# M3DB vs VictoriaMetrics

**Leader by Vioscale score:** VictoriaMetrics

| Attribute | M3DB | VictoriaMetrics |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 36.3 (51% (medium)) | 45.7 (56% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 0 | 97 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 10 | 25 |
| adoption.github_stars | 4,895 | 17,596 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"hybrid":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. | Open source time series database optimized for high-cardinality metrics and logs, with both self-hosted and cloud deployment options. |
| 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":"both","deployment":"self_hosted","downsampling":"continuous_aggregates","ingest_model":"both","licence_class":"permissive_oss","query_language":"MetricsQL (metrics), LogsQL (logs)","high_cardinality":"strong","sql_compatibility":"non_sql","prometheus_remote_write":true}` |
| integrations.count | 4 | 10 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Graphite"},{"name":"Kubernetes"},{"name":"Docker"}]` | `[{"name":"Prometheus"},{"name":"Logstash"},{"name":"Fluentbit"},{"name":"Promtail"},{"name":"Elasticsearch"},{"name":"Loki"},{"name":"Grafana"},{"name":"OpenLIT"},{"name":"S3"},{"name":"GCS"}]` |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| market.availability | `{"primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` | `{"hqCountry":"UA","primaryMarkets":[],"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","summary":"Prepaid yearly credits option with Stripe and AWS Marketplace fallback. One-month free trial.","currency":"USD","freeTier":false,"sourceUrl":"https://victoriametrics.com/blog/not-all-telemetry-deserves-premium-pricing/","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T17:01:46.780Z","freeTrialDays":30,"billingPeriods":["month","year"]}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | no |
| pricing.model | open_source | commercial |
| pricing.price_level | free | unknown |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 11 | - |
| 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/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.150.0","date":"2026-08-17T09:53:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.150.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.148.1","date":"2026-08-05T12:38:42Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.148.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.136.15","date":"2026-08-05T12:38:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.136.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.149.0","date":"2026-08-05T12:38:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.149.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.136.14","date":"2026-07-20T11:02:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.136.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.122.27","date":"2026-07-20T11:02:19Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.122.27"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.148.2","date":"2026-08-17T09:53:24Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.148.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.148.0","date":"2026-07-20T11:02:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.148.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.147.0","date":"2026-07-06T14:08:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.147.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.136.13","date":"2026-07-06T14:08:20Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.136.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.122.26","date":"2026-07-06T14:08:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.122.26"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.136.12","date":"2026-06-22T11:09:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.136.12"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.122.25","date":"2026-06-22T11:09:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.122.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.146.0","date":"2026-06-22T11:09:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.146.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.136.11","date":"2026-06-08T10:53:56Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.136.11"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.122.24","date":"2026-06-08T10:54:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.122.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.145.0","date":"2026-06-08T10:54:11Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.145.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.136.10","date":"2026-05-25T11:33:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.136.10"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.122.23","date":"2026-05-25T11:34:36Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.122.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/releases/tag/v1.144.0","date":"2026-05-25T11:34:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.144.0"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.iso27001 | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 3.3 | 6.2 |
| 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":1,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2FVictoriaMetrics%2FVictoriaMetrics&per_page=100","last_12m":1,"max_severity":"LOW"}` |

## Capabilities (Time-Series Databases)

| Capability | M3DB | VictoriaMetrics |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Query** |  |  |
| Query language (SQL / PromQL / InfluxQL-Flux / Graphite) | PromQL, Graphite | MetricsQL (metrics), LogsQL (logs) |
| SQL compatibility | Non-SQL | Non-SQL |
| **Ingest** |  |  |
| Ingest model | Push | Both |
| **Model** |  |  |
| Data model | Metrics (labels/tags) | Both |
| **Lifecycle** |  |  |
| Downsampling / rollups | Retention policies | Continuous aggregates |
| Retention / TTL | Automatic | - |
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Compression (columnar / delta / Gorilla) | columnar | - |
| **Performance** |  |  |
| High-cardinality handling | Strong | 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 | Permissive OSS | Permissive OSS |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T15:20:34.427Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*