At a Glance:
InfluxDB 3 Core is an open-source time series database optimized for real-time event ingestion and fast queries, built on Apache Arrow, DataFusion, and Parquet, supporting SQL and InfluxQL.
Overview:
InfluxDB 3 Core is an open-source time series database designed for collecting, processing, and storing high-volume event and time series data. It targets use cases requiring real-time data ingestion and consistently fast query responses, such as monitoring, analytics, and powering interactive dashboards. The database uses a diskless architecture that persists data as Apache Parquet files on object storage or local disk. It provides an embedded Python VM for running custom plugins and triggers, and supports both SQL and InfluxQL query languages through a unified HTTP API on port 8181.
Key Decision Points:
Architecture and storage: Operates with a diskless design, persisting data as Parquet files directly to object storage (S3, Azure, GCP) or local disk without external dependencies.
Query languages: Supports SQL and InfluxQL, with a FlightSQL endpoint available, while Flux is not listed as a supported language for this core version.
API compatibility: Compatible with InfluxDB 1.x and 2.x write APIs using line protocol, and with the InfluxDB 1.x query API for InfluxQL, enabling integration with existing tooling.
Extensibility: Includes an embedded Python VM that allows developers to define custom data processing logic, plugins, and triggers within the database.
Query performance: Reports fast response times, with last-value queries returning in under 10ms and distinct metadata queries in under 30ms, which is relevant for user-facing interfaces and monitoring.
Core Features:
Parquet-based storage: Stores all data as Apache Parquet files on object storage or local disk without requiring a separate filesystem dependency.
Embedded Python VM: Runs user-defined Python scripts for plugins and triggers inside the database process.
Multi-language query support: Provides SQL, InfluxQL, and FlightSQL query endpoints through the HTTP API.
Line protocol write API: Accepts data using the standard InfluxDB line protocol format over HTTP.
High-speed query responses: Delivers sub-10ms last-value queries and sub-30ms distinct metadata queries.
Use Cases:
Developers building monitoring dashboards that require fast, sub-10ms query response times for last-value lookups.
Automation solutions and alerting systems that need to ingest real-time sensor or server metrics and trigger actions using embedded Python logic.
Data teams collecting financial market or network telemetry data for near real-time analytics with SQL or InfluxQL.
Open-Source Alternative Value:
InfluxDB 3 Core provides a self-contained, open-source time series database with a diskless architecture that writes directly to Parquet on object storage or local disk. Developers and operators benefit from multi-language query support through SQL and InfluxQL, API compatibility with earlier InfluxDB versions, and the ability to extend the database with Python triggers and plugins without external services. The combination of real-time ingest, fast query performance, and Parquet persistence makes it a practical reference for those evaluating open-source time series databases.