Comparison

KairosDB vs M3DB

On the evidence we track, M3DB leads this comparison with a composite score of 36/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsJSONMarkdownGraphQLor send Accept: application/json
KairosDB25
M3DB36
Score
Vioscale score
KairosDB25 / 100medium · 56%updating
M3DB36 / 100medium · 51%updating
Pricing
Free tier
KairosDB
M3DB
Model
Price level
KairosDBfree
M3DBfree
Integrations
Count
KairosDB3
M3DB4
Reliability
Status page
KairosDB
M3DB
Adoption
Dependent repos
KairosDB32
M3DB10
Github stars
KairosDB1,762
M3DB4,895
Package downloads weekly
KairosDB9
M3DB
Activity
Commits last 30d
KairosDB0
M3DB0
Release
Cadence days
KairosDB92
M3DB11
History
KairosDB15 items
License
Spdx
Language
Primary
KairosDBJava
M3DBGo
Market
Availability
KairosDB

Capabilities

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

Query
Query language (SQL / PromQL / InfluxQL-Flux / Graphite)
KairosDBREST API, Graphite protocol
M3DBPromQL, Graphite
SQL compatibility
KairosDBNon-SQL
M3DBNon-SQL
Ingest
Ingest model
KairosDBPush
M3DBPush
Model
Data model
KairosDBMetrics (labels/tags)
M3DBMetrics (labels/tags)
Lifecycle
Downsampling / rollups
KairosDBContinuous aggregates
M3DBRetention policies
Retention / TTL
KairosDBManual
M3DBAutomatic
Storage
Compression (columnar / delta / Gorilla)
KairosDB-
M3DBcolumnar
Performance
High-cardinality handling
KairosDBStrong
M3DBStrong
Scale
Clustering / horizontal scale
KairosDBDistributed / sharded
M3DBDistributed / sharded
Replication / HA
KairosDB
M3DB
Deployment
Deployment
KairosDBSelf-hosted
M3DBSelf-hosted
Interop
Prometheus remote-write compatible
KairosDB-
M3DB
Licensing
Licence class
KairosDBSource-available
M3DBPermissive OSS

What each one is

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

KairosDB

Open-source time series database that leverages Cassandra for storage, providing REST and Graphite protocol support for data ingestion and retrieval, with built-in aggregation functions and extensible architecture via plugins.

Independently observed

M3DB

Leader

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.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

KairosDB

Open source
as of verify ↗

M3DB

Leader
Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
KairosDB
M3DB
CLI
KairosDB
M3DB
Deployment
Self-hosted
KairosDB
M3DB

Integrations

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

In common (1)
  • Graphite

KairosDB

3 total - 2 not shared
  • Cassandra
  • Telnet
Independently observed

M3DB

Leader
4 total - 3 not shared
  • Prometheus
  • Kubernetes
  • Docker
Independently observed

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