whichdb
vs

Cortex vs Grafana Mimir

Cortex: CNCF multi-tenant, horizontally scalable long-term storage for Prometheus metrics on object storage. Grafana Mimir: Grafana Labs' horizontally scalable, multi-tenant long-term store for Prometheus and OTLP metrics.

key differences

  • Licensing: Cortex is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Grafana Mimir is open source (copyleft) (GNU AGPL v3.0).

choose cortex for

  • +Internal metrics-as-a-service for many teams
  • +Long-term Prometheus storage on object storage
  • +Multi-tenant SaaS monitoring backends

best at · Observability, Time-series

choose grafana-mimir for

  • +Centralised multi-tenant metrics for many clusters
  • +Long-term Prometheus storage on object storage
  • +Platform teams offering metrics-as-a-service internally

best at · Observability, Time-series

CortexCNCF multi-tenant, horizontally scalable long-term storage for Prometheus metrics on object storage.
Grafana MimirGrafana Labs' horizontally scalable, multi-tenant long-term store for Prometheus and OTLP metrics.
overview
Primary model
Time-Series
Time-Series
Also supports
–
–
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Cortex community (CNCF)
Grafana Labs
First release
2016
2022
Latest version
1.21.1 (Jun 5, 2026)
3.2.3 (Oct 22, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Open source (copyleft)GNU AGPL v3.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
7.2
15.8
Rank
#347
#203
GitHub stars
5.9K
5.3K
Stack Overflow questions
–
10
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
None
None
ACID
None
None
Consistency
Eventual
Eventual
Schema
Schemaless
Schemaless
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage
Distributed, Shared storage
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
—
✓
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
–
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
capabilities
Transactions
—
—
Joins
—
—
Secondary indexes
—
—
Full-text search
—
—
Vector search
—
—
Geospatial
—
—
JSON
—
—
Change data capture
—
—
Triggers
—
—
Stored procedures
—
—
Materialized views
—
—
TTL / expiry
✓
✓
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
—
—
Role-based access
—
—
Time travel
—
—
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
—
—
Streaming ingest
✓
✓
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
PromQL
PromQL
Client languages
–
–
Best for
Observability, Time-series
Observability, Time-series
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Cortex vs Grafana Mimir: FAQ

What is the difference between Cortex and Grafana Mimir?

Cortex: CNCF multi-tenant, horizontally scalable long-term storage for Prometheus metrics on object storage. Grafana Mimir: Grafana Labs' horizontally scalable, multi-tenant long-term store for Prometheus and OTLP metrics. Licensing: Cortex is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Grafana Mimir is open source (copyleft) (GNU AGPL v3.0).

When should I choose Cortex over Grafana Mimir?

Choose Cortex for internal metrics-as-a-service for many teams, long-term Prometheus storage on object storage and multi-tenant SaaS monitoring backends. Choose Grafana Mimir for centralised multi-tenant metrics for many clusters, long-term Prometheus storage on object storage and platform teams offering metrics-as-a-service internally.

Is Cortex or Grafana Mimir more popular?

Grafana Mimir ranks #203 on the WhichDB Score (15.8/100) and Cortex ranks #347 (7.2/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Cortex and Grafana Mimir open source?

Yes. Cortex is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. Grafana Mimir is open source. License: GNU AGPL v3.0.