Open-source time-series databases compared

ClickHouse ships stable releases roughly monthly and LTS releases twice a year, with each LTS line supported for a year after release. The three latest stable releases receive diagnostics and bug fix backports. The ClickHouse security policy lists 26.9, 26.8, 26.7 and 26.3 as currently supported with security updates, and all other versions as unsupported. The effort driver is cadence. A team on stable releases plans upgrades often, while an LTS line reduces frequency but still requires a yearly move to a newer line. The production FAQ recommends a pre-production environment with representative data and queries, and reading the changelog before each upgrade because minor backward-incompatible changes can occur. Ask your team to confirm which lines it will run and who owns the upgrade calendar.

No. Replication keeps copies of data available when a node fails, but the ClickHouse backup documentation notes that replication alone does not protect against human error or corruption, because a bad delete or write is copied to every replica. ClickHouse BACKUP and RESTORE support full and incremental backups of tables, partitions or databases to local disk, S3-compatible storage or Azure Blob Storage. The effort sits in three places: scheduling backups, storing them off the cluster, and running restores. The backup documentation warns that a backup never test-restored will probably not restore properly when needed and recommends regular restore tests on spare clusters. Ask whether restore tests are part of the operating plan and who runs them, because a backup job that completes without a tested restore does not prove recoverability.

The ClickHouse replication guide recommends at least three ClickHouse Keeper nodes, on dedicated hosts in production, with about 4 GB of RAM each. Keeper coordinates ReplicatedMergeTree tables and replaces ZooKeeper. The effort driver is that Keeper is a separate tier: three additional hosts that need their own patching, monitoring and quorum failure handling, apart from the data nodes. This applies only if you run replicated tables. A single-node deployment does not need Keeper for replication. When a replica recovers, the guide says it syncs missing data from a healthy replica without manual intervention, which reduces routine work but does not remove the need to monitor Keeper health. Ask for the Keeper topology in your design, including host placement and who responds when a Keeper node is lost.

TimescaleDB is a PostgreSQL extension, so every PostgreSQL major version you run must be matched to a TimescaleDB build that supports it. The TimescaleDB README quick start uses the timescale/timescaledb-ha:pg18 Docker image and warns that its one-line install script is for local development and testing only, so production installs need a deliberate packaging choice. PostgreSQL 18 was first released on September 25, 2025 and is supported until November 14, 2030. PostgreSQL ships a new major version about once a year and supports each for five years. TimescaleDB 2.30.2 was published on September 29, 2026. The effort driver is coordinating two upgrade tracks: the PostgreSQL major upgrade and the extension version. Confirm the compatibility matrix with Tiger Data before scheduling either.

The skill set depends on the engine. For TimescaleDB, the team needs PostgreSQL administration: roles, extensions, maintenance, backups and major version upgrades. For InfluxDB 3 Core, it needs Linux operations and configuration of storage, since data persists as Apache Parquet on S3, Azure, GCP or local disk, plus the embedded Python VM if plugins and triggers are used. For ClickHouse, it needs MergeTree table design, Keeper operations, backup and restore testing, and external authentication through LDAP, Kerberos, X.509 certificates, an HTTP authenticator or JWT. Ask which of these skills already exist in your team and where the gaps are. DeployOpen plans, implements, hardens, backs up, upgrades, documents and supports self-hosted platforms inside your own infrastructure, and ongoing support is available as a retainer.

The InfluxDB 3 Core documentation says that high availability, read replicas, historical query capability and single series indexing are added in InfluxDB 3 Enterprise, not in Core. If you self-host Core, you should plan availability around the database rather than assume the engine provides it. The effort falls on storage durability, restart and recovery procedures, and monitoring of the single writer. Because Core persists data to object storage or local disk, your design choice for that storage determines much of your recovery work. Check the InfluxDB 3 Core documentation and the influxdata/influxdb releases page for the current release lines and upgrade notes, including v3.12.1 and v3.11.7, which were published on October 15, 2026. Ask your team to document the recovery procedure and test it.

Yes, if you rely on features that sit outside the Apache 2 Edition. Tiger Data's editions page lists continuous aggregates, the columnstore (Hypercore), data retention policies, job scheduling and functions such as time_bucket_gapfill as available only in TimescaleDB Community Edition. Under the Timescale License, you can install Community Edition on your own on-premises or cloud infrastructure and run it free of charge, but you cannot offer it as a service. The operating effort follows the feature set. Retention and scheduled jobs are routine tasks that many teams automate, so the choice of edition affects how your maintenance jobs are built. Confirm the license terms with your legal team against your intended use, and confirm with Tiger Data which features your data retention plan requires.

Self-hosting cost has three parts: infrastructure you pay your cloud provider or data center for, staff time to install, tune, upgrade and back up the database, and any vendor support contract you choose to buy. None of the three projects charges a license fee for the open-source build, but TimescaleDB Community Edition is licensed under the Timescale License, which permits in-house use but not offering it as a service. Infrastructure and staff time recur every month, while setup and migration work is largely one-time. Ask any quote to separate these lines, state the storage and retention assumptions, and say whether backup storage and high availability are included.

A team with strong PostgreSQL operations experience can often run TimescaleDB as an extension in its existing estate. Teams without that background, or without ClickHouse or InfluxDB operations experience, usually need help with schema design, ingestion testing, backup and restore drills, and upgrade planning. The honest test is whether someone on staff can run a restore on a spare cluster, tune retention and compression policies, and read a changelog before an upgrade. If those skills are missing, a fixed-scope engagement can cover the gap, but you should still keep an internal owner for the platform.

Plan for four areas of skill and infrastructure:

• PostgreSQL administration, if you choose TimescaleDB, since it runs as an extension inside PostgreSQL.
• ClickHouse Keeper for replicated ClickHouse tables. The replication guide recommends at least three Keeper nodes on dedicated hosts in production, with about 4 GB of RAM each.
• Backup storage. ClickHouse BACKUP and RESTORE can write to local disk, S3-compatible storage or Azure Blob Storage, and its documentation notes that replication alone does not protect against human error or corruption.
• Object storage or local disk for InfluxDB 3 Core, which persists data as Apache Parquet on S3, Azure, GCP or local disk.

Confirm each component against your own environment and the current vendor documentation before you size the work.

The scope depends on the number of data sources, the ingestion rate you need to prove, the query patterns your dashboards and alerts use, and whether the database must join existing PostgreSQL data. Those factors set the test plan, which is what a scope document should price. The vendors' documentation does not give a single pilot duration that applies to every team, so we will not state one here. Ask for a written scope that lists the data sets, the query set to test, the retention period, the restore test and the acceptance criteria. DeployOpen's engagements are fixed-scope, with scope, deliverables and timelines agreed in writing before work starts.

Yes, for your own infrastructure. Under the Timescale License, you can install TimescaleDB Community Edition in your on-premises or cloud infrastructure and run it for free, but you cannot offer it as a service. The Apache 2 Edition, which is built from the code outside the tsl directory, can be sold as a service. Continuous aggregates, the columnstore (Hypercore), data retention policies, job scheduling and functions such as time_bucket_gapfill are available only in Community Edition. Have counsel confirm the license terms if you plan to offer the database to customers.

According to the Tiger Data pricing page, the Performance plan starts at $30 per month and the Scale plan starts at $36 per month, while Enterprise uses custom pricing. Performance includes a free 30-day trial. Confirm current prices on the pricing page before you budget, because plan terms can change. Managed hosting moves infrastructure and most operations into the vendor's bill, so compare that figure with your own infrastructure and staff time, not with the Community Edition license, which is free for in-house use.

For Tiger Cloud, developer support by email is included on all plans. 24x7 production support is a paid add-on, and the Enterprise plan includes it with a 1-hour response time for Sev 1 issues, according to the Tiger Data pricing page. The open-source builds of ClickHouse and InfluxDB 3 Core do not come with a vendor support contract in the supplied facts, so check the vendor's commercial offers separately. ClickHouse supports its three latest stable releases with bug fixes and security updates, and its LTS lines are supported for a year. Make sure any support tier you buy names response times, coverage hours and the versions it covers, and that it matches the version you run. DeployOpen's ongoing support and upgrade work is offered as retainers.

No. DeployOpen prepares systems, controls and evidence for compliance assessments, such as access controls, backup and restore records, and configuration documentation. It does not issue audit reports, attestations or certifications. An independent auditor or certification body performs those assessments. Ask any implementation partner to show how it will produce the evidence your auditor needs, and confirm the framework with your assessor before you start.