OpenTSDB review
An open-source choice for established OpenTSDB-compatible monitoring deployments.
Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026
OpenTSDB is an open-source, distributed time-series database and monitoring system for timestamped metrics. It suits teams maintaining established OpenTSDB-compatible deployments that need metric and tag-based storage, query-time filtering, aggregation, grouping, downsampling, rate calculations, and monitoring integrations. Deployment options include web, Linux, Windows, API, and self-hosted environments, with storage handled through supported backends such as Apache HBase, Google Cloud Bigtable, and Apache Cassandra.
Its ecosystem is a central strength. OpenTSDB runs a TSD service and supports HTTP and Telnet ingestion, batch imports from text or compressed files, and a Java library. Grafana and Bosun are listed integrations, while the storage-backend choices connect it with HBase, Bigtable, and Cassandra deployments. The feature set also includes metadata, UID, and TSUID management, plus salting and multi-node storage distribution. Published specifications list OpenTSDB, PromQL, and SQL among the query languages, with SQL and PromQL described in the OpenTSDB 3.0 direction.
OpenTSDB is a better fit for organizations already aligned with its architecture than for teams seeking an actively expanding, packaged service. The official FAQ places the project in maintenance mode, and the 3.0 documentation is explicitly work in progress. Bigtable support in that direction is described as beta or incomplete. Its focused capabilities make it suitable for established monitoring systems that value open-source deployment, multiple ingestion paths, and distributed storage. Teams wanting a newer product direction or relying on the 3.0 Bigtable path should evaluate alternatives before committing.
OpenTSDB pros and cons
- Where it wins
- Metric and tag storage with filtering, aggregation, grouping, and downsampling
- HTTP, Telnet, batch-file, and Java ingestion options
- Integrates with HBase, Bigtable, Cassandra, Grafana, and Bosun
- Where it doesn't
- The project is currently in maintenance mode
- OpenTSDB 3.0 documentation is marked as work in progress
- Bigtable support in the 3.0 direction is beta or incomplete
OpenTSDB fact sheet, pricing and score →
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