GreptimeDB vs. Prometheus

CHALLENGER

Prometheus + Thanos/Mimir

Pull-based scraper · PromQL only · 5-8 components to scale

High ops overhead at scale
Siloed metrics workflow for broader observability
Single-value time series — no multi-value or wide event model
Deep analysis requires exporting to a separate data warehouse

GREPTIMEDB

GreptimeDB

Metrics + Logs + Traces · SQL + PromQL · Native object storage

One database, stateless scale-out
SQL + PromQL on top of object storage
Multi-value rows (wide events), not just single-value series
Replace Prometheus + data warehouse with one system

Prometheus Stack

5-8 COMPONENTS

Prometheus (scraper + local TSDB)

remote write

Thanos Sidecar / Mimir Distributor

compact + index

Thanos Compactor + Store Gateway

query fan-out

Thanos Querier / Mimir Query Frontend

long-term

S3 object storage (via Thanos/Mimir)

GreptimeDB

1 DATABASE

Frontend node (stateless, auto-scale)

compute-storage disaggregation

Datanode (compute, stateless)

native object storage

PromQL + SQL in same query
Metrics + Logs + Traces same engine
Scale compute and storage independently

Feature comparison

Dimension	GreptimeDB	Prometheus	Thanos / Mimir
Query language	SQL + PromQL (dual)	PromQL only	PromQL only
Data model	Multi-value rows (wide events)	Single-value time series	Single-value time series
Data types	Metrics + Logs + Traces	Metrics only	Metrics only
Storage	Native object storage (S3, OSS, GCS)	Local disk	Object storage via sidecar (Thanos) or native (Mimir)
Scaling model	Compute-storage disaggregation, stateless	Federation only	Multi-component (ops heavy)
OpenTelemetry	Native OTLP (all signals)	Metrics only (remote write)	Metrics only (Thanos); OTLP metrics supported (Mimir)
Continuous aggregation	Built-in SQL aggregation + Flow streaming engine	Recording rules (limited)	Recording rules (limited)
High availability	Native clustering with automatic failover	Requires manual federation	Multi-component HA setup
License	Apache 2.0	Apache 2.0	Thanos: Apache 2.0; Mimir: AGPLv3
Migration effort	PromQL-compatible, remote write ready	—	Requires infra redesign

Thanos and Mimir have different architectures. This column summarizes common patterns.

Remote Write redirect

Docs

Point Prometheus remote_write to GreptimeDB endpoint. Zero downtime. Existing scrape configs untouched.

30 min

Grafana datasource

Docs

Replace Grafana datasource — GreptimeDB exposes a Prometheus-compatible API. Existing dashboards work immediately.

1 hour

Backfill history

Export historical data from Thanos snapshots or promtool. Bulk insert via gRPC without impacting live writes.

1-3 days

Decommission Thanos

After data validation, shut down Thanos Sidecar, Compactor, and Store Gateway one by one.

2 Weeks

DeepXplore

CEO

Read the story

We replaced Thanos with GreptimeDB for Prometheus long-term storage. Queries that used to crawl now return significantly faster, and we no longer manage Thanos sidecars, compactors, and store gateways.