Software Alternatives, Accelerators & Startups

RRDTool VS QuestDB

Compare RRDTool VS QuestDB and see what are their differences

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RRDTool logo RRDTool

High performance data logging and graphing system for time series data

QuestDB logo QuestDB

QuestDB is the fastest open source time series database
  • RRDTool Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-09-30
  • QuestDB Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-08-17

RRDTool features and specs

  • Efficient Data Storage
    RRDTool uses a round-robin database structure, which ensures a constant disk footprint by overwriting old data points, making it space efficient.
  • Time Series Data Visualization
    It provides robust graphing capabilities for time series data, making it useful for monitoring trends and patterns over time.
  • Open Source
    Being open-source, RRDTool can be used and modified freely, offering flexibility and customization options to fit specific needs.
  • Built-in Aggregation
    RRDTool automatically consolidates data over time, reducing the need for manual computation and maintaining performance as data scales.
  • Broad Integration
    It is widely supported and can be integrated easily with other tools and systems, such as MRTG and Cacti, enhancing its functionality.

Possible disadvantages of RRDTool

  • Steep Learning Curve
    The tool can be difficult to learn for new users due to its complex command-line interface and diverse set of options.
  • Limited Data Flexibility
    Once a database is created, its size and structure are fixed, meaning changes require a new database setup and could result in data loss.
  • Requires Manual Setup
    There is no automatic data import or setup, requiring users to define configurations and scripts manually, which can be time-consuming.
  • Outdated Interfaces
    The graphical interfaces can appear outdated compared to more modern software, which may not meet current user interface expectations.
  • Performance Limitations
    RRDTool may face performance constraints when dealing with very high-frequency data updates, as it is optimized for a consistent update interval.

QuestDB features and specs

  • High Performance
    QuestDB is designed for high-throughput data ingestion and fast queries, making it suitable for time-series data and real-time analytics.
  • SQL Support
    QuestDB provides native SQL support, which makes it easy for users familiar with SQL to write queries and interact with the database.
  • Time-Series Optimization
    The database is optimized for time-series data, offering features like in-order execution and reduced computational complexity for queries over time intervals.
  • Open Source
    As an open-source solution, QuestDB allows developers to inspect the code, customize features, and contribute to its development.
  • Columnar Storage
    QuestDB uses a column-oriented storage model, which improves I/O efficiency and speeds up read operations, particularly for analytics workloads.

Possible disadvantages of QuestDB

  • Young Ecosystem
    Being a relatively new player in the database market, QuestDB may have a smaller community and fewer third-party integrations compared to more established databases.
  • Limited Features
    QuestDB, while performance-focused, might offer fewer features compared to traditional relational databases, such as limited support for transactional operations.
  • Resource Intensive
    The performance optimizations in QuestDB might require significant system resources, making it potentially less suitable for environments with limited hardware capabilities.
  • Learning Curve
    While SQL support is a pro, users new to time-series databases may face a learning curve in understanding how to effectively use QuestDB's unique features.

RRDTool videos

Cacti - The RRDTool-based graphing solution

More videos:

  • Review - Building Network Monitoring Systems with RRDtool

QuestDB videos

No QuestDB videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.

Add video

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to RRDTool and QuestDB)
Monitoring Tools
100 100%
0% 0
Time Series Database
40 40%
60% 60
Databases
23 23%
77% 77
Log Management
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, QuestDB should be more popular than RRDTool. It has been mentiond 19 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

RRDTool mentions (3)

  • Seeing through hardware counters: a journey to threefold performance increase
    For anyone interested in how the graphs were made: https://oss.oetiker.ch/rrdtool/ Happy to see people still using RRD after all these years. - Source: Hacker News / over 2 years ago
  • One of the longest standing soundness holes in Rust -- Diving Deep: implied bounds and variance
    (I actually implemented the firmware for this... Using the Arduino port for ESP8266 because I was impatient, but discovered that either my DHT11 modules are junk or I'm misusing them, because the humidity measurement drifts as they keep running. I need to write the Rust+rrdtool app meant to receive the reports and then do some comparative tests between the DHT11 and some BME280s, and between the current firmware... Source: over 3 years ago
  • Arizona in October is solar bliss
    Nice! This is giving me some ideas. Here's what my old school rrdtool-based system looks like:. Source: over 3 years ago

QuestDB mentions (19)

  • How to Forecast Air Temperatures with AI + IoT Sensor Data
    If your data lacks uniform time intervals between consecutive entries, QuestDB offers a solution by allowing you to sample your data. After that, MindsDB facilitates creating, training, and deploying your time-series models. - Source: dev.to / about 1 year ago
  • K3s Traefik Ingress - configured for your homelab!
    But of course, I want to run a QuestDB instance on my node, which uses two additional TCP ports for Influx Line Protocol (ILP) and Pgwire communication with the database. So how can I expose these extra ports on my node and route traffic to the QuestDB container running inside of k3s? - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Annotations in Kubernetes Operator Design
    In this post, I will detail a way in which I recently used annotations while writing an operator for my company's product, QuestDB. Hopefully this will give you an idea of how you can incorporate annotations into your own operators to harness their full potential. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Is all data time-series data?
    QuestDB is an open source, high performance time series database. With its massive ingestion throughput speeds and cost effective operation, QuestDB reduces infrastructure costs and helps you overcome tricky ingestion bottlenecks. Thanks for reading! - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • How QuestDB saved a project and the team's mental health
    Want to know more? Check out the QuestDB website and the QuestDB documentation. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing RRDTool and QuestDB, you can also consider the following products

TimescaleDB - TimescaleDB is a time-series SQL database providing fast analytics, scalability, with automated data management on a proven storage engine.

InfluxData - Scalable datastore for metrics, events, and real-time analytics.

OpenTSDB - OpenTSDB is a distributed, scalable Time Series Database (TSDB) written on top of HBase.

MRTG - MRTG (or Multi Router Traffic Grapher) is an open-source network monitoring tool.

VictoriaMetrics - Fast, easy-to-use, and cost-effective time series database

SolarWinds NPM - Advanced network monitoring for on-premises, hybrid, and cloud. Download a FREE 30-day trial of SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor (NPM) today!