M3DB

Prometheus compatible, easy to adopt metrics engine

Also known as
m3db

What is M3DB?

M3 is an open source metrics engine that provides visibility and monitoring for large-scale infrastructure. Trusted by enterprises including Uber, Walmart, and LinkedIn.

Independently observed

M3DB pricing

We don't have M3DB's full plan breakdown yet (its pricing page resisted automated reading). Here's what we could confirm. Always check live pricing for exact numbers.

What M3DB does

The capabilities that matter for time-series databases, normalised so it lines up with every alternative. “-” means we haven't confirmed it, not that it's missing.

Query
Query language (SQL / PromQL / InfluxQL-Flux / Graphite)
PromQL
SQL compatibility
Non-SQL
Ingest
Ingest model
Push
Model
Data model
Metrics (labels/tags)
Lifecycle
Downsampling / rollups
-
Retention / TTL
Manual
Storage
Compression (columnar / delta / Gorilla)
-
Performance
High-cardinality handling
Strong
Scale
Clustering / horizontal scale
Distributed / sharded
Replication / HA
Deployment
Deployment
Self-hosted
Interop
Prometheus remote-write compatible
Licensing
Licence class
Permissive OSS
Independently observed

Platform & deployment

Independently observed
Platforms
  • CLI
Deployment
  • Self-hosted

Integrations (4)

Independently observed
  • Prometheus
  • Graphite
  • Grafana
  • InfluxDB

M3DB alternatives

Other time-series databases we track, ranked by the same independent score.

Independent · unbought · dated

The Vioscale score: one lens on the evidence

Not user reviews and not a paid placement: a confidence-weighted blend of the independent signals below (adoption, activity, security posture, and more), which you can sort and re-weight yourself. Vendors can correct their listing but can never move their rank, and stars are weighted low as a vanity metric. It is one way to read the evidence for M3DB, not the verdict.

Balanced composite 35 / 100
low · 31%
Signal contributions to the composite score
SignalScoreWeightContributionEvidence
Release Cadence6712.00800.0
Capabilities4617.00778.9
Github Stars707.00487.2
Integrations208.00160.8
Github Activity020.000.0
Security Posture018.000.0-
Package Downloads06.000.0-
Stackoverflow Activity020.000.0-

Computed . Re-weight it by intent, or see the full method.

All data & sourcesshow ↓

Every value we hold, with its source, retrieval date, and confidence. This is the evidence behind the score: don't trust it, verify it.

Activity

AttributeValueEvidence
Commits last 30d0mediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 65%

Adoption

AttributeValueEvidence
Github stars4,893highsource · 2026-08-03 · 90%

Features

AttributeValueEvidence
Capabilities{"clustering":"distributed","data_model":"metrics","deployment":"self_hosted","ingest_model":"push","licence_class":"permissive_oss","retention_ttl":"manual","query_language":"PromQL","replication_ha":true,"high_cardinality":"strong","sql_compatibility":"non_sql","prometheus_remote_write":true}mediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 60%

Integrations

AttributeValueEvidence
Count4mediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 60%

Language

AttributeValueEvidence
PrimaryGohighsource · 2026-08-03 · 90%

License

AttributeValueEvidence
SpdxApache-2.0highsource · 2026-08-03 · 95%

Pricing

AttributeValueEvidence
Free tierYesmediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 60%
Modelopen_sourcemediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 60%
Price levelfreemediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 60%

Release

AttributeValueEvidence
Cadence days60mediumsource · 2026-08-03 · 70%