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Head-to-head · Time-Series Databases

Grafana Mimir vs InfluxDB

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 4 checks side by side
Higher score Grafana Mimir #6 in Time-Series Databases 8.7/10 Open source ✓ 2 of 3 features Visit Grafana Mimir
InfluxDB #7 in Time-Series Databases 8.6/10 Free plan · 30-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 3 of 3 features Visit InfluxDB

Grafana Mimir leads on 0 checks, InfluxDB on 1, and 3 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 4 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreGrafana Mimir · 8.7/10
  • Free planonly InfluxDB
  • Free trialonly InfluxDB
  • Most featuresInfluxDB · 3 of 3

Grafana Mimir scores higher on our rubric for time-series databases: 8.7 against 8.6 out of 10; our editors rank them #6 and #7.

On deployment, InfluxDB gives you Both where Grafana Mimir offers Self_hosted. InfluxDB offers sql support; Grafana Mimir doesn't.

Grafana Mimir is the better fit for large-scale Prometheus storage. InfluxDB is the better fit for broad, production-ready time-series workloads.

  • Grafana Mimir fits best

    Large-scale Prometheus storage

  • InfluxDB fits best

    Broad, production-ready time-series workloads

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Grafana Mimir 8.7/10 Visit ↗ InfluxDB 8.6/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 8.7 8.6
Ranking #6 in Time-Series Databases #7 in Time-Series Databases
Best for Large-scale Prometheus storage Broad, production-ready time-series workloads
Pricing model Free Free plan + paid
Starting price Open source $0.002/GB usage-based
Free plan Not checked yet ✓ (best)
Free trial — 30 days
Deployment Self-hosted Cloud, Self-hosted
Support Email, Community, Docs Community, Docs
Integrations 12 integrations 400+ integrations
Built for Mid-market, Enterprise Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Grafana Mimir 2/3 · InfluxDB 3/3
SQL support — ✓ (best)
Retention policies ✓ ✓
Horizontal scaling ✓ ✓
Specs
Deployment Self_hosted Both
Query languages PromQL SQL, InfluxQL
Ingestion methods Prometheus remote write; Grafana Agent; Prometheus Agent; OpenTelemetry; Influx; Graphite; Datadog line protocol, HTTP API, client libraries, Telegraf, influxdb3 CLI
Our review
Pros
  • Horizontally scalable architecture with clustering and replication
  • Multi-tenancy, tenant isolation, and configurable retention
  • Object-store support plus recording and alerting rules
  • SQL and InfluxQL support with multiple ingestion paths
  • Open-source Core edition for self-managed deployments
  • Cloud, enterprise, and AWS deployment options
Cons
  • Self-hosted deployment requires operational ownership
  • PromQL is the documented query language, not SQL
  • Focused on Prometheus and OpenTelemetry metrics rather than general SQL workloads
  • Several editions have different capabilities and pricing models
  • Core is single-node and community supported
  • Enterprise and Cloud Dedicated use custom pricing
Our verdict

Grafana Mimir is an open-source time-series database for organizations operating large-scale metrics platforms. It provides long-term storage for Prometheus and OpenTelemetry metrics, with Prometheus-compatible remote write ingestion,…

Read the review →

InfluxDB is a time-series database for developers and organizations building real-time systems, observability platforms, IoT applications, industrial systems, and analytics workloads. It stores time-stamped data using line protocol and…

Read the review →
  1. Grafana MimirTime-Series Databases 8.7Open source
  2. InfluxDBTime-Series Databases 8.6Free plan · 30-day trial

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Grafana Mimir — where it wins

    • Horizontally scalable architecture with clustering and replication
    • Multi-tenancy, tenant isolation, and configurable retention
    • Object-store support plus recording and alerting rules

    Where it doesn't

    • Self-hosted deployment requires operational ownership
    • PromQL is the documented query language, not SQL
    • Focused on Prometheus and OpenTelemetry metrics rather than general SQL workloads

  • InfluxDB — where it wins

    • SQL and InfluxQL support with multiple ingestion paths
    • Open-source Core edition for self-managed deployments
    • Cloud, enterprise, and AWS deployment options

    Where it doesn't

    • Several editions have different capabilities and pricing models
    • Core is single-node and community supported
    • Enterprise and Cloud Dedicated use custom pricing
  • Grafana Mimir8.7/10 · Open source

    A self-hosted, PromQL-focused backend for large-scale Prometheus and OpenTelemetry metrics.

    Visit Grafana MimirFull verdict →
  • InfluxDB8.6/10 · Free plan · 30-day trial

    A flexible time-series database with open-source, self-managed, and managed cloud editions.

    Visit InfluxDBFull verdict →

More comparisons

All Time-Series databases comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update