Comparison

GreptimeDB vs M3DB

No clear leader: M3DB (50.5) and GreptimeDB (50.1) are within the 5-point margin; treat as a tie. The attribute-by-attribute breakdown below, with a source and date on every value, is the honest way to compare them.

GreptimeDB full profile →M3DB full profile →

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.

GreptimeDB50

M3DB51

Attribute comparison across 2 tools
Attribute	GreptimeDB	M3DB
vioscaleAI score	50 / 100medium · 57%	51 / 100medium · 51%
Pricing
Free tierpricing.free_tier	✓	✓
Modelpricing.model	freemium	open_source
Price levelpricing.price_level	high	free
Starting pricepricing.starting_price	$290	-
Transparentpricing.transparent	✓	✓
Integrations
Countintegrations.count	13	4
Security
Gdprsecurity.gdpr	✓	-
Hipaasecurity.hipaa	✓	-
Scorecardsecurity.scorecard	-	3.4
Vulnerabilitiessecurity.vulnerabilities	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2FGreptimeTeam%2Fgreptimedb&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0	Count: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fm3db%2Fm3&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0
Adoption
Dependent reposadoption.dependent_repos	0	10
Github starsadoption.github_stars	6,733	4,905
Activity
Commits last 30dactivity.commits_last_30d	100	50
Release
Cadence daysrelease.cadence_days	4	12
Historyrelease.history	20 items	20 items
License
Spdxlicense.spdx	Apache-2.0	Apache-2.0
Language
Primarylanguage.primary	Rust	Go
Market
Availabilitymarket.availability	Available worldwide · Popular in US	Available worldwide
Content
Faqcontent.faq	8 items	6 items

Score

vioscaleAI score

GreptimeDB50 / 100medium · 57%

M3DB51 / 100medium · 51%

Pricing

Free tier

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✓

Model

GreptimeDBfreemium

M3DBopen_source

Price level

GreptimeDBhigh

M3DBfree

Starting price

GreptimeDB$290

M3DB–

Transparent

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✓

Integrations

Count

GreptimeDB13

M3DB4

Security

Gdpr

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB–

Hipaa

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB–

Scorecard

GreptimeDB–

M3DB3.4

Vulnerabilities

GreptimeDBCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2FGreptimeTeam%2Fgreptimedb&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

M3DBCount: 0 · Source: https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fm3db%2Fm3&per_page=100 · Last 12m: 0

Adoption

Dependent repos

GreptimeDB0

M3DB10

Github stars

GreptimeDB6,733

M3DB4,905

Activity

Commits last 30d

GreptimeDB100

M3DB50

Release

Cadence days

GreptimeDB4

M3DB12

History

GreptimeDB20 items

M3DB20 items

License

Spdx

GreptimeDBApache-2.0

M3DBApache-2.0

Language

Primary

GreptimeDBRust

M3DBGo

Market

Availability

GreptimeDBAvailable worldwide · Popular in US

M3DBAvailable worldwide

Content

Faq

GreptimeDB8 items

M3DB6 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for time-series databases. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Capability comparison for Time-Series Databases
Capability	GreptimeDB	M3DB
Query
Query language (SQL / PromQL / InfluxQL-Flux / Graphite)	SQL and PromQL	PromQL, Graphite
SQL compatibility	Full SQL	Non-SQL
Ingest
Ingest model	Both	Push
Model
Data model	Both	Metrics (labels/tags)
Lifecycle
Downsampling / rollups	Continuous aggregates	Retention policies
Retention / TTL	Automatic	Automatic
Storage
Compression (columnar / delta / Gorilla)	columnar	columnar
Performance
High-cardinality handling	Strong	Strong
Scale
Clustering / horizontal scale	Distributed / sharded	Distributed / sharded
Replication / HA	✓	✓
Deployment
Deployment	Managed	Self-hosted
Interop
Prometheus remote-write compatible	✓	✓
Licensing
Licence class	Source-available	Permissive OSS

Query

Query language (SQL / PromQL / InfluxQL-Flux / Graphite)

GreptimeDBSQL and PromQL

M3DBPromQL, Graphite

SQL compatibility

GreptimeDBFull SQL

M3DBNon-SQL

Ingest

Ingest model

GreptimeDBBoth

M3DBPush

Model

Data model

GreptimeDBBoth

M3DBMetrics (labels/tags)

Lifecycle

Downsampling / rollups

GreptimeDBContinuous aggregates

M3DBRetention policies

Retention / TTL

GreptimeDBAutomatic

M3DBAutomatic

Storage

Compression (columnar / delta / Gorilla)

GreptimeDBcolumnar

M3DBcolumnar

Performance

High-cardinality handling

GreptimeDBStrong

M3DBStrong

Scale

Clustering / horizontal scale

GreptimeDBDistributed / sharded

M3DBDistributed / sharded

Replication / HA

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✓

Deployment

GreptimeDBManaged

M3DBSelf-hosted

Interop

Prometheus remote-write compatible

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✓

Licensing

Licence class

GreptimeDBSource-available

M3DBPermissive OSS

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

GreptimeDB

A columnar database designed for observability workloads that accepts metrics, logs, and traces via standard protocols like OpenTelemetry and Prometheus Remote Write. It supports SQL queries for all data types and PromQL for metrics, using object storage for cost-effective long-term retention while keeping recent data in fast local caches.

Independently observed

M3DB

M3 is a distributed time series database built for storing and querying high-volume metrics with multiple query languages. It can be deployed as a single node or multi-node cluster using Docker, Kubernetes, or binaries.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

GreptimeDB

from $290/moHybridFree tier

Free open-source core; Enterprise managed service from $290/month, custom pricing for self-hosted

Open Source (Apache 2.0)Free
- Core columnar database engine
- SQL and PromQL query support
- OpenTelemetry and Prometheus Remote Write ingestion
- Object storage integration
GreptimeDB Enterprise - Fully-ManagedFrom $290/month
- Guaranteed resources and performance
- Unlimited data storage and retention
- Completely isolated resources and network
- Fully-managed deployment topology
- SQL, PromQL, OpenTelemetry support
- +20 more
GreptimeDB Enterprise - Bring Your Own CloudContact sales
- Deploy in your own cloud infrastructure
- Full data sovereignty
- Installation service
- Advanced technical support
- Custom SLA
- +3 more

as of 2026-10-13verify ↗

M3DB

Open sourceFree tier

as of 2026-08-14verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platform and deployment support comparison
Supports	GreptimeDB	M3DB
macOSPlatforms	✓	✓
WindowsPlatforms	✓	✓
LinuxPlatforms	✓	✓
CLIPlatforms	✓	✓
Cloud / SaaSDeployment	✓	✗
Self-hostedDeployment	✓	✓
HybridDeployment	✓	✗

Platforms

macOS

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✓

Windows

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✓

Linux

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✓

CLI

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✓

Deployment

Cloud / SaaS

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✗

Self-hosted

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✓

Hybrid

GreptimeDB✓

M3DB✗

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

In common (3)

Prometheus
InfluxDB
Kubernetes

GreptimeDB

19 total - 16 not shared

OpenTelemetry
Loki
Elasticsearch
VictoriaLogs
Jaeger
MySQL
Prometheus Remote Write
PostgreSQL
JDBC
Grafana
Perses
Prometheus Alertmanager
Metabase
Spark
Trino
DuckDB

Independently observed

M3DB

6 total - 3 not shared

Graphite
Docker
etcd

Independently observed

Still deciding?

GreptimeDB or M3DB: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.