Logo GreptimeDB

Databases

GreptimeDB

GreptimeDB — metrics, logs and traces in one database: SQL, PromQL, remote_write, OpenTelemetry and Grafana, on your VPS.

Official documentation Source code

About GreptimeDB

GreptimeDB is an open-source observability database (Apache-2.0 licensed) written in Rust. Where you would usually stack one store for metrics, another for logs and a third for traces, it keeps all three in a single columnar engine, and lets you query them with two languages you already know: SQL and PromQL.

It speaks the ecosystem's protocols: Prometheus `remote_write`, OpenTelemetry (OTLP/HTTP) for metrics, logs and traces, the Loki push API, the InfluxDB line protocol and an SQL API over HTTP. Grafana queries it as a Prometheus data source. It ships with a web dashboard to write SQL or PromQL queries and explore tables, and its retention is set per database or per table with a single SQL statement.

What gets installed

Ready when the VPS starts

Compatible OS
Choice of Linux distributions
Application
GreptimeDB
Tech stack
DockerRustGreptimeDB
Minimum RAM
2 GB minimum
Minimum CPU
1 vCPU
Default port
8110
Access
root over SSH

Key features

  • Metrics, logs and traces — one columnar engine instead of three stores to maintain.
  • SQL and PromQL — joins, aggregates and windows in SQL; your existing PromQL queries work.
  • Prometheus-compatible — remote_write target and Prometheus query API, Grafana data source with no plugin.
  • Native OpenTelemetry — OTLP/HTTP ingestion of metrics, logs and traces; Loki push API and InfluxDB line protocol.
  • Built-in dashboard — SQL and PromQL editor, table exploration, charts of the results.
  • Protected access — admin user and generated password, required on the whole HTTP API: queries and ingestion alike.

When to use this solution?

One database for your observability

Send your services' metrics, logs and traces over OpenTelemetry to a single instance, and cross them in SQL: a route's errors, its latency and its traces in the same query.

Long-term storage for your Prometheus

Keep Prometheus for scraping and add a remote_write line pointing to GreptimeDB: Grafana queries months of history, and you can also analyse it in SQL.

Application events you can analyse in SQL

Push business counters or events (orders, sign-ups, response times) in InfluxDB or OTLP format, then analyse them in SQL from the dashboard or your code.

Guide

Deploy GreptimeDB on your VPS

  1. Create the VPS and choose the address

    Order an Ubuntu 24.04 VPS with 2 GB of RAM (4 GB and more disk if you centralise many services). GreptimeDB requires a domain: your servers send their data to it and Grafana queries it, so it must answer over HTTPS on a stable name. It opens on a subdomain of one of your domains, or on the VPS's free subdomain (greptimedb.{dns_slug}.servorbit-dns.com), HTTPS included. No need to buy a domain name.

  2. Install GreptimeDB from the Marketplace

    In your client area, select GreptimeDB, choose the address and click Install. The script deploys the official container in standalone mode, generates the admin user's password, enables authentication on the whole HTTP API, turns off the anonymous usage report and configures the nginx reverse proxy over HTTPS.

  3. Log in for the first time

    Open https://your-domain/dashboard/, then enter the admin user and the password shown in your client area in the dashboard's connection settings. Run SHOW TABLES; in the SQL editor to check access.

  4. Send your data

    For Prometheus, add a remote_write block pointing to https://your-domain/v1/prometheus/write?db=public with basic_auth. For OpenTelemetry, point the OTLP/HTTP exporter to https://your-domain/v1/otlp with an Authorization: Basic header; traces also require X-Greptime-Pipeline-Name: greptime_trace_v1, on a separate exporter. The same credentials work everywhere.

  5. Connect Grafana

    In Grafana, add a Prometheus-type data source with the URL https://your-domain/v1/prometheus, enable basic authentication and enter the same credentials. Your PromQL dashboards work unchanged.

Frequently asked questions

Questions about GreptimeDB

← Back to DatabasesAll applications
VictoriaMetrics specialises in metrics and PromQL. GreptimeDB also covers logs and traces, and adds SQL: you can join, aggregate and filter your observability data as in a relational database. For Prometheus metrics storage alone, VictoriaMetrics is enough; to bring the three signals together in one database, GreptimeDB is the better choice.

Embed the deploy button

Maintaining a project that uses GreptimeDB? This button lets your readers deploy it on a VPS in one click, without reading Docker documentation.

Deploy GreptimeDB on ServOrbit
Markdown
[![Deploy GreptimeDB on ServOrbit](https://servorbit.com/brand/deploy/button.svg)](https://servorbit.com/vps-cloud?template=greptimedb&utm_source=deploy-badge&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=greptimedb)
HTML
<a href="https://servorbit.com/vps-cloud?template=greptimedb&utm_source=deploy-badge&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=greptimedb"><img src="https://servorbit.com/brand/deploy/button.svg" alt="Deploy GreptimeDB on ServOrbit" height="40"></a>

The button points to a VPS order with the template preselected. The image is served from servorbit.com — nothing to host on your side.

Complementary solutions

Monitoring & Observability

Grafana

Visualize the metrics of your infrastructure and applications. Customizable dashboards, multi-channel alerts, multiple sources.

Monitoring & Observability

Prometheus

Real-time metric collection and querying. The de facto standard for monitoring Kubernetes, Docker and microservices.

Monitoring & Observability

VictoriaMetrics

Open-source Prometheus-compatible time series database: compact storage, fast PromQL and MetricsQL queries, long retention on a small VPS.

Need help?

Browse our help center and FAQ, or reach our team — callback, WhatsApp or email.

Message us on WhatsAppopens in a new tab
or write to us