# KairosDB vs OpenTSDB

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** OpenTSDB

| Attribute | KairosDB | OpenTSDB |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 29.5 (55% (medium)) | 34.6 (44% (low)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 0 | 0 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 32 | 175 |
| adoption.github_stars | 1,761 | 5,064 |
| adoption.package_downloads_weekly | 3 | 30 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"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. It is indexed under Time-Series Databases.","source":"https://kairosdb.github.io/","question":"What is KairosDB?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"KairosDB 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://kairosdb.github.io/","question":"Is KairosDB free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"KairosDB supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://kairosdb.github.io/","question":"What platforms does KairosDB support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. KairosDB can be deployed self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://kairosdb.github.io/","question":"Can KairosDB be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 3 integrations for KairosDB, including Cassandra, Graphite and Telnet. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://kairosdb.github.io/","question":"What does KairosDB integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. KairosDB 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/kairosdb/kairosdb","question":"Is KairosDB open source?","confidence":0.67}]` | `[{"answer":"An open-source time series database built on Hadoop and HBase that stores metric data with millisecond precision and scales to millions of writes per second. It is indexed under Time-Series Databases.","source":"https://opentsdb.net/","question":"What is OpenTSDB?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"OpenTSDB is open source, so it can be self-hosted and used at no licence cost. It is released under the LGPL-2.1 licence. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://opentsdb.net/","question":"Is OpenTSDB free to use?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed browser-based access to OpenTSDB. That is the extent of what we could verify from public sources, so it may well offer desktop or mobile clients we have not indexed.","source":"https://opentsdb.net/","question":"What platforms does OpenTSDB support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. OpenTSDB can be deployed on-premise and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://opentsdb.net/","question":"Can OpenTSDB be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. OpenTSDB is published under the LGPL-2.1 licence, a copyleft licence, so check its terms before embedding it in a closed-source product. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb","question":"Is OpenTSDB open source?","confidence":0.67}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | KairosDB is a time series database built on Cassandra that supports multiple cluster architectures with separated read and write paths, allowing efficient data management across distributed systems. | An open-source system for ingesting, storing, and analyzing operational metrics from infrastructure and applications. Designed to handle thousands of measurement streams from numerous hosts and services, it enables rapid data collection and subsequent querying of metric data. |
| features.capabilities | `{"clustering":"distributed","data_model":"metrics","deployment":"self_hosted","downsampling":"continuous_aggregates","ingest_model":"push","licence_class":"source_available","retention_ttl":"manual","query_language":"REST API, Graphite protocol","replication_ha":true,"high_cardinality":"strong","sql_compatibility":"non_sql"}` | `{"clustering":"distributed","data_model":"metrics","deployment":"self_hosted","downsampling":"continuous_aggregates","ingest_model":"push","licence_class":"permissive_oss","retention_ttl":"manual"}` |
| integrations.count | 3 | 3 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Cassandra"},{"name":"Graphite"},{"name":"Telnet"}]` | `[{"name":"Nagios","category":"monitoring","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Icinga","category":"monitoring","direction":"inbound"},{"name":"Gnuplot","category":"visualization","direction":"outbound"}]` |
| language.primary | Java | Java |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | LGPL-2.1 |
| platform.support | `{"linux":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://kairosdb.github.io/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T23:03:34.808Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://opentsdb.net/","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T11:16:10.615Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | - | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| release.cadence_days | 92 | 77 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v1.3.0","date":"2021-08-09T04:31:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v1.2.2","date":"2018-11-10T04:04:05Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v1.3.0-beta1","date":"2018-04-14T04:43:02Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.3.0-beta1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v1.2.1","date":"2018-03-31T19:07:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v1.2.0","date":"2018-02-01T14:54:51Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v1.1.3","date":"2017-01-04T00:24:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v1.1.2","date":"2016-09-08T04:29:39Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v1.1.1","date":"2015-12-08T03:09:45Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v1.1.0","date":"2015-11-05T23:22:46Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v1.0.0","date":"2015-06-05T05:08:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v0.9.5beta2","date":"2015-04-03T13:25:15Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.9.5beta2"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v0.9.5beta1","date":"2015-01-26T20:29:20Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v0.9.5beta1"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v0.9.4","date":"2014-07-07T21:30:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.9.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v0.9.3","date":"2014-06-18T16:10:41Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.9.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/kairosdb/kairosdb/releases/tag/v0.9.2","date":"2014-06-18T16:51:02Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.9.2"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.5.0RC1","date":"2024-12-12T20:03:34Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.5.0RC1"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.4.1","date":"2021-09-02T22:28:30Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.4.0","date":"2018-12-17T02:38:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.3.2","date":"2018-12-17T01:08:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.3.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.3.1","date":"2018-05-22T00:27:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.4.0RC2","date":"2017-10-09T04:53:29Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.4.0RC2"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.3.0","date":"2016-12-31T20:18:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.2.2","date":"2016-12-29T18:35:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.2.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.3.0RC2","date":"2016-10-08T19:28:41Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.3.0RC2"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.2.1","date":"2016-10-08T19:07:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.2.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.3.0RC1","date":"2016-05-02T19:00:34Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.3.0RC1"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.2.0","date":"2016-02-15T01:45:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.1.4","date":"2016-02-14T21:37:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.1.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.2.0RC3","date":"2015-11-11T21:06:00Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.2.0RC3"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.1.3","date":"2015-11-11T20:54:21Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.1.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.2.0RC2","date":"2015-11-10T02:20:02Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.2.0RC2"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.1.2","date":"2015-11-10T01:15:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.1.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.2.0RC1","date":"2015-09-12T20:50:35Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v2.2.0RC1"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/2.1.1","date":"2015-09-12T19:49:38Z","type":"stable","version":"2.1.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/OpenTSDB/opentsdb/releases/tag/v2.1.0","date":"2015-05-07T04:46:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.1.0"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.scorecard | 3.4 | 2.5 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=org.kairosdb%3Akairosdb&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"MODERATE"}` | `{"count":7,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=maven&package_name=net.opentsdb%3Aopentsdb&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":"CRITICAL"}` |

## Capabilities (Time-Series Databases)

| Capability | KairosDB | OpenTSDB |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Query** |  |  |
| Query language (SQL / PromQL / InfluxQL-Flux / Graphite) | REST API, Graphite protocol | - |
| SQL compatibility | Non-SQL | - |
| **Ingest** |  |  |
| Ingest model | Push | Push |
| **Model** |  |  |
| Data model | Metrics (labels/tags) | Metrics (labels/tags) |
| **Lifecycle** |  |  |
| Downsampling / rollups | Continuous aggregates | Continuous aggregates |
| Retention / TTL | Manual | Manual |
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Compression (columnar / delta / Gorilla) | - | - |
| **Performance** |  |  |
| High-cardinality handling | Strong | - |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Clustering / horizontal scale | Distributed / sharded | Distributed / sharded |
| Replication / HA | ✓ | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Self-hosted |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| Prometheus remote-write compatible | - | - |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Licence class | Source-available | Permissive OSS |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T19:06:12.631Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*