InfluxDB vs Prometheus
InfluxDB
Purpose-built time-series database
Prometheus
Monitoring and alerting toolkit
| Feature | InfluxDB | Prometheus |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Databases | Monitoring |
| Sub-category | Time-Series | Metrics |
| Maturity | mature | mature |
| Complexity | intermediate | intermediate |
| Performance tier | medium | medium |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| License type | permissive | permissive |
| Pricing | fully free | fully free |
| GitHub stars | 30.0K | 57.0K |
| Contributors | 500 | 300 |
| Commit frequency | weekly | weekly |
| Plugin ecosystem | none | none |
| Docs quality | good | good |
| Backing org | InfluxData | CNCF |
| Funding model | open_core | foundation |
| Min RAM | 1 GB | 512 MB |
| Min CPU cores | 2 | 1 |
| Scaling pattern | horizontal | single_node |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| K8s native | No | Yes |
| Offline capable | Yes | No |
| Vendor lock-in | none | none |
| Languages | Go, Rust | Go |
| API type | REST | REST |
| Protocols | HTTP | HTTP |
| Deployment | docker, apt, binary | docker, binary |
| SDK languages | — | — |
| Team size fit | solo, small, medium, enterprise | small, medium, enterprise |
| First release | 2020 | 2020 |
| Latest version | — | — |
When to use InfluxDB
- ✓ Primary: monitoring-metrics
- ✓ Primary: iot-data-storage
- ✓ Primary: real-time-analytics
When to use Prometheus
- ✓ Primary: infrastructure-monitoring
- ✓ Primary: alerting
- ✓ Primary: kubernetes-metrics
InfluxDB anti-patterns
- ✕ Flux language learning curve
- ✕ v3 is a rewrite — migration needed
- ✕ Cardinality limits can be frustrating
Prometheus anti-patterns
- ✕ Not for log aggregation
- ✕ Storage not for long-term by default
- ✕ Pull model doesn't work for all cases