Comparison

KairosDB vs TimescaleDB

On the evidence we track, TimescaleDB leads this comparison with a composite score of 55/100. 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
TimescaleDB55
Score
Vioscale score
KairosDB25 / 100medium · 56%
TimescaleDB55 / 100medium · 51%
Pricing
Free tier
KairosDB
TimescaleDB
Model
KairosDBopen_source
TimescaleDBcommercial
Price level
KairosDBfree
TimescaleDBlow
Transparent
KairosDB
TimescaleDB
Integrations
Count
KairosDB3
TimescaleDB7
Reliability
Status page
KairosDB
TimescaleDB
Adoption
Dependent repos
KairosDB32
TimescaleDB0
Github stars
KairosDB1,762
TimescaleDB23,420
Package downloads weekly
KairosDB9
TimescaleDB
Activity
Commits last 30d
KairosDB0
TimescaleDB100
Release
Cadence days
KairosDB92
TimescaleDB13
History
KairosDB15 items
TimescaleDB20 items
License
Spdx
KairosDBApache-2.0
TimescaleDB
Language
Primary
KairosDBJava
TimescaleDBC
Market
Availability

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
TimescaleDBSQL
SQL compatibility
KairosDBNon-SQL
TimescaleDBFull SQL
Ingest
Ingest model
KairosDBPush
TimescaleDBBoth
Model
Data model
KairosDBMetrics (labels/tags)
TimescaleDBMetrics (labels/tags)
Lifecycle
Downsampling / rollups
KairosDBContinuous aggregates
TimescaleDB-
Retention / TTL
KairosDBManual
TimescaleDB-
Storage
Compression (columnar / delta / Gorilla)
KairosDB-
TimescaleDB-
Performance
High-cardinality handling
KairosDBStrong
TimescaleDB-
Scale
Clustering / horizontal scale
KairosDBDistributed / sharded
TimescaleDBDistributed / sharded
Replication / HA
KairosDB
TimescaleDB-
Deployment
Deployment
KairosDBSelf-hosted
TimescaleDBEmbedded
Interop
Prometheus remote-write compatible
KairosDB-
TimescaleDB-
Licensing
Licence class
KairosDBSource-available
TimescaleDBPermissive 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

TimescaleDB

Leader

TimescaleDB is a PostgreSQL extension designed to handle machine data and time-series workloads at scale, enabling operational databases for IoT platforms and physical-world monitoring.

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 ↗

TimescaleDB

Leader
HybridFree tier

Open source core; Cloud managed and Enterprise self-hosted options available; contact sales for pricing details

  • Cloud Basic SupportFree
    • Email support
    • General questions
    • Best practices guidance
  • Cloud Production SupportContact sales
    • 24x7 support for Severity 1-2
    • 1h response for critical issues
    • Support portal access
    • On-call assistance
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
KairosDB
TimescaleDB
CLI
KairosDB
TimescaleDB
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
KairosDB
TimescaleDB
Self-hosted
KairosDB
TimescaleDB
On-premise
KairosDB
TimescaleDB

Integrations

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

KairosDB

3 total
  • Cassandra
  • Graphite
  • Telnet
Independently observed

TimescaleDB

Leader
7 total
  • Kafka
  • S3
  • Iceberg
  • AWS
  • Azure
  • Observability tools
  • Postgres ecosystem
Independently observed

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