Time-series databases · VictoriaMetrics, Inc.

VictoriaMetrics

Open-source, Prometheus-compatible time-series database and monitoring backend built for high cardinality at low cost.

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VictoriaMetrics is an open-source time-series database and monitoring solution designed as a drop-in, more resource-efficient alternative to running Prometheus at scale, particularly for high-cardinality metrics and long-term retention. It is compatible with the PromQL query language (and extends it with MetricsQL) and can ingest directly from Prometheus remote-write, Graphite, InfluxDB line protocol and OpenTelemetry, making migration from existing monitoring stacks straightforward. It ships as a single-node binary for smaller deployments and a cluster version that separates ingestion, storage and query components for horizontal scale. VictoriaMetrics is self-hosted by default; an Enterprise edition adds features like downsampling, multi-tenancy and backup tooling, sold on a custom-quoted basis with no published rate card. It is typically shortlisted by platform and SRE teams already running Prometheus who are hitting cardinality or storage-cost limits.

At a glance

Vendor VictoriaMetrics, Inc.
Pricing model Free tier + paid plans
Free tier Yes
Deployment Self-hosted
Open source Yes (Apache-2.0)
Best for SRE and platform teams outgrowing Prometheus's storage or cardinality limits without changing their query language.

Pricing

The open-source database is free; Enterprise licensing is custom-quoted with no published price list.

Checked on the vendor's own page on September 21, 2026: no prices are published. Expect to be quoted.

Features

  • PromQL/MetricsQL compatible querying
  • Prometheus remote-write, Graphite, InfluxDB and OpenTelemetry ingestion
  • High compression for high-cardinality metrics
  • Single-node and horizontally scalable cluster modes
  • Long-term retention at lower storage cost than raw Prometheus
  • Downsampling and multi-tenancy (Enterprise)

Integrations

Profile last reviewed September 21, 2026

Head to head

Alternatives

Prometheus Open-source monitoring system with a built-in time-series database, the de facto standard for Kubernetes and infrastructure metrics. InfluxDB Purpose-built time-series database for metrics, sensor and IoT data, available self-hosted or as a managed cloud service. QuestDB High-throughput open-source time-series database with SQL, built for fast ingestion of market, IoT and metrics data.

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Terms to know

Time-series database A database purpose-built for data points indexed by time, optimized for fast writes and time-range queries.

Related guides

How to choose a time-series database Pick a time-series database by whether you need relational joins, what protocol your data already speaks, and how much cardinality you actually have.