OpenTSDB
Time series databases
Database software
- Features
- Ease of use
- Ease of management
- Quality of support
- Affordability
- Market presence
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What is OpenTSDB
OpenTSDB is an open-source time series database built on Apache HBase for storing and querying large volumes of time-stamped metrics. It is commonly used by infrastructure and application monitoring teams that already operate Hadoop/HBase ecosystems and need long-term retention and aggregation of metric data. The system exposes HTTP and telnet-style APIs and relies on HBase for storage, scalability, and operational characteristics. Deployments typically involve running OpenTSDB alongside HBase, ZooKeeper, and related components.
Scales via HBase backend
OpenTSDB stores data in Apache HBase, which is designed for distributed storage across many nodes. This architecture can support high write throughput and large historical retention when the underlying HBase cluster is sized and tuned appropriately. Organizations already standardized on HBase can reuse existing operational practices and infrastructure.
Simple ingestion and query APIs
OpenTSDB provides straightforward HTTP endpoints for writing datapoints and querying time series. It also supports a telnet-style interface that some legacy collectors and scripts can use. This makes it practical for integrating with custom metric pipelines without requiring a proprietary client library.
Open-source and extensible
OpenTSDB is released as open source and can be self-hosted without vendor licensing. It supports plugins (for example, authentication/authorization and search integrations) and can be extended to fit internal requirements. This can be useful in environments that need code-level control over data handling and deployment.
Operationally heavy dependency stack
Running OpenTSDB typically requires operating HBase and ZooKeeper, and often a broader Hadoop ecosystem. This increases deployment complexity compared with single-binary or managed time series databases. Day-2 operations (compactions, region management, schema/row-key design, and tuning) can be a significant ongoing effort.
Limited modern TSDB features
Compared with newer time series platforms, OpenTSDB’s query and analytics capabilities are more limited and often rely on external systems for advanced processing. Features such as richer query languages, built-in downsampling/retention management workflows, and integrated alerting/visualization are not core strengths. Teams frequently pair it with additional components to meet full observability or analytics requirements.
Ecosystem and project momentum risk
OpenTSDB adoption is closely tied to HBase usage, which can be less common in newer cloud-native stacks. Organizations may find fewer up-to-date integrations and a smaller pool of engineers with recent hands-on experience than with more widely adopted monitoring-oriented TSDBs. This can increase long-term maintenance risk for new deployments.
Plan & Pricing
| Plan | Price | Key features & notes |
|---|---|---|
| Open-source / Self-hosted | Free ($0) | OpenTSDB is distributed open-source software available to download and run yourself. Licensed under LGPLv2.1+ and GPLv3+; official site provides downloads and documentation but does not list any vendor-hosted paid plans or pricing. |
