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Apache HoraeDB

discontinued

by Apache Software Foundation (originally Ant Group) · since 2022 · also known as HoraeDB, CeresDB

Retired Apache incubator time-series database (ex-CeresDB from Ant Group), written in Rust.

time-seriescolumnar / olapdatabase engineopen source (permissive)legacy
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discontinued. Retired from the Apache Incubator on 2026-03-03 after a community vote; repo archived. Consider GreptimeDB or InfluxDB 3.

Overview

Apache HoraeDB, originally CeresDB from Ant Group, was a cloud-native distributed time-series database written in Rust with a hybrid row/columnar storage engine aimed at both classic metrics and high-cardinality analytical workloads. It entered the Apache Incubator in December 2023 and was rebuilt around object storage for a 2.x line. Community activity faded, and in March 2026 the Incubator retired the podling after a community vote; the GitHub repository is archived and the last release, 2.1.0, dates from November 2024. Existing users should migrate to an actively developed engine such as GreptimeDB, VictoriaMetrics or InfluxDB 3.

Time-series dataObservability

Strengths & trade-offs

Strengths

  • +Rust engine with hybrid storage for high-cardinality time series
  • +SQL plus Prometheus and InfluxDB protocol compatibility
  • +Apache-2.0 source remains available to fork

Trade-offs

  • −Retired and archived; no further releases or security fixes
  • −Small user base outside Ant Group
  • −Documentation and tooling no longer maintained

Great for

  • +Reference design for Rust time-series storage
  • +Legacy deployments planning migration

Think twice for

  • −Any new project
  • −Production systems needing security updates

Capabilities

Native or official first-party support · 5 of 25 tracked

✓TTL / expiry
✓Columnar storage
✓Durable persistence
✓Compression
✓Streaming ingest
–Transactions
–Joins
–Secondary indexes
–Full-text search
–Vector search
–Geospatial
–JSON
–Change data capture
–Triggers
–Stored procedures
–Materialized views
–Pub/Sub
–In-memory
–Encryption at rest
–Role-based access
–Time travel
–Branching
–Online schema changes
–Offline sync
–Runs in WebAssembly

Scale & consistency

Comfortable data size
Large · ≤ 1 PB
Horizontal scaling
Native
Multi-region
No
Transactions
None
Consistency
Eventual
Schema
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage
Query languages
SQL, PromQL, InfluxQL

Deployment

Self-hosted Vendor-managed cloud Serverless Embedded Edge Kubernetes operator

Ecosystem

compatible withMySQL, Prometheus, InfluxDB
apis & protocolsMySQL wire protocol, HTTP, gRPC, Prometheus remote write, InfluxDB line protocol
client languagesJava, Go, Python, Rust

Alternatives to Apache HoraeDB

Compare all→
GreptimeDBTime-Series15.1

Rust observability database that keeps metrics, logs and traces in one columnar engine on object storage.

apache-horaedb vs greptimedb →
VictoriaMetricsTime-Series26.8

Resource-frugal, Prometheus-compatible metrics database, run as a single binary or a sharded cluster.

apache-horaedb vs victoriametrics →
InfluxDBTime-Series51.0

Purpose-built time-series database, rebuilt in Rust on Arrow, DataFusion and Parquet for version 3.

apache-horaedb vs influxdb →
CnosDBTime-Series6.7

Rust cloud-native time-series database with SQL on DataFusion and InfluxDB-style ingestion.

apache-horaedb vs cnosdb →
TDengineTime-Series17.4

Industrial-IoT time-series database with a table-per-device model and built-in streaming and caching.

apache-horaedb vs tdengine →
ParseableColumnar / OLAP18.6

Rust telemetry datalake for logs, metrics and traces on S3, queried with SQL.

apache-horaedb vs parseable →

Apache HoraeDB FAQ

What is Apache HoraeDB?

Apache HoraeDB is a time-series database by Apache Software Foundation (originally Ant Group), first released in 2022. Apache HoraeDB, originally CeresDB from Ant Group, was a cloud-native distributed time-series database written in Rust with a hybrid row/columnar storage engine aimed at both classic metrics and high-cardinality analytical workloads. It entered the Apache Incubator in December 2023 and was rebuilt around object storage for a 2.x line. Community activity faded, and in March 2026 the Incubator retired the podling after a community vote; the GitHub repository is archived and the last release, 2.1.0, dates from November 2024. Existing users should migrate to an actively developed engine such as GreptimeDB, VictoriaMetrics or InfluxDB 3.

Is Apache HoraeDB open source?

Yes. Apache HoraeDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.

Does Apache HoraeDB support ACID transactions?

No. Apache HoraeDB does not provide ACID transactions; its consistency model is eventual.

Does Apache HoraeDB scale horizontally?

Apache HoraeDB scales horizontally out of the box, with built-in sharding or partitioning. It is comfortable at large scale (≤ 1 PB).

How can I run Apache HoraeDB?

You can self-host it.

What is Apache HoraeDB best for?

Apache HoraeDB is a strong fit for reference design for Rust time-series storage and legacy deployments planning migration. Think twice for any new project.

What are the best alternatives to Apache HoraeDB?

Common alternatives to Apache HoraeDB include GreptimeDB, VictoriaMetrics, InfluxDB, CnosDB and TDengine. The right choice depends on your workload, scale and hosting; WhichDB's smart match ranks them against your requirements.

Is Apache HoraeDB still maintained?

Apache HoraeDB is discontinued. Retired from the Apache Incubator on 2026-03-03 after a community vote; repo archived. Consider GreptimeDB or InfluxDB 3.

How popular is Apache HoraeDB?

Apache HoraeDB ranks #414 of 844 databases on the WhichDB Score (4.2/100), and #25 among time-series databases. The score combines public adoption signals such as package downloads, GitHub activity, job posts and developer discussion.