whichdb
vs

QuestDB vs TimescaleDB

QuestDB: Columnar time-series SQL database built for market data and very high ingest rates. TimescaleDB: PostgreSQL extension adding hypertables, columnar compression and continuous aggregates for time series.

key differences

  • Licensing: QuestDB is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial); TimescaleDB is source-available (Apache-2.0 core + Timescale License (TSL) for advanced features).
  • Transactions: QuestDB offers limited ACID; TimescaleDB offers full.
  • Only QuestDB has online schema changes, streaming ingest.
  • Only TimescaleDB has transactions, full-text search, vector search, json, triggers.

choose questdb for

  • +Market data and order book analytics
  • +Trading and risk dashboards
  • +Industrial and aerospace telemetry
  • +Crypto exchange tick storage

best at · Time-series, Tick data, Real-time analytics

choose timescaledb for

  • +IoT and sensor data joined with relational metadata
  • +Financial tick and market data analytics in SQL
  • +Product and application metrics dashboards
  • +Energy and utility metering

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

QuestDBColumnar time-series SQL database built for market data and very high ingest rates.
TimescaleDBPostgreSQL extension adding hypertables, columnar compression and continuous aggregates for time series.
overview
Primary model
Time-Series
Time-Series
Also supports
Columnar / OLAP, Relational
Relational, Columnar / OLAP
Type
Database engine
Extension
Status
Active
Active
Developer
QuestDB
TigerData (formerly Timescale)
First release
2019
2017
Latest version
10.1.0 (Oct 22, 2026)
2.31.0 (Oct 20, 2026)
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial
Source-availableApache-2.0 core + Timescale License (TSL) for advanced features
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
34.1
47.1
Rank
#60
#34
GitHub stars
17.5K
23.8K
Stack Overflow questions
282
775
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Medium (≤ 10 TB)
Horizontal scaling
None
None
Multi-region
Read replicas
Read replicas
ACID
Limited
Full
Consistency
Strong
Strong
Schema
Flexible
Strict
Architecture
Single node, Primary replica, Client server
Single node, Primary replica, Client server
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
✓
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
—
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
–
AWS, 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
SQL
SQL, PL/pgSQL
Client languages
Java, Python, Go, Rust, C, C++, C#, JavaScript
C, Java, Python, JavaScript, Go, Rust, C#, Ruby
Best for
Time-series, Tick data, Real-time analytics, IoT
Time-series, Real-time analytics, IoT, Observability
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

QuestDB vs TimescaleDB: FAQ

What is the difference between QuestDB and TimescaleDB?

QuestDB: Columnar time-series SQL database built for market data and very high ingest rates. TimescaleDB: PostgreSQL extension adding hypertables, columnar compression and continuous aggregates for time series. Licensing: QuestDB is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial); TimescaleDB is source-available (Apache-2.0 core + Timescale License (TSL) for advanced features). Transactions: QuestDB offers limited ACID; TimescaleDB offers full. Only QuestDB has online schema changes, streaming ingest.

When should I choose QuestDB over TimescaleDB?

Choose QuestDB for market data and order book analytics; trading and risk dashboards; and industrial and aerospace telemetry. Choose TimescaleDB for IoT and sensor data joined with relational metadata; financial tick and market data analytics in SQL; and product and application metrics dashboards.

Is QuestDB or TimescaleDB more popular?

TimescaleDB ranks #34 on the WhichDB Score (47.1/100) and QuestDB ranks #60 (34.1/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are QuestDB and TimescaleDB open source?

Yes. QuestDB is open source. License: Apache License 2.0 (open source); Enterprise is commercial. Not in the OSI sense. TimescaleDB is source-available: you can read the code, but the license restricts some uses, typically offering it as a competing managed service. License: Apache-2.0 core + Timescale License (TSL) for advanced features.