# GreptimeDB vs M3DB

| Attribute | GreptimeDB | M3DB |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 50.1 (57% (medium)) | 50.5 (51% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 50 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 0 | 10 |
| adoption.github_stars | 6,733 | 4,905 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A time-series and observability database that consolidates multiple signal types—metrics, logs, traces, and events—into a single queryable system using standard protocols like OpenTelemetry and Prometheus. It uses columnar storage on object storage for cost-effective scalability and provides both open-source and fully-managed cloud deployment options. It is indexed under Time-Series Databases.","source":"https://greptime.com/pricing","question":"What is GreptimeDB?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"GreptimeDB is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. A commercial or hosted edition starts at $290 per month. Prices are published openly on the vendor's own pricing page. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://greptime.com/pricing","question":"Is GreptimeDB free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"GreptimeDB supports the web, Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://greptime.com/pricing","question":"What platforms does GreptimeDB support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. GreptimeDB can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid, on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://greptime.com/pricing","question":"Can GreptimeDB be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 8 integrations for GreptimeDB, including OpenTelemetry, Prometheus, InfluxDB, Loki, Elasticsearch, VictoriaLogs, Jaeger and MySQL. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://greptime.com/pricing","question":"What does GreptimeDB integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed HIPAA and GDPR for GreptimeDB. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as GreptimeDB not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://greptime.com/pricing","question":"What security certifications does GreptimeDB have?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. GreptimeDB is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb","question":"Is GreptimeDB open source?","confidence":0.95},{"answer":"GreptimeDB is available worldwide. Its primary market is the United States. The vendor is headquartered in the United States.","source":"https://greptime.com/pricing","question":"Where is GreptimeDB available?","confidence":0.75}]` | `[{"answer":"M3 is a metrics platform consisting of a distributed time-series database, query engine, and ingestion system designed to handle massive metric volumes efficiently. It provides Prometheus and Graphite compatibility while optimizing for performance and cost efficiency through purpose-built storage and querying components. It is indexed under Time-Series Databases.","source":"https://m3db.io","question":"What is M3DB?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"M3DB is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the Apache-2.0 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://m3db.io","question":"Is M3DB free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"M3DB supports a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://m3db.io","question":"What platforms does M3DB support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. M3DB can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://m3db.io","question":"Can M3DB be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 4 integrations for M3DB, including Prometheus, Graphite, Kubernetes and Docker. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://m3db.io","question":"What does M3DB integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. M3DB is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/m3db/m3","question":"Is M3DB open source?","confidence":0.95}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"clustering":"distributed","data_model":"both","deployment":"managed","compression":"columnar","downsampling":"continuous_aggregates","ingest_model":"both","licence_class":"source_available","retention_ttl":"automatic","query_language":"SQL and PromQL","replication_ha":true,"high_cardinality":"strong","sql_compatibility":"full_sql","prometheus_remote_write":true}` | `{"clustering":"distributed","data_model":"metrics","deployment":"self_hosted","compression":"columnar","downsampling":"retention_policies","ingest_model":"push","licence_class":"permissive_oss","retention_ttl":"automatic","query_language":"PromQL, Graphite","replication_ha":true,"high_cardinality":"strong","sql_compatibility":"non_sql","prometheus_remote_write":true}` |
| integrations.count | 13 | 4 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"OpenTelemetry"},{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"InfluxDB"},{"name":"Loki"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"VictoriaLogs"},{"name":"Jaeger"},{"name":"MySQL"},{"name":"Prometheus Remote Write","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"PostgreSQL","native":false,"category":"database","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"JDBC","native":false,"category":"database","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Grafana","native":true,"category":"analytics","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Perses","native":true,"category":"analytics","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Prometheus Alertmanager","native":true,"category":"observability","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Metabase","native":true,"category":"visualization","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Spark","native":true,"category":"analytics","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Trino","native":true,"category":"analytics","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"DuckDB","native":true,"category":"analytics","direction":"outbound"},{"name":"Kubernetes","native":true,"category":"deployment","direction":"outbound"}]` | `[{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Graphite"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Docker"},{"name":"InfluxDB","native":true,"category":"metrics","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"etcd","native":true,"direction":"inbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Rust | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Open Source (Apache 2.0)","summary":"Free, open source","features":["Core columnar database engine","SQL and PromQL query support","OpenTelemetry and Prometheus Remote Write ingestion","Object storage integration"],"description":"Free, open-source version for self-hosted deployment","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"GreptimeDB Enterprise - Fully-Managed","summary":"From $290/month","features":["Guaranteed resources and performance","Unlimited data storage and retention","Completely isolated resources and network","Fully-managed deployment topology","SQL, PromQL, OpenTelemetry support","Multi-protocol support (Prometheus Remote Write, Loki, Elasticsearch, InfluxDB)","High-performance ingestion (billions of events/sec)","High-performance querying","Multiple index types (inverted, skipping, fulltext)","Object storage integration","Iceberg REST Catalog","Horizontal scaling and cluster deployment","Read replicas for dedicated query workloads","Active-Active failover and disaster recovery","Backup and restore","Scheduled compaction","Edge-Cloud synchronization","Enterprise Management Console","RBAC and LDAP authentication","Audit logging","Data encryption (in-transit and at-rest)","SQL safety guardrails (Query Guard)","Performance diagnostics and slow-query analysis","One-on-One technical support","SLA-backed response times"],"components":[{"kind":"fixed","amount":290,"period":"month","currency":"USD"}],"description":"Fully managed cloud service with guaranteed resources and performance","contactSales":false,"includedLimits":{"retention":"unlimited","data_storage":"unlimited"}},{"free":false,"name":"GreptimeDB Enterprise - Bring Your Own Cloud","summary":"Custom pricing","features":["Deploy in your own cloud infrastructure","Full data sovereignty","Installation service","Advanced technical support","Custom SLA","Dedicated technical account management","Operational tools and UI","Enterprise-ready extensions"],"description":"Enterprise deployment in your own cloud infrastructure with full data sovereignty","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Free open-source core; Enterprise managed service from $290/month, custom pricing for self-hosted","currency":"USD","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://greptime.com/pricing","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T13:53:10.057Z","startingPrice":{"amount":290,"period":"month","currency":"USD"},"billingPeriods":["month"]}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://m3db.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:30:20.373Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | freemium | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | high | free |
| pricing.starting_price | `{"amount":290,"currency":"USD"}` | - |
| pricing.transparent | yes | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 4 | 12 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.4.0-nightly-20261012","date":"2026-10-12T02:53:36Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.4.0-nightly-20261012"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.4.0-alpha.0-97913b4b3-20261007-1791360072","date":"2026-10-07T09:31:05Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.4.0-alpha.0-97913b4b3-20261007-1791360072"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.4.0-nightly-20261005","date":"2026-10-05T03:12:51Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.4.0-nightly-20261005"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.3.0-beta.1","date":"2026-09-29T04:04:40Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.3.0-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.3.0-alpha.1-3c0e2a8d5-20260928-1790639248","date":"2026-09-29T01:23:22Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.3.0-alpha.1-3c0e2a8d5-20260928-1790639248"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.2.1","date":"2026-09-16T09:41:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.2.0","date":"2026-09-08T20:30:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.3.0-alpha.1-nightly-20260907","date":"2026-09-07T03:26:06Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.3.0-alpha.1-nightly-20260907"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.3.0-alpha.1","date":"2026-09-03T09:36:16Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.3.0-alpha.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.3.0-nightly-20260824","date":"2026-08-24T08:59:33Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.3.0-nightly-20260824"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.2.0-beta.2","date":"2026-08-21T14:51:51Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.2.0-beta.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.3.0-70470bafb-20260807-1786098766","date":"2026-08-07T11:46:37Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.3.0-70470bafb-20260807-1786098766"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.2.0-beta.1","date":"2026-08-01T04:23:45Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.2.0-beta.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.1.4","date":"2026-07-24T08:15:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.2.0-d1e61a4ad-20260720-1784560249","date":"2026-07-20T16:20:10Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.2.0-d1e61a4ad-20260720-1784560249"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.1.3","date":"2026-07-17T03:46:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.1.2-0783225e0-20260710-1783671342","date":"2026-07-10T09:23:35Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.1.2-0783225e0-20260710-1783671342"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.2.0-nightly-20260706","date":"2026-07-06T02:57:41Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.2.0-nightly-20260706"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.1.2","date":"2026-07-02T13:58:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/GreptimeTeam/greptimedb/releases/tag/v1.2.0-8513d8d6b-20260625-1782368704","date":"2026-06-25T07:30:14Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.2.0-8513d8d6b-20260625-1782368704"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.6.0","date":"2026-09-25T21:06:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.5.0","date":"2022-04-07T21:38:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.4.2","date":"2022-01-19T19:13:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.4.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.4.1","date":"2021-11-20T18:35:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.4.0","date":"2021-11-19T23:14:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.3.0","date":"2021-10-10T12:38:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.2.0","date":"2021-09-18T16:49:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.1.0","date":"2021-02-03T16:58:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc.2","date":"2020-11-19T10:32:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0-rc.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.0.0","date":"2020-11-16T16:36:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc.1","date":"2020-11-19T10:29:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v1.0.0-rc.0","date":"2020-11-09T22:23:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.5","date":"2020-12-11T20:04:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.4","date":"2020-12-07T08:08:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.2","date":"2020-10-28T19:59:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.1","date":"2020-10-28T19:40:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.3","date":"2020-11-17T23:03:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17-hotfix.0","date":"2020-10-23T19:02:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17-hotfix.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.17","date":"2020-10-08T14:27:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.16","date":"2020-10-02T06:41:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.16"}]` |
| security.gdpr | yes | - |
| security.hipaa | yes | - |
| security.scorecard | - | 3.4 |
| security.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,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fm3db%2Fm3&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (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 |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:28:38.982Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*