# M3DB vs TimescaleDB

**Leader by Vioscale score:** TimescaleDB

| Attribute | M3DB | TimescaleDB |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 36.3 (51% (medium)) | 55.2 (51% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 0 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 10 | 0 |
| adoption.github_stars | 4,895 | 23,420 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"on_prem":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | 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. | 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. |
| features.capabilities | `{"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}` | `{"clustering":"distributed","data_model":"metrics","deployment":"embedded","ingest_model":"both","licence_class":"permissive_oss","query_language":"SQL","sql_compatibility":"full_sql"}` |
| integrations.count | 4 | 7 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Graphite"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Docker"}]` | `[{"name":"Kafka"},{"name":"S3"},{"name":"Iceberg"},{"name":"AWS"},{"name":"Azure"},{"name":"Observability tools"},{"name":"Postgres ecosystem"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | C |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | - |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"primaryMarkets":["US"],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://m3db.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-14T08:30:20.373Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","plans":[{"free":true,"name":"Cloud Basic Support","features":["Email support","General questions","Best practices guidance"],"description":"Support included with all Tiger Cloud trials and subscriptions; email support during business hours (Mon-Fri, 9AM-5PM ET) with 1 business day target response time.","contactSales":false},{"free":false,"name":"Cloud Production Support","features":["24x7 support for Severity 1-2","1h response for critical issues","Support portal access","On-call assistance"],"description":"24x7 coverage for severe incidents with 1 hour target response for critical database down issues; 4 hour response for high-severity; 1 business day for moderate.","contactSales":true}],"summary":"Open source core; Cloud managed and Enterprise self-hosted options available; contact sales for pricing details","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://www.tigerdata.com/learn/understanding-rds-pricing-and-costs","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T16:49:36.728Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | - | no |
| release.cadence_days | 11 | 13 |
| release.history | `[{"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"},{"url":"https://github.com/m3db/m3/releases/tag/v0.15.15","date":"2020-09-21T02:01:35Z","type":"stable","version":"v0.15.15"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.29.2","date":"2026-08-18T08:48:11Z","type":"stable","version":"2.29.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.29.1","date":"2026-08-04T08:54:38Z","type":"stable","version":"2.29.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.29.0","date":"2026-07-28T11:49:24Z","type":"stable","version":"2.29.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.28.3","date":"2026-07-16T12:54:32Z","type":"stable","version":"2.28.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.28.2","date":"2026-06-30T11:35:40Z","type":"stable","version":"2.28.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.28.1","date":"2026-06-23T08:29:24Z","type":"stable","version":"2.28.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.28.0","date":"2026-06-16T10:20:10Z","type":"stable","version":"2.28.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.27.2","date":"2026-06-02T10:28:34Z","type":"stable","version":"2.27.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.27.1","date":"2026-05-19T10:37:36Z","type":"stable","version":"2.27.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.27.0","date":"2026-05-12T08:35:57Z","type":"stable","version":"2.27.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.26.4","date":"2026-04-28T20:37:35Z","type":"stable","version":"2.26.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.26.3","date":"2026-04-14T09:24:02Z","type":"stable","version":"2.26.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.26.2","date":"2026-04-08T10:37:56Z","type":"stable","version":"2.26.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.26.1","date":"2026-03-30T08:23:08Z","type":"stable","version":"2.26.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.26.0","date":"2026-03-24T12:44:25Z","type":"stable","version":"2.26.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.25.2","date":"2026-03-03T09:28:51Z","type":"stable","version":"2.25.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.25.1","date":"2026-02-17T11:43:20Z","type":"stable","version":"2.25.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.25.0","date":"2026-01-29T09:02:59Z","type":"stable","version":"2.25.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.24.0","date":"2025-12-03T09:01:11Z","type":"stable","version":"2.24.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/timescale/timescaledb/releases/tag/2.23.1","date":"2025-11-13T16:59:40Z","type":"stable","version":"2.23.1"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 3.3 | 5.8 |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"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}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=debian&package_name=timescaledb&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Time-Series Databases)

| Capability | M3DB | TimescaleDB |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Query** |  |  |
| Query language (SQL / PromQL / InfluxQL-Flux / Graphite) | PromQL, Graphite | SQL |
| SQL compatibility | Non-SQL | Full SQL |
| **Ingest** |  |  |
| Ingest model | Push | Both |
| **Model** |  |  |
| Data model | Metrics (labels/tags) | Metrics (labels/tags) |
| **Lifecycle** |  |  |
| Downsampling / rollups | Retention policies | - |
| Retention / TTL | Automatic | - |
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Compression (columnar / delta / Gorilla) | columnar | - |
| **Performance** |  |  |
| High-cardinality handling | Strong | - |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Clustering / horizontal scale | Distributed / sharded | Distributed / sharded |
| Replication / HA | ✓ | - |
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Embedded |
| **Interop** |  |  |
| Prometheus remote-write compatible | ✓ | - |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Licence class | Permissive OSS | Permissive OSS |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:59:52.392Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*