TimescaleDB

TimescaleDB is an open-source time-series database built as an extension to PostgreSQL. It provides SQL-based access to time-series data and is designed to handle high ingest rates and large volumes of data while maintaining PostgreSQL compatibility.

The core concept is the hypertable, a virtual table partitioned into chunks by time and, optionally, space. Hypertables enable efficient ingestion and queries by distributing data across multiple physical chunks, while users interact with a single logical table.

Key features include automatic chunking, time-based compression for older data, and continuous aggregates (materialized views that update automatically) to accelerate rollups over large datasets. Retention policies and data downsampling help manage storage costs without sacrificing recent data.

TimescaleDB supports distributed deployment through multi-node hypertables, enabling scale-out across multiple servers. It maintains PostgreSQL compatibility, supporting standard SQL and most PostgreSQL extensions, and integrates with common tooling and libraries. The core database is open source under the Apache 2.0 license, with enterprise features available under commercial terms.

Common use cases include IoT telemetry, application and infrastructure monitoring, financial time-series analyses, and real-time analytics. TimescaleDB is complemented by Timescale Cloud, a managed service, and by a family of development agents and connectors to popular data pipelines.

The project is developed by Timescale, with ongoing contributions from the community.