Comparison

M3DB vs VictoriaMetrics

On the evidence we track, M3DB leads this comparison with a composite score of 51/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
★M3DB51
VictoriaMetrics45
Score
vioscaleAI score
M3DB51 / 100medium · 51%
VictoriaMetrics45 / 100medium · 55%
Pricing
Free tier
M3DB✓
VictoriaMetrics✓
Model
VictoriaMetricscommercial
Price level
M3DBfree
VictoriaMetricslow
Transparent
M3DB✓
VictoriaMetrics✗
Integrations
Count
M3DB4
VictoriaMetrics8
Reliability
Status page
M3DB–
VictoriaMetrics✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
M3DB10
VictoriaMetrics25
Github stars
M3DB4,905
VictoriaMetrics17,865
Activity
Commits last 30d
M3DB50
VictoriaMetrics100
Release
Cadence days
M3DB12
VictoriaMetrics–
History
VictoriaMetrics20 items
License
Spdx
VictoriaMetricsApache-2.0
Language
Primary
M3DBGo
VictoriaMetricsGo
Market
Content
Faq
VictoriaMetrics7 items

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)
M3DBPromQL, Graphite
VictoriaMetricsMetricsQL (metrics), LogsQL (logs)
SQL compatibility
M3DBNon-SQL
VictoriaMetricsNon-SQL
Ingest
Ingest model
M3DBPush
VictoriaMetricsBoth
Model
Data model
M3DBMetrics (labels/tags)
VictoriaMetricsBoth
Lifecycle
Downsampling / rollups
M3DBRetention policies
VictoriaMetricsContinuous aggregates
Retention / TTL
M3DBAutomatic
VictoriaMetricsManual
Storage
Compression (columnar / delta / Gorilla)
M3DBcolumnar
VictoriaMetrics-
Performance
High-cardinality handling
M3DBStrong
VictoriaMetricsStrong
Scale
Clustering / horizontal scale
M3DBDistributed / sharded
VictoriaMetricsDistributed / sharded
Replication / HA
M3DB✓
VictoriaMetrics-
Deployment
Deployment
M3DBSelf-hosted
VictoriaMetricsSelf-hosted
Interop
Prometheus remote-write compatible
M3DB✓
VictoriaMetrics✓
Licensing
Licence class
M3DBPermissive OSS
VictoriaMetricsPermissive OSS

What each one is

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

M3DB

Leader

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

VictoriaMetrics

A high-performance time-series database optimized for storing, querying, and managing large volumes of metrics data cost-effectively, commonly used for monitoring and observability in cloud-native environments.

Independently observed

Pricing

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

M3DB

Leader
Open sourceFree tier
as of verify ↗

VictoriaMetrics

HybridFree tier

Open source with free evaluation; enterprise support available

as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

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

Platforms
Web
M3DB✗
VictoriaMetrics✓
macOS
M3DB✓
VictoriaMetrics✗
Windows
M3DB✓
VictoriaMetrics✗
Linux
M3DB✓
VictoriaMetrics✗
CLI
M3DB✓
VictoriaMetrics✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
M3DB✗
VictoriaMetrics✓
Self-hosted
M3DB✓
VictoriaMetrics✓

Integrations

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

In common (4)
  • Prometheus
  • Graphite
  • Kubernetes
  • InfluxDB

M3DB

Leader
6 total - 2 not shared
  • Docker
  • etcd
Independently observed

VictoriaMetrics

18 total - 14 not shared
  • Logstash
  • Fluentbit
  • Promtail
  • Elasticsearch
  • Loki
  • Grafana
  • OpenLIT
  • S3
  • GCS
  • DataDog
  • StatsD
  • OpenTSDB
  • Jaeger
  • OpenTelemetry
Independently observed
Still deciding?

M3DB or VictoriaMetrics: 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.