# Time series databases for small business buyers: what AI models recommend, November 2026

Gane Index, November 2026 Edition. Asked as "time series database" and as "database for metrics and sensor data", six framings each, to fourteen models with search on, on behalf of a small B2B company. Added to the November 2026 Edition. Page: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/it-data/time-series-databases/smb

**Standing:** TimescaleDB leads with 62% of first choices; verdict clear leader. 56 first choices across the direct, paraphrase, budget and scale prompts.

## First-choice share

| Rank | Product | Share | Negative rate | Labels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | [TimescaleDB](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/timescaledb/index.md) | 62% | 4% | 78 |
| 2 | [InfluxDB](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/influxdb/index.md) | 16% | 14% | 74 |
| 3 | [VictoriaMetrics](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/victoriametrics/index.md) | 7% | 0% | 40 |
| 5 | [Prometheus](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/prometheus/index.md) | 2% | 22% | 55 |
| 9 | [QuestDB](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/questdb/index.md) | 0% | 6% | 49 |
| 10 | [Amazon Timestream](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/amazon-timestream/index.md) | 0% | 31% | 16 |
| 21 | [TDengine](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/tdengine/index.md) | 0% | 27% | 11 |
| 49 | [ClickHouse Cloud](https://www.gane.ai/index/it/vendors/clickhouse-cloud/index.md) | 0% | 43% | 37 |

Rank is by share of first choices among all 65 products named; products with the same share are tied, and the order among them carries no meaning. The table lists those with at least 10 labels.

## Each model's first choice on the direct prompt

- Claude Haiku 4.5: TimescaleDB; alternatives InfluxDB, Prometheus, QuestDB
- GPT-5.4 mini: PostgreSQL, TimescaleDB; alternatives ClickHouse Cloud, InfluxDB 3 Core, Prometheus
- Gemini 3.5 Flash: TimescaleDB; alternatives ClickHouse Cloud, QuestDB, VictoriaMetrics
- Perplexity Sonar: TimescaleDB; alternatives Amazon Timestream, InfluxDB, Prometheus, QuestDB
- Grok 4.20: TimescaleDB; alternatives InfluxDB, VictoriaMetrics
- Mistral Small: TimescaleDB; alternatives InfluxDB, Prometheus
- DeepSeek V4 Flash: TimescaleDB; alternatives InfluxDB
- Llama 4 Maverick: TimescaleDB
- Qwen 3.7 Flash: TimescaleDB; alternatives QuestDB, VictoriaMetrics
- Kimi K2: TimescaleDB; alternatives QuestDB
- GLM 4.7 FlashX: InfluxDB; alternatives TimescaleDB
- MiniMax M2.5: InfluxDB; alternatives Prometheus, TimescaleDB
- GPT-6 Luna: PostgreSQL with TimescaleDB; alternatives InfluxDB
- Muse Glimmer 30B: TimescaleDB; alternatives InfluxDB, Prometheus, QuestDB, VictoriaMetrics

## Sources the answers cite

70 of 84 answers came back with a source list, from 14 of 14 models. Sites named in the most answers:

- tigerdata.com: 45 answers, 81 citations
- influxdata.com: 40 answers, 69 citations
- github.com: 30 answers, 62 citations
- g2.com: 30 answers, 40 citations
- sourceforge.net: 22 answers, 25 citations
- questdb.com: 20 answers, 23 citations
- db-engines.com: 20 answers, 21 citations
- gane.ai/index: 16 answers, 16 citations

Pages named in the most answers:

- https://g2.com/categories/time-series-databases/small-business (28 answers)
- https://db-engines.com/en/ranking/time+series+dbms (19 answers)
- https://github.com/ismanf/just-system-design/blob/main/04-databases/time-series-databases.md (19 answers)
- https://influxdata.com/learn/what-is-time-series-database (16 answers)
- https://sourceforge.net/software/time-series-databases (16 answers)
- https://tigerdata.com/learn/the-best-time-series-databases-compared (16 answers)
- https://gane.ai/index/it/it-data/time-series-databases/smb (15 answers)
- https://questdb.com/blog/best-time-series-databases (14 answers)
- https://guideflow.com/blog/time-series-database-software (13 answers)
- https://spyro-soft.com/blog/industry-4-0/choosing-the-best-time-series-database-for-your-iot-needs-a-comparison (13 answers)

## Warned against

- ClickHouse Cloud: 16 of 37 labels negative. "Criticized for performance issues and operational overhead... considered a "criticized challenger" in small business contexts" (Mistral Small, negative prompt)
- InfluxDB: 10 of 74 labels negative. "Databases to Avoid or Use Cautiously - InfluxDB (especially OSS versions 1.x/2.x, and even 3 Core)" (Grok 4.20, negative prompt)
- Prometheus: 12 of 55 labels negative. "Great if you are primarily doing Kubernetes monitoring (with Grafana), but bad for persistent historical logs or billing records." (Qwen 3.7 Flash, scale prompt)
- kdb+: 9 of 9 labels negative. "Why to Avoid: kdb+ is arguably the fastest database in the world for analytics, but it comes with an incredibly steep learning curve" (Qwen 3.7 Flash, negative prompt)

## Movement since October 2026

Floor: 11 points of share, measured on the calibration repeat.
Same leader: TimescaleDB at 62%.

- QuestDB: 6% to 0%, −6. Inside the floor by 5 points · rank 4 → 9 of 65.
- TimescaleDB: 57% to 62%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 1 of 65, unchanged.
- InfluxDB: 11% to 16%, +5. Inside the floor by 6 points · rank 2 of 65, unchanged.
- VictoriaMetrics: 4% to 7%, +3. Inside the floor by 8 points · rank 5 → 3 of 65.
- PostgreSQL: 4% to 2%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 6 of 65, unchanged.
- Amazon Timestream: 2% to 0%, −2. Inside the floor by 9 points · rank 8 → 10 of 65.
- Prometheus: 2% to 2%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 7 → 5 of 65.
- TDengine: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 14 → 21 of 65.
- ClickHouse Cloud: 0% to 0%, ±0. Inside the floor by 11 points · rank 13 → 49 of 65.

## Record

- Method: https://www.gane.ai/index/it/methodology
- License: CC BY 4.0. Cite as Gane Index, November 2026 Edition, www.gane.ai/index/it.