InfluxDB

InfluxDB is an open-source time-series database developed by InfluxData. It is designed to store and retrieve large volumes of time-stamped data—as metrics, events, and sensor readings—with high write throughput and efficient queries for monitoring, analytics, and IoT workloads.

Data in InfluxDB is organized into measurements, tags, fields, and timestamps. Tags are indexed metadata that facilitate fast filtering, while fields hold the actual values. Each data point is associated with a precise moment in time.

Data can be ingested via the line protocol, through the HTTP API, or using Telegraf, a general purpose collector with numerous plugins. In 2.x versions, data is organized into buckets with specified retention periods, replacing the earlier retention policy model used in 1.x.

Query capabilities include InfluxQL, a SQL-like language used in earlier versions, and Flux, a more recent, extensible functional language that supports filtering, aggregation, windowing, and joins across time series.

InfluxDB is available as an open-source edition and as commercial offerings. The OSS is licensed under the MIT license; InfluxData also provides InfluxDB Enterprise for clustered deployments and InfluxDB Cloud, a managed SaaS service. The broader ecosystem includes Telegraf for data ingestion, and historically Chronograf and Kapacitor as part of the TICK stack.

Common use cases include system and application monitoring, infrastructure metrics, and IoT sensor data analysis, where the emphasis is on time-ordered data and rapid aggregation over varying time windows.