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About Grafana Mimir
Grafana Mimir is a scalable, high-performance time-series database designed specifically for large-scale monitoring and observability use cases. Developed by Grafana Labs and built on top of the proven Cortex project, Mimir is optimized for handling Prometheus metrics at massive scale with multi-tenancy support. It provides long-term storage for Prometheus metrics and includes advanced features like query acceleration and horizontal scaling. Click here to read the full performance comparison report between GreptimeDB and Grafana Mimir.
GreptimeDB vs. Grafana Mimir
| Feature/Aspect | GreptimeDB | Grafana Mimir |
|---|---|---|
| Data Model | Unified Observability Database | Time-Series Database (Prometheus-focused) |
| Value Model | Multi-Value (supports complex data structures) | Single-Value (metrics only) |
| Multi-model Support | Metrics, Logs & Traces in one database | Metrics only (requires Loki for logs, Tempo for traces) |
| Ingestion Protocols | SQL gRPC InfluxDB Line Protocol Prometheus Remote Storage OpenTelemetry Loki Push API Elasticsearch Bulk API HTTP API | Prometheus Remote Write InfluxDB Line Protocol OpenTelemetry Grafana Agent |
| Query Languages | SQL & PromQL (dual interface) | PromQL only |
| Data Retention | Flexible TTL policies with automatic tiering | Configurable retention with compaction |
| Continuous Aggregation | Built-in SQL aggregation, Pipeline ETL engine & Flow streaming computation | Recording rules and alerting rules |
| Use Cases | Unified observability, real-time analytics, IoT monitoring, edge computing | Large-scale Prometheus monitoring, multi-tenant environments |
| Architecture | Cloud-native distributed with compute-storage separation | Microservices architecture with horizontal scaling and object storage |
| Storage Format | Apache Parquet (columnar, compressed) | Prometheus TSDB blocks with object storage |
| Multi-tenancy | Built-in tenant isolation and resource management | Advanced multi-tenancy with query isolation |
| Performance | Sub-second query response with advanced indexing | Optimized for high-cardinality Prometheus workloads |
| License | Apache 2.0 | AGPLv3 (open source), Commercial (Grafana Cloud) |
| Deployment Complexity | Single system deployment | Complex microservices deployment (ingester, distributor, querier, etc.) |
| Operational Model | Self-managed or fully managed cloud | Primarily cloud-managed (Grafana Cloud) |
| Written Language | Rust (memory safety, performance) | Go (ecosystem compatibility) |
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