ClickHouse vs TimescaleDB vs InfluxDB: Time Series Battle
The Time Series Database Revolution
Time series data has become the backbone of modern observability, IoT, and real-time analytics. As organizations collect billions of timestamped events daily, traditional databases struggle to handle the ingestion rates and analytical queries required. Three platforms have emerged as leaders: ClickHouse with its analytical prowess, TimescaleDB bringing SQL familiarity, and InfluxDB offering purpose-built time series optimization.
The choice between these platforms significantly impacts both operational efficiency and analytical capabilities. Each database makes different architectural trade-offs between ingestion performance, query flexibility, and operational complexity, making the selection critical for time series workloads.
Architecture Deep Dive
Understanding the fundamental design philosophies reveals each platform’s strengths:
Aspect | ClickHouse | TimescaleDB | InfluxDB |
---|---|---|---|
Base Architecture | Columnar OLAP | PostgreSQL extension | Purpose-built TSDB |
Storage Format | MergeTree family | PostgreSQL + chunks | Time-structured merge tree |
Query Language | SQL + extensions | Standard SQL | InfluxQL + Flux |
Data Model | Relational | Relational | Measurement-based |
Compression | LZ4/ZSTD | Built-in + custom | Snappy/ZSTD |
Clustering | Sharding + replication | PostgreSQL clustering | InfluxDB Enterprise |
ClickHouse: Analytical Powerhouse
ClickHouse prioritizes analytical query performance through columnar storage:
-- ClickHouse table optimized for time series
CREATE TABLE metrics (
timestamp DateTime64(3),
metric_name LowCardinality(String),
value Float64,
tags Map(String, String),
host LowCardinality(String)
) ENGINE = MergeTree()
PARTITION BY toYYYYMM(timestamp)
ORDER BY (timestamp, metric_name, host)
SETTINGS index_granularity = 8192;
-- Efficient aggregation queries
SELECT
toStartOfHour(timestamp) as hour,
metric_name,
avg(value) as avg_value,
quantile(0.95)(value) as p95_value
FROM metrics
WHERE timestamp >= now() - INTERVAL 24 HOUR
GROUP BY hour, metric_name
ORDER BY hour;
TimescaleDB: SQL-Native Time Series
TimescaleDB extends PostgreSQL with time series optimizations:
-- TimescaleDB hypertable creation
CREATE TABLE metrics (
time TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL,
metric_name TEXT NOT NULL,
value DOUBLE PRECISION,
tags JSONB,
host TEXT
);
-- Convert to hypertable with automated partitioning
SELECT create_hypertable('metrics', 'time', chunk_time_interval => INTERVAL '1 day');
-- Continuous aggregates for real-time dashboards
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW metrics_hourly
WITH (timescaledb.continuous) AS
SELECT time_bucket('1 hour', time) AS bucket,
metric_name,
AVG(value) as avg_value,
MAX(value) as max_value,
MIN(value) as min_value
FROM metrics
GROUP BY bucket, metric_name
WITH NO DATA;
InfluxDB: Purpose-Built Time Series
InfluxDB offers native time series data modeling:
// InfluxDB 2.0 with Flux query language
from(bucket: "metrics")
|> range(start: -24h)
|> filter(fn: (r) => r._measurement == "cpu_usage")
|> group(columns: ["host"])
|> aggregateWindow(every: 1h, fn: mean)
|> yield(name: "hourly_cpu_avg")
// Line protocol for efficient ingestion
cpu_usage,host=server01,region=us-east value=45.2 1651234567000000000
memory_usage,host=server01,region=us-east value=78.5 1651234567000000000
Performance Benchmarks
Recent comprehensive benchmarks reveal significant performance differences:
Ingestion Performance
Scenario | ClickHouse | TimescaleDB | InfluxDB OSS |
---|---|---|---|
Single Thread | 200K pts/sec | 50K pts/sec | 100K pts/sec |
Multi-Thread | 2M pts/sec | 400K pts/sec | 500K pts/sec |
Batch Size (optimal) | 10K-100K | 1K-10K | 1K-5K |
Network Protocol | HTTP/Native | PostgreSQL | HTTP/UDP |
Query Performance Analysis
Query Type | ClickHouse | TimescaleDB | InfluxDB |
---|---|---|---|
Point Queries | 50ms | 10ms | 25ms |
Range Scans | 100ms | 300ms | 200ms |
Aggregations | 150ms | 800ms | 400ms |
Complex Analytics | 500ms | 2s | 1.5s |
Compression Efficiency
Real-world compression ratios on time series data:
- ClickHouse: 10:1 to 30:1 (LZ4/ZSTD + columnar)
- TimescaleDB: 3:1 to 8:1 (PostgreSQL + time-ordered chunks)
- InfluxDB: 5:1 to 15:1 (TSM engine optimization)
Storage Architecture Comparison
ClickHouse MergeTree Engine
-- Optimized table structure for time series
CREATE TABLE sensor_data (
timestamp DateTime64(3),
sensor_id UInt32,
temperature Decimal(5,2),
humidity Decimal(5,2),
location_id UInt16
) ENGINE = MergeTree()
PARTITION BY toYYYYMM(timestamp)
ORDER BY (timestamp, sensor_id)
TTL timestamp + INTERVAL 90 DAY
SETTINGS
index_granularity = 8192,
merge_max_block_size = 8192;
-- Materialized views for real-time aggregation
CREATE MATERIALIZED VIEW sensor_hourly_mv TO sensor_hourly AS
SELECT
toStartOfHour(timestamp) as hour,
sensor_id,
avg(temperature) as avg_temp,
max(temperature) as max_temp,
min(temperature) as min_temp
FROM sensor_data
GROUP BY hour, sensor_id;
TimescaleDB Hypertables
-- Advanced TimescaleDB configuration
SELECT create_hypertable(
'sensor_data', 'timestamp',
chunk_time_interval => INTERVAL '6 hours',
create_default_indexes => FALSE
);
-- Custom indexing strategy
CREATE INDEX ON sensor_data (timestamp DESC, sensor_id);
CREATE INDEX ON sensor_data (sensor_id, timestamp DESC);
-- Compression policies
ALTER TABLE sensor_data SET (
timescaledb.compress,
timescaledb.compress_segmentby = 'sensor_id',
timescaledb.compress_orderby = 'timestamp DESC'
);
-- Automated compression
SELECT add_compression_policy('sensor_data', INTERVAL '1 day');
InfluxDB TSM Engine
# InfluxDB configuration optimization
[data]
dir = "/var/lib/influxdb/data"
max-series-per-database = 1000000
max-values-per-tag = 100000
[coordinator]
write-timeout = "30s"
max-concurrent-queries = 0
query-timeout = "0s"
[http]
max-row-limit = 0
max-connection-limit = 0
Query Language Capabilities
Analytical Query Comparison
ClickHouse SQL Extensions:
-- Advanced analytics with ClickHouse functions
SELECT
sensor_id,
lagInFrame(avg_temp) OVER (PARTITION BY sensor_id ORDER BY hour) as prev_hour_temp,
avg_temp - prev_hour_temp as temp_delta,
exponentialMovingAverage(0.1)(avg_temp) OVER (PARTITION BY sensor_id ORDER BY hour) as ema_temp
FROM sensor_hourly
WHERE hour >= now() - INTERVAL 7 DAY
ORDER BY sensor_id, hour;
-- Anomaly detection with statistical functions
SELECT
hour,
sensor_id,
avg_temp,
quantileExact(0.95)(avg_temp) OVER (PARTITION BY sensor_id) as p95_threshold,
if(avg_temp > p95_threshold * 1.2, 'anomaly', 'normal') as status
FROM sensor_hourly;
TimescaleDB with PostgreSQL Power:
-- Complex time series analysis
WITH temperature_stats AS (
SELECT
time_bucket('1 hour', timestamp) as hour,
sensor_id,
AVG(temperature) as avg_temp,
STDDEV(temperature) as temp_stddev
FROM sensor_data
WHERE timestamp >= NOW() - INTERVAL '7 days'
GROUP BY hour, sensor_id
)
SELECT
hour,
sensor_id,
avg_temp,
LAG(avg_temp) OVER (PARTITION BY sensor_id ORDER BY hour) as prev_temp,
CASE
WHEN ABS(avg_temp - LAG(avg_temp) OVER (PARTITION BY sensor_id ORDER BY hour)) > temp_stddev * 2
THEN 'anomaly'
ELSE 'normal'
END as anomaly_status
FROM temperature_stats;
InfluxDB Flux Language:
// Advanced time series transformations
from(bucket: "sensors")
|> range(start: -7d)
|> filter(fn: (r) => r._measurement == "temperature")
|> group(columns: ["sensor_id"])
|> aggregateWindow(every: 1h, fn: mean, createEmpty: false)
|> duplicate(column: "_value", as: "current")
|> timeShift(duration: 1h)
|> drop(columns: ["_time"])
|> rename(columns: {"_value": "previous"})
|> join(tables: {current: current, previous: previous}, on: ["sensor_id"])
|> map(fn: (r) => ({
r with
delta: r.current - r.previous,
anomaly: if math.abs(x: r.current - r.previous) > 5.0 then "yes" else "no"
}))
Operational Management
Clustering and High Availability
Feature | ClickHouse | TimescaleDB | InfluxDB |
---|---|---|---|
Clustering | Manual sharding | PostgreSQL clustering | Enterprise only |
Replication | Async replication | Streaming replication | Multi-node (Enterprise) |
Auto-failover | External tools | Built-in (PostgreSQL) | Enterprise feature |
Load Balancing | External LB | pgpool/HAProxy | Enterprise clustering |
Monitoring and Maintenance
ClickHouse Operational Queries:
-- Monitor table sizes and compression
SELECT
database,
table,
formatReadableSize(sum(bytes_on_disk)) as size_on_disk,
formatReadableSize(sum(data_uncompressed_bytes)) as uncompressed_size,
round(sum(data_uncompressed_bytes) / sum(bytes_on_disk), 2) as compression_ratio
FROM system.parts
WHERE active
GROUP BY database, table
ORDER BY sum(bytes_on_disk) DESC;
-- Query performance monitoring
SELECT
query_duration_ms,
read_rows,
read_bytes,
query
FROM system.query_log
WHERE event_time > now() - INTERVAL 1 HOUR
ORDER BY query_duration_ms DESC
LIMIT 10;
TimescaleDB Maintenance:
-- Chunk and compression status
SELECT
chunk_schema,
chunk_name,
pg_size_pretty(total_bytes) as size,
pg_size_pretty(compressed_total_bytes) as compressed_size,
compression_status
FROM timescaledb_information.chunks
WHERE hypertable_name = 'sensor_data'
ORDER BY total_bytes DESC;
-- Automated maintenance policies
SELECT add_retention_policy('sensor_data', INTERVAL '1 year');
SELECT add_compression_policy('sensor_data', INTERVAL '1 week');
Use Case Analysis
IoT and Sensor Data
# High-frequency sensor data ingestion
import clickhouse_connect
client = clickhouse_connect.get_client(host='localhost', port=8123)
# Batch insert for optimal performance
sensor_data = [
('2025-04-15 10:00:00', 'temp_01', 23.5, 'greenhouse_a'),
('2025-04-15 10:00:01', 'temp_01', 23.6, 'greenhouse_a'),
# ... thousands of readings
]
client.insert('sensor_readings', sensor_data,
column_names=['timestamp', 'sensor_id', 'value', 'location'])
Application Performance Monitoring
-- TimescaleDB for APM data
CREATE TABLE application_metrics (
time TIMESTAMPTZ NOT NULL,
service_name TEXT,
endpoint TEXT,
response_time_ms INTEGER,
status_code INTEGER,
user_id TEXT
);
-- Real-time alerting views
CREATE VIEW slow_endpoints AS
SELECT
time_bucket('5 minutes', time) as bucket,
service_name,
endpoint,
AVG(response_time_ms) as avg_response_time,
COUNT(*) as request_count
FROM application_metrics
WHERE time >= NOW() - INTERVAL '1 hour'
GROUP BY bucket, service_name, endpoint
HAVING AVG(response_time_ms) > 1000;
Financial Time Series
// InfluxDB for trading data
from(bucket: "market_data")
|> range(start: -1d)
|> filter(fn: (r) => r._measurement == "stock_price")
|> filter(fn: (r) => r.symbol == "AAPL")
|> aggregateWindow(every: 1m, fn: mean)
|> movingAverage(n: 20)
|> yield(name: "sma_20")
Cloud and Deployment Options
Managed Services Comparison
Platform | Cloud Options | Pricing Model | Enterprise Features |
---|---|---|---|
ClickHouse | ClickHouse Cloud | Pay-per-query | Advanced security |
TimescaleDB | Timescale Cloud | Instance-based | Multi-node clustering |
InfluxDB | InfluxDB Cloud | Usage-based | Clustering, backup |
Container Deployment
# ClickHouse Kubernetes deployment
apiVersion: apps/v1
kind: StatefulSet
metadata:
name: clickhouse
spec:
serviceName: clickhouse
replicas: 3
template:
spec:
containers:
- name: clickhouse
image: clickhouse/clickhouse-server:latest
resources:
requests:
memory: "4Gi"
cpu: "2"
limits:
memory: "8Gi"
cpu: "4"
volumeMounts:
- name: data
mountPath: /var/lib/clickhouse
Decision Framework
Performance Requirements
Choose ClickHouse when:
- Analytical queries dominate workload
- High compression ratios are needed
- Complex aggregations are frequent
- Data warehouse-style analytics required
Choose TimescaleDB when:
- SQL expertise is available in team
- PostgreSQL ecosystem integration needed
- ACID compliance is important
- Existing PostgreSQL infrastructure exists
Choose InfluxDB when:
- Pure time series workload
- Simple deployment is preferred
- Line protocol ingestion fits data model
- Real-time monitoring is primary use case
Operational Considerations
Factor | ClickHouse | TimescaleDB | InfluxDB |
---|---|---|---|
Learning Curve | Moderate | Low (SQL) | Moderate |
Operational Complexity | High | Moderate | Low |
Community Support | Large | Large | Medium |
Enterprise Support | Available | Available | Available |
Cost Analysis
Resource Requirements
Workload Size | ClickHouse | TimescaleDB | InfluxDB |
---|---|---|---|
Small (1M pts/day) | 2 cores, 8GB | 2 cores, 4GB | 2 cores, 4GB |
Medium (100M pts/day) | 8 cores, 32GB | 8 cores, 16GB | 4 cores, 16GB |
Large (10B pts/day) | 32 cores, 128GB | 32 cores, 64GB | 16 cores, 64GB |
The time series database landscape continues evolving with each platform optimizing for different aspects. ClickHouse excels in analytical performance, TimescaleDB provides SQL familiarity with time series optimization, and InfluxDB offers purpose-built simplicity for monitoring workloads.