whichdb
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FiloDB vs Thanos

FiloDB: Distributed in-memory time-series database with PromQL, ingesting from Kafka and persisting to Cassandra. Thanos: Sidecar-plus-object-storage layer giving Prometheus global queries, HA dedup and long retention.

key differences

  • Thanos is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than FiloDB (≤ 1 PB).
  • Only FiloDB has secondary indexes, columnar storage, in-memory.
  • Only Thanos has ttl / expiry.

choose filodb for

  • +Large-scale operational metrics for dashboards and alerting
  • +Long-retention Prometheus-compatible storage at high cardinality
  • +Real-time event and application-metric debugging

best at · Time-series, Observability, Real-time analytics

choose thanos for

  • +Long-term storage for multi-cluster Prometheus
  • +Global dashboards across regions
  • +Cost-efficient metrics retention on S3/GCS

best at · Observability, Time-series

FiloDBDistributed in-memory time-series database with PromQL, ingesting from Kafka and persisting to Cassandra.
ThanosSidecar-plus-object-storage layer giving Prometheus global queries, HA dedup and long retention.
overview
Primary model
Time-Series
Time-Series
Also supports
Columnar / OLAP
–
Type
Database engine
Database engine
Status
Active
Active
Developer
FiloDB contributors (started by Evan Chan)
Thanos community (CNCF)
First release
2015
2018
Latest version
0.9.17.2 (Nov 18, 2022)
0.42.4 (Jul 30, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
2.2
13.1
Rank
#489
#257
GitHub stars
1.5K
14.3K
Stack Overflow questions
–
65
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
None
None
ACID
None
None
Consistency
Eventual
Eventual
Schema
Flexible
Schemaless
Architecture
Distributed, In memory
Distributed, Shared storage
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
—
—
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
–
–
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
Time-series, Observability, Real-time analytics
Observability, Time-series
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

FiloDB vs Thanos: FAQ

What is the difference between FiloDB and Thanos?

FiloDB: Distributed in-memory time-series database with PromQL, ingesting from Kafka and persisting to Cassandra. Thanos: Sidecar-plus-object-storage layer giving Prometheus global queries, HA dedup and long retention. Thanos is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than FiloDB (≤ 1 PB). Only FiloDB has secondary indexes, columnar storage, in-memory. Only Thanos has ttl / expiry.

When should I choose FiloDB over Thanos?

Choose FiloDB for large-scale operational metrics for dashboards and alerting; long-retention Prometheus-compatible storage at high cardinality; and real-time event and application-metric debugging. Choose Thanos for long-term storage for multi-cluster Prometheus, global dashboards across regions and cost-efficient metrics retention on S3/GCS.

Is FiloDB or Thanos more popular?

Thanos ranks #257 on the WhichDB Score (13.1/100) and FiloDB ranks #489 (2.2/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are FiloDB and Thanos open source?

Yes. FiloDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. Yes. Thanos is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.