AI visibility report for QuestDB
Vertical: Databases & Data Infrastructure
AI search visibility benchmark across 5 platforms in Databases & Data Infrastructure.
Presence Rate
Top-3 citations across 125 prompt × platform pairs
Sentiment
Peer Ranking
Key Metrics
Platform Breakdown
Overview
QuestDB is an open-source, SQL-first time-series database founded in 2019 and headquartered in London, UK. Built from the ground up in zero-GC Java and C++ with SIMD-vectorized execution, it targets high-throughput, low-latency workloads in capital markets, IoT, and real-time analytics. The storage engine uses a write-ahead log, time-partitioned columnar format, and automated tiering to Apache Parquet on object storage—all queryable through a single SQL layer. Time-series SQL extensions include ASOF JOIN, SAMPLE BY, LATEST ON, and streaming materialized views. N-dimensional arrays support order-book analytics. QuestDB is licensed Apache 2.0; an Enterprise edition adds HA with <100ms failover, RBAC, TLS, SSO, and SLA-backed creator support. The project has over 16,700 GitHub stars and is deployed in production by B3 Exchange, HDFC Bank, Airbus, OKX, and BTG Pactual, among others.
QuestDB is a high-performance, open-source time-series database delivering SIMD-accelerated SQL, ingestion throughput up to 8 million rows per second, multi-tier storage with native Apache Parquet support, and time-series SQL extensions (ASOF JOIN, SAMPLE BY, streaming materialized views). Targeting capital markets, IoT telemetry, and real-time analytics, it is available as Apache 2.0 open source or as QuestDB Enterprise (self-managed or BYOC) for production-grade HA, security, and scale.
Key Facts
- Founded
- 2019
- HQ
- London, United Kingdom
- Founders
- Nicolas Hourcard, Vladyslav Ilyushchenko, Tancrede Collard
- Funding
- $14.4M
- Status
- Private
Target users
Key Capabilities10
- SIMD-accelerated, vectorized and parallelized SQL query engine
- High-throughput ingestion up to 8 million rows per second per server via WAL
- Multi-tier storage: WAL (hot) → native time-partitioned columnar (warm) → Apache Parquet on object storage (cold)
- Time-series SQL extensions: ASOF JOIN with TOLERANCE, SAMPLE BY, LATEST ON, WINDOW JOIN, HORIZON JOIN
- Streaming materialized views with REFRESH IMMEDIATE for live OHLC and rollup aggregations
- N-dimensional array data type for order-book snapshots and vectorized depth analytics
- PostgreSQL wire protocol compatibility for broad ecosystem tooling
- Apache 2.0 open-source with no vendor lock-in via open formats (Parquet, Arrow)
- Enterprise HA: automatic failover <100ms, multi-AZ read replicas, RBAC, TLS, SSO (OAuth 2.0/OIDC/Azure Entra ID)
- Nanosecond timestamp precision for financial tick-data and nanosecond-resolution telemetry
Key Use Cases8
- Financial market data storage: tick data, OHLC bars, order books, and trade analytics
- Real-time transaction monitoring and fraud detection at banking scale
- IoT and sensor telemetry ingestion and real-time monitoring
- Exchange infrastructure, market surveillance, and latency analytics
- Predictive maintenance for aerospace, industrial, and energy equipment
- Quantitative trading, algo backtesting, and post-trade execution analysis
- Real-time streaming analytics and live operational dashboards
- AI/ML data pipelines requiring open-format (Parquet/Arrow) time-series stores
QuestDB customer outcomes
90% reduction in TCO
Replaced a legacy cloud-based data platform with QuestDB to serve real-time market data across more than 46,000 unique trading pairs on a top-10 blockchain, achieving dramatically lower infrastructure costs.
30x faster queries on 1/4 the hardware
Migrated from InfluxDB to QuestDB for its AI-driven financial analytics platform, achieving dramatically faster query response times while using a fraction of the previous hardware footprint.
8 million rows/second ingestion throughput
Deployed QuestDB as the core time-series store for Europe's first MiFID II-regulated crypto exchange, ingesting billions of trade records with real-time SQL query capability and 99.9% uptime.
5,000+ queries/second from a single instance
Deployed QuestDB for national-scale real-time transaction monitoring and risk analytics, sustaining high query throughput from a single instance under strict latency requirements.
99.9% uptime with QuestDB Enterprise
Latin America's largest stock exchange uses QuestDB Enterprise for its Central Securities Depository tick data store, processing terabytes of daily market data with sub-millisecond query performance.
Billions of records/day ingested without latency issues
Switched from Elasticsearch to QuestDB for media streaming analytics, processing billions of engagement and device records per day with improved ingestion speed and reduced query latency.
Recent Trend
How AI describes QuestDB3
...| \- Ingestion may need batching for 10M EPS \- Needs scaling via distributed Timescale Multinode for extreme rates | | QuestDB | \- Native columnar storage, high ingestion speed \- SQL-like query language \- Optimized for real-time queries | \...
Which time-series databases maintain query performance best at 10 million events per second ingestion over long retention periods?
* ### QuestDB Surprisingly strong SQL experience. Pros: * ANSI-like SQL.
Which time-series databases have the best query authoring and debugging experience for teams coming from relational databases?
Among the top contenders are QuestDB, InfluxDB, TimescaleDB, and Apache Druid (with time-series patterns) when properly tuned and scaled.
Which time-series databases maintain query performance best at 10 million events per second ingestion over long retention periods?
Most cited sources3
Alternatives in Databases & Data Infrastructure6
QuestDB positions itself as the highest-performance open-source time-series database, targeting capital markets, IoT/telemetry, and real-time analytics workloads where ingestion throughput and query latency are paramount.
- It differentiates on SIMD-accelerated SQL, multi-tier storage (WAL → native columnar → Parquet on object storage), nanosecond timestamp precision, and zero vendor lock-in via Apache 2.0 licensing and open formats.
- QuestDB directly benchmarks against InfluxDB and TimescaleDB on performance, and markets itself as a developer-friendly, cost-efficient alternative to proprietary kdb+ for capital markets infrastructure.
Reviews
Praised
- Exceptional ingestion and query performance
- Outperforms InfluxDB and TimescaleDB on benchmarks
- Easy setup and deployment
- Familiar standard SQL interface
- Responsive and knowledgeable engineering-led support
- Strong stability in long-running production workloads
- Rapid product evolution with frequent improvements
- Direct developer access via community Slack
Criticized
- Documentation gaps in advanced and embedded mode topics
- Horizontal write scaling requires Enterprise (vertical-only in open source)
- Occasional non-backwards-compatible version upgrades
- No native OPC-UA protocol support for manufacturing ingestion
- No centralized management UI for multiple instances in open-source tier
QuestDB earns a 4.8/5 on G2 from 35 verified reviews, with 91% 5-star ratings. Users consistently highlight exceptional ingestion and query performance—frequently citing it outperforming InfluxDB and TimescaleDB by significant margins—alongside ease of setup and a familiar SQL interface. The responsive, engineering-led support team accessible via Slack is frequently praised. The most cited criticisms are gaps in documentation for advanced topics, limited horizontal write scaling in the open-source tier, and occasional non-backwards-compatible upgrades.
Pricing
QuestDB Open Source is free under Apache 2.0 and fully self-managed. QuestDB Enterprise is custom-priced (contact sales) and includes high availability, RBAC with column-level controls, TLS encryption, SSO, automated tiered storage to object stores, PITR disaster recovery, and SLA-backed engineering support. A Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) managed deployment is available on AWS and Azure. The previously offered QuestDB Cloud fully-managed SaaS on AWS Marketplace has been discontinued in favor of BYOC. Enterprise is also available via private offer on AWS Marketplace.
Limitations
- The open-source edition is restricted to a single instance with no built-in high availability, replication, or automatic failover; QuestDB Enterprise is required for those capabilities.
- Horizontal write scaling via multi-primary ingestion is listed as 'coming soon' as of early 2026, with the current open-source tier supporting vertical scaling only.
- The fully managed QuestDB Cloud SaaS offering on AWS has been discontinued and replaced by a Bring Your Own Cloud (BYOC) model, requiring users to supply their own cloud infrastructure.
- Users report documentation gaps in advanced areas such as embedded mode.
- No native OPC-UA protocol support for manufacturing data sources.
- Enterprise pricing is undisclosed and requires direct sales engagement.
Frequently asked questions
Topic Coverage
Prompt-Level Results
| Prompt | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Capability0/5 cited (0%) | |||||
What are the best dedicated vector databases, and how do they compare to adding vector search extensions to an existing relational database? | |||||
Which managed database platforms offer the best multi-region replication with automatic conflict resolution for write-write scenarios? | |||||
Which globally distributed SQL databases are worth evaluating for a latency-sensitive SaaS product compared to a traditional single-region setup? | |||||
What in-memory caching tools integrate best with persistent databases — and which are worth adding versus just optimizing primary database queries? | |||||
Which columnar databases handle mixed OLAP and OLTP workloads well — when does it make sense to use one over a standard row-store? | |||||
Developer Experience0/5 cited (0%) | |||||
Which developer-focused databases offer the best local development experience that actually mirrors the production setup? | |||||
Which document databases handle schema evolution most smoothly — without requiring migration scripts for every change? | |||||
Which time-series databases have the best query authoring and debugging experience for teams coming from relational databases? | |||||
Which ORMs and query builders offer the best TypeScript experience for a distributed SQL database? | |||||
Which cloud-native database platforms handle connection pooling best for serverless workloads with unpredictable connection spikes? | |||||
Integrations & Ecosystem0/5 cited (0%) | |||||
What tools sync data from a primary operational database to an analytics warehouse for real-time reporting without heavy ETL infrastructure? | |||||
Which developer-focused database platforms integrate best with IaC tools so database provisioning and config can be version-controlled? | |||||
Which cloud database platforms support change data capture for streaming row-level changes to a message queue or event bus with low latency? | |||||
Which managed database platforms have the best ORM and query builder compatibility for JavaScript and Python ecosystems? | |||||
Which managed database platforms make multi-cloud portability practical — so moving between cloud providers isn't a nightmare? | |||||
Performance & Reliability2/5 cited (40%) | |||||
What tools and benchmarks help compare database platforms for high-concurrency transactional workloads before committing to one? | |||||
Which managed database services offer the best backup and point-in-time recovery for production applications handling financial transactions? | |||||
Which time-series databases maintain query performance best at 10 million events per second ingestion over long retention periods? | |||||
Which distributed SQL databases handle automatic failover most reliably when a node goes down — with the fastest recovery times? | |||||
Which serverless database platforms maintain the best read/write throughput under sustained load with reliable autoscaling? | |||||
Setup & First Run0/5 cited (0%) | |||||
Which distributed SQL platforms support migrating from a legacy relational database with minimal downtime for a production application? | |||||
What's the fastest serverless relational database to spin up and connect to a Node.js backend for a new SaaS app? | |||||
I'm evaluating managed cloud databases versus self-hosted options for a seed-stage product — what should I look at? | |||||
Which developer-focused database platforms handle schema migrations with CI/CD pipeline tooling out of the box? | |||||
Which database platforms support branching so I can get a fresh isolated database copy per pull request for feature development? | |||||
Strengths
No clear strengths identified yet.
Gaps5
Which distributed SQL databases handle automatic failover most reliably when a node goes down — with the fastest recovery times?
Competitors on 3 platforms
Which managed database platforms make multi-cloud portability practical — so moving between cloud providers isn't a nightmare?
Competitors on 3 platforms
Which database platforms support branching so I can get a fresh isolated database copy per pull request for feature development?
Competitors on 3 platforms
Which columnar databases handle mixed OLAP and OLTP workloads well — when does it make sense to use one over a standard row-store?
Competitors on 2 platforms
What are the best dedicated vector databases, and how do they compare to adding vector search extensions to an existing relational database?
Competitors on 1 platform
Vertical Ranking
| # | Brand | PresencePres. | Share of VoiceSoV | DocsDocs | BlogBlog | MentionsMent. | Avg PosPos | Sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PingCAP | 12.0% | 27.0% | 0.8% | 4.8% | 8.8% | #8.0 | +0.22 |
| 2 | Cockroach Labs | 8.0% | 22.0% | 2.4% | 4.0% | 4.8% | #10.6 | +0.16 |
| 3 | Supabase | 6.4% | 10.0% | 1.6% | 0.8% | 6.4% | #16.2 | +0.38 |
| 4 | ClickHouse | 5.6% | 8.0% | 0.8% | 0.0% | 5.6% | #11.5 | +0.00 |
| 5 | PlanetScale | 4.0% | 5.0% | 3.2% | 0.0% | 4.0% | #4.8 | +0.34 |
| 6 | Xata | 2.4% | 5.0% | 0.0% | 2.4% | 2.4% | #4.2 | +0.30 |
| 7 | MongoDB | 2.4% | 8.0% | 0.8% | 0.0% | 2.4% | #6.5 | +0.27 |
| 8 | SingleStore | 2.4% | 3.0% | 1.6% | 0.8% | 2.4% | #8.7 | +0.03 |
| 9 | Redis | 2.4% | 5.0% | 0.0% | 2.4% | 2.4% | #9.0 | +0.17 |
| 10 | Neon | 2.4% | 3.0% | 1.6% | 0.8% | 2.4% | #9.3 | +0.00 |
| 11 | QuestDB | 2.4% | 3.0% | 0.0% | 1.6% | 2.4% | #19.3 | +0.00 |
| 12 | Timescale | 0.8% | 1.0% | 0.0% | 0.8% | 0.8% | #21.0 | +0.00 |
| 13 | EdgeDB | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — | — |
| 14 | Fauna | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — | — |
| 15 | Turso | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | — | — |
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