Databases · alternatives
Alternatives to TimescaleDB
23 databases tools sit alongside TimescaleDB in this directory. Below is what separates each from TimescaleDB on the figures we hold, price, model, tier count and rating, and a direct comparison for every one.
- Alternatives listed
- 23
- With a free tier
- 18
- Cheaper to start
- -
- TimescaleDB starts at
- Free
Why people look past TimescaleDB
Nothing on the record flags a reason to move. TimescaleDB has a free tier. People still switch over fit and workflow, and those are not things a catalogue entry can measure, which is what the comparisons below are for.
What each alternative does differently
Ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry. Differences are drawn from price, pricing model, tier count and rating, the fields the category listing carries. For a feature-level difference, follow the head-to-head link on each card: those pages read both full records.
Purpose-built time series database for metrics and events
- Publishes an entry price of $0.0025/per MB ingested, where TimescaleDB does not.
Fast open-source column-oriented database for real-time analytics
Priced and rated the same as TimescaleDB on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
Fast open source time-series database for high throughput ingestion
Priced and rated the same as TimescaleDB on the figures we hold. The difference, if there is one, is in the feature records.
MPP analytical database with a MySQL wire protocol and sub-second aggregation on wide tables
- 1 tier to TimescaleDB's 2.
The Meta-lineage distributed SQL query engine, distinct from the Trino fork
- 1 tier to TimescaleDB's 2.
Erlang MQTT broker for large IoT fleets, relicensed to BSL with production free use limited to one node
- Publishes an entry price of $234/month, where TimescaleDB does not.
- 4 tiers to TimescaleDB's 2.
Every TimescaleDB alternative at a glance
A dash means the catalogue entry carries no figure, not that the answer is nothing.
| Tool | Entry price | Model | Tiers | Head to head |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| TimescaleDB (this page) | Free | - | 2 | |
| InfluxDBPurpose-built time-series database with built-in compression and high-throughput data ingestion | Free, then $0.0025/per MB ingested | - | 2 | vs TimescaleDB |
| ClickHouseColumnar database optimized for analytical queries on large time-series datasets | Free | - | - | vs TimescaleDB |
| QuestDBHigh-performance time-series database with fast ingestion rates and minimal latency | Free | Open-source | - | vs TimescaleDB |
| Apache Doris | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Presto | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
| EMQX | Free, then $234/month | Per month by connection and session volume | 4 | vs TimescaleDB |
| StarRocks | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 2 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Solace PubSub+ | Free | Quote | 4 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Tinybird | Free, then $25/month | Per month by compute and storage | 4 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Dremio | Free, then $0.2/hour | Per Dremio Compute Unit consumed | 3 | vs TimescaleDB |
| VerneMQ | Free | Quote | 3 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Timeplus | Free, then $199/month | Per month for cloud, quoted for self-hosted | 3 | vs TimescaleDB |
| RisingWave | Free, then $0.227/hour | Per RisingWave Unit hour | 4 | vs TimescaleDB |
| NATS | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Redpanda | Free | Source-available community edition with paid enterprise and cloud tiers | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
| RabbitMQ | Free | Open source, no licence fee; managed services billed separately | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Canary Labs | $3000/year | Per tag band per year | 4 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Instaclustr | On request | Quote | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Immuta | On request | Quote | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Privacera | On request | Quote | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
| TIBCO Enterprise Message Service | On request | Quote | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Apache Solr | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
| Apache Pulsar | Free | Open source, no licence fee | 1 | vs TimescaleDB |
Ratings are aggregated from third-party sources and imported with each catalogue entry; Softwr hosts no reviews of these products. How each figure is used is set out on the TimescaleDB badges page.
Cheaper ways to solve the same problem
Free to start (18)
These publish a tier that costs nothing, so they can be evaluated before any money changes hands.
- InfluxDB , Free, then $0.0025/per MB ingested
- ClickHouse , Free
- QuestDB , Free
- Apache Doris , Free
- Presto , Free
- EMQX , Free, then $234/month
- StarRocks , Free
- Solace PubSub+ , Free
What you would be giving up
TimescaleDB is most often brought in for monitoring, iot data, financial data, log analytics, observability. Anything replacing it has to cover the ones you actually depend on, and a cheaper tool that misses one of them is not cheaper.
Two things this page cannot settle. It compares on price, model, tier count and rating, because those are the fields the category listing carries, feature-level differences need both full records, which is what the head-to-head pages load. And the ratings are third-party aggregates imported with each entry rather than reviews written here, so a 0.2 difference between two tools is noise rather than a finding.
If TimescaleDB is broadly right and the question is cost, the TimescaleDB pricing breakdown covers every tier and what each one adds. If you want the whole field rather than a shortlist, the Databases category lists everything the directory holds, and best databases tools ranks them.
TimescaleDB runs on linux, macos, windows, docker, kubernetes, cloud (aws, gcp, azure). Platform coverage is not carried on the category listing for the alternatives, so it is one more thing to check on each head-to-head page rather than here.
Questions about TimescaleDB alternatives
- What are the main alternatives to TimescaleDB?
- 23 other databases tools are listed in this directory, led by InfluxDB, ClickHouse, QuestDB, Apache Doris. They are ordered by the aggregated rating on each catalogue entry, not by any Softwr ranking.
- What is the best free alternative to TimescaleDB?
- 18 of the alternatives listed here can be used without paying: InfluxDB, ClickHouse, QuestDB, Apache Doris, Presto.
- Is there a reason to switch away from TimescaleDB?
- Nothing in the data flags one. TimescaleDB has a free tier. Fit and workflow are the usual reasons to move, and those are not things this record can measure.
- What would I give up by switching from TimescaleDB?
- TimescaleDB is most often brought in for monitoring, iot data, financial data, log analytics, observability. Anything you replace it with has to cover the ones you actually rely on, the side-by-side comparisons linked from each alternative below put the two feature records against each other.
- Is there an open-source alternative to TimescaleDB?
- QuestDB is recorded with an open-source licence model.
- How were these TimescaleDB alternatives chosen?
- They are the tools filed in the same category, Databases, ordered by the aggregated rating on each entry. There is no editorial shortlist, and nothing on this page is paid: no sponsored placement runs on alternatives pages and the order cannot be bought. Softwr has not used these products.
- Where can I compare TimescaleDB against one of these directly?
- Every alternative below has a side-by-side page against TimescaleDB covering price, platforms, features and what each one is used for. Those pages read the full record for both products rather than the summary shown here.
- Does this list cover every databases tool?
- No. It covers what this directory holds in the Databases category, 23 tools beside TimescaleDB. The category page lists the rest of the catalogue as it grows.