Multi-tenant | Object storage backup | Medium (helm) | Go, Python, Java | Grafana Labs |
| InfluxDB | Token / Auth | Backup tool | Easy (docker) | Go, Python, Java, Rust | Good community |
| VictoriaMetrics | TLS + Auth | Snapshots | Easy (binary/helm) | Go, Python, Java, Rust | Active, growing |
| TimescaleDB | Postgres auth | pg_dump / WAL | Easy (docker/helm) | Python, Java, Go, Rust | Very strong (Postgres base) |
| QuestDB | Token-based | Manual backup | Easy (binary) | Java, Go, Python, Rust | Growing community |
| ClickHouse | User/Roles | Backup / S3 | Medium (docker/helm) | Python, Java, Go, Rust | Large (Yandex/Altinity) |
| Timestream (AWS) | IAM | AWS-native backup | Easy (SaaS) | Python, Go, Java | AWS community |
| TDengine | Token-based | Built-in backup | Easy (binary/docker) | Python, Go, Java | Active IoT community |
| OpenTSDB | Kerberos/HBase ACL | HBase snapshots | Complex (HBase) | Java, Python | Old but stable |
| Druid | Basic Auth | Snapshots | Medium (helm/docker) | Java, Python | Strong analytics community |
| KairosDB | Cassandra ACL | Cassandra backup | Complex (NoSQL) | Java, Python | Medium community |
| RRDtool | No | Manual dump | Easy | None (manual) | Legacy community |
| GreptimeDB | TLS + Auth | Snapshots / S3 | Easy (helm/docker) | Rust, Go, Python | Fast-growing community |
TSDB Feature Checklist (2025 Edition)
Here are the top-ranked time-series databases, scored on 12 deep technical and operational criteria:
| TSDB | Downsampling | Cluster Support | Horizontal Scalability | Multi-tenancy | Prometheus Compatibility | Grafana Integration | Input Protocols |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ClickHouse | Materialized views | Yes | Yes | Yes | REST, Kafka | Yes | JDBC, HTTP |
| Timestream (AWS) | Auto rollup | Fully managed | Fully managed | No | AWS SDK | Yes | AWS SDK |
| TDengine | Downsampling | Yes (cluster) | Yes | No | REST, MQTT | Yes | Line Protocol, SQL |
| OpenTSDB | Rollups | Yes (HBase) | Yes | No | Telnet, REST | Yes | REST API |
| Druid | Materialized rollups | Yes | Yes | Yes | Kafka, REST | Yes | HTTP/JSON |
| KairosDB | Rollups | Yes | Yes | No | Telnet, REST | Yes | REST API |
| RRDtool | Round-robin aggregates | No | No | No | CLI | No | CLI |
| GreptimeDB | Downsampling + rollups | Yes (distributed) | Yes | Yes | Native + Prometheus | Yes | SQL + Prometheus API |
Detailed Comparison Scoreboard (1–5 Scale)
| Feature / Tool | VictoriaMetrics | GreptimeDB | Thanos | TimescaleDB | Druid | Cortex | Mimir | ClickHouse | Timestream (AWS) | TDengine | Prometheus | QuestDB | InfluxDB | OpenTSDB | KairosDB | RRDtool |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Query Language | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Compression | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Cardinality | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 |
| Write Throughput | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Read Latency | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 |
| Scalability | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Cluster | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 1 |
| Total Score (0-60) | 60 | 60 | 56 | 56 | 54 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 52 | 50 | 46 | 40 | 34 | 34 | 26 |
Scores range from 1-5, with 5 being the highest/best rating
Top 5 TSDBs by Total Score (out of 60)
| Rank | TSDB | Total Score | Key Highlights |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | VictoriaMetrics | 60 | Excellent on all fronts: compression, cardinality, PromQL, Grafana, scalability. |
| 1 | GreptimeDB | 60 | Rust-native, SQL + PromQL, high performance, distributed, great community. |
| 3 | Thanos | 56 | Highly scalable Prometheus storage with native integrations. |
| 3 | TimescaleDB | 56 | Best SQL-based TSDB; strong Postgres ecosystem & performance. |
| 5 | Druid | 54 | Excellent for real-time analytics and OLAP with SQL. |
Deep Dive: Top Performers
VictoriaMetrics - The Performance Champion
Why it's #1: VictoriaMetrics achieves perfect scores across all criteria, making it the most well-rounded TSDB available.
Strengths:
- Perfect Performance - 5/5 in all categories
- Excellent Compression - Advanced compression algorithms
- High Cardinality - Handles massive scale efficiently
- Native PromQL - Full Prometheus compatibility
- Grafana Integration - Seamless monitoring stack integration
- Horizontal Scaling - Built for enterprise deployments
Best For: High-scale observability, enterprise monitoring, performance-critical applications.
GreptimeDB - The Modern Rust Powerhouse
Why it's #1: GreptimeDB combines cutting-edge Rust performance with modern cloud-native architecture.
Strengths:
- ✅ Rust Performance - Native performance with memory safety
- ✅ Dual Query Support - Both SQL and PromQL
- ✅ Cloud-Native - Built for distributed environments
- ✅ High Throughput - Excellent write and read performance
- ✅ Growing Community - Active development and support
- ✅ Modern Architecture - Designed for 2025+ requirements
Best For: Cloud-native applications, modern infrastructure, teams wanting cutting-edge technology.
Conclusion
Choosing the right time-series database (TSDB) depends heavily on your specific use case, scalability needs, deployment model, and integration ecosystem. After a deep technical comparison of 16 TSDBs across 12 scoring criteria, we can draw several key conclusions:
Best Overall Performers
- VictoriaMetrics and GreptimeDB top the chart with perfect scores.
- VictoriaMetrics is ideal for Prometheus-based observability stacks, offering exceptional performance, compression, and scalability.
- GreptimeDB, written in Rust, combines SQL and PromQL support, native Prometheus integration, and distributed capabilities — making it a promising modern TSDB for cloud-native environments.
Key Decision Factors
- Performance Requirements - Choose based on your write/read performance needs
- Query Language Preference - SQL vs PromQL vs custom languages
- Scalability Needs - Single-node vs distributed vs cloud-native
- Integration Ecosystem - Prometheus compatibility, Grafana support
- Team Expertise - Consider your team's existing skills and preferences
Remember: The best TSDB is the one that fits your specific requirements, team expertise, and infrastructure constraints. Start with a proof of concept and scale based on your needs.
Tags: #TSDB #DevOps #Observability #TimeSeriesData #DatabaseBenchmark #VictoriaMetrics #GreptimeDB #CloudNative #IoTData #Prometheus
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