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Apache IoTDB

iotdb.apache.org

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Spec score 9.1 #1 of 24 in IoT Analytics Software

What it is

Apache IoTDB is an open-source industrial IoT time-series database for collecting, storing, managing, and analyzing device data across edge and cloud deployments. The project describes high-speed writes for millions of networked devices alongside fast reads. Query features include aligning time across devices and sensors, time-series computation, and aggregation by time dimensions. Ingestion options include IoTDB-SQL, JDBC, Java, C++, Python, and Go native APIs, REST, MQTT, CSV, and TsFile. Named analysis ecosystem examples include Hadoop, Spark, Flink, and Grafana. Deployment options include cloud installation, a desktop terminal tool, and synchronization between cloud and on-premise machines. The REST service is disabled by default and uses Basic Authentication except for the health check endpoint. Data and cluster permissions can be managed through users, roles, and privileges. The homepage states disk storage can cost less than $0.23 per GB. The project lists energy, aerospace, transportation, steel, and other IoT scenarios. Its JDBC documentation cautions that insert operations may not provide high-performance writing and recommends the Java Native API for Java applications.

Spec sheet

What it does
Apache IoTDB is an IoT-native time-series database for collecting, storing, managing and analyzing industrial time-series data.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Product
Apache IoTDB is an industrial IoT time-series database for collecting, storing, managing, and analyzing IoT time-series data with edge-cloud collaboration.Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Deployment
The project describes cloud installation, a desktop terminal tool, and a data synchronization tool connecting cloud and on-premise machines.Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Integrations
Documented integrations include Telegraf, NiFi, Kafka, Flink, Spark, Zeppelin, Grafana, DataEase, DBeaver and ThingsBoard.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Support
The project points users to QQ, WeChat, and Slack community channels and a developer mailing list for questions and help.Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Access control
IoTDB supports users, roles and path-scoped privileges such as READ, WRITE and SECURITY, with authentication by username and password.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
APIs
Documented interfaces include Java, Python, C, C++, C#, Go, Node.js, Rust, JDBC, MQTT and REST APIs.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Availability and scaling
Official documentation describes a distributed architecture with high availability, automatic load balancing and heterogeneous cluster support.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
C API
A C wrapper around the C++ Session SDK was added in version 2.0.10 and has precompiled Linux, macOS and Windows packages.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Community status
Apache board minutes dated June 17, 2026 describe IoTDB as ongoing with high activity and note trademark issues under discussion.Read 14 Oct 2026 · apache.org
Company profile
LinkedIn lists Apache IoTDB as a nonprofit software-development organization founded in 2017, headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, with 51–200 employees.Read 14 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Compatibility limit
The download page notes that version 1.0 changed SQL syntax conventions and that implemented UDFs need code changes to work with the separated UDF API module.Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Compression
IoTDB uses compressed disk storage and is marketed as reducing hardware storage cost.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Documentation depth
The user guide spans quick start, deployment, basic and advanced functions, AI, tools, APIs, integrations, SQL, technical internals, reference and FAQ sections.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Downloads
The download page lists All-in-one and Edge binaries, source archives, and a Grafana connector and plugin for listed releases.Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Edge deployment
IoTDB supports terminal or edge deployment, cloud deployment and synchronization between terminal and cloud instances.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Foundation headquarters
The Apache Software Foundation lists its mailing address in Wilmington, Delaware.Read 14 Oct 2026 · apache.org
Go SDK
The Go client offers Session and SessionPool APIs and documents Go 1.13+, Make, cURL and Thrift prerequisites.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Hierarchical model
Its measurement-point organization follows industrial device hierarchies and supports directory browsing and search.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
High throughput
The product is designed for high-speed ingestion from millions of devices, including out-of-order and multi-frequency data.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Independent history
The project began as a Tsinghua University research project, entered the Apache Incubator in November 2018 and became an Apache top-level project in September 2020.Read 14 Oct 2026 · news.apache.org
Independent technical description
Wikipedia describes IoTDB as a Java-based, column-oriented, open-source time-series database and records its 2020 promotion to an Apache top-level project.Read 14 Oct 2026 · en.wikipedia.org
Installation package
The all-in-one package contains configuration, data, libraries, scripts, tools, plugin directories, licenses, notices and release notes.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Intended scenarios
The homepage describes use in energy and power, aerospace, transportation, steel and metallurgy, and IoT scenarios.Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Java SDK
The Java native driver supplies session-pool support and Maven dependency coordinates, with JDK 17 or newer required for current releases.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
JDBC limitation
The JDBC documentation says JDBC insert operations may not achieve high-performance writing and recommends the Java Native API for Java applications.Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Licence
The source repository is distributed under the permissive Apache License 2.0.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
Limit: build portability
The repository says its automatically downloaded Thrift compiler is guaranteed for gcc8-or-later on Ubuntu, macOS and CentOS, while other operating systems are not guaranteed.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
Limit: client compatibility
Documentation warns that using a newer client against an older server can cause connection failures or unexpected behavior.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Limit: support guarantees
Community support is voluntary and provides no service-level agreement, guaranteed response time or guarantee that issues will be solved.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Limit: syntax migration
The 1.0 release changed identifier rules and required some older UDF implementations to be rewritten and repackaged.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Praise: benchmark throughput
The VLDB paper reported up to 30 million data points per second on one node in its evaluated version.Read 14 Oct 2026 · vldb.org
Praise: edge-cloud design
A VLDB paper describes one code base for lightweight edge deployment and clustered data-center deployment with edge-to-cloud synchronization.Read 14 Oct 2026 · vldb.org
Praise: storage format
The VLDB paper reports that TsFile is columnar, optimized for time-series data and directly readable by Hadoop and Spark.Read 14 Oct 2026 · vldb.org
Product ecosystem
The ecosystem includes the IoTDB database, TsFile storage format and AINode training-and-inference engine.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Python SDK
The Python client is installable with pip and includes session pooling plus Tablet and NumpyTablet insertion objects.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Queries
Its query features include time alignment across devices and sensors, time-series computation, and time-dimension aggregation functions.Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Query engine
The database provides timestamp alignment, native time-series computation and more than 100 built-in aggregation or time-series functions.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Recent milestone
An August 2026 LinkedIn update said cumulative downloads exceeded 13.5 million and deployments had surpassed 100 PB of managed data.Read 14 Oct 2026 · linkedin.com
Release verification
The development guide instructs release validators to verify signatures and hashes for source and binary releases.Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
REST API
REST services support query, write and management operations using OpenAPI-generated interfaces.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
REST security
REST endpoints are disabled by default and require Basic authentication when enabled, except for the ping health check.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Security configuration
Java session clients expose SSL, trust-store and RPC-compression settings.Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Self-hosting
Users can clone the repository, build with Maven and obtain a distribution ZIP, including an Edge artifact that combines ConfigNode and DataNode in one JVM.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
SQL support
YesRead 22 Sep 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
System requirements
Current source prerequisites include Java 17 or newer, Maven 3.6 or newer for source builds, and a 65,535 open-file limit.Read 14 Oct 2026 · github.com
Throughput
The project says IoTDB supports high-speed writes for millions of networked devices and fast reads.Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org

Plans and prices

Apache IoTDB Free Open source time-series database; downloadable binaries and source Read 4 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org
Apache IoTDB Community Free Software generally available free of charge · community mailing-list support is voluntary · no SLA or guaranteed response Read 14 Oct 2026 · iotdb.apache.org

Every Apache IoTDB plan and price →

Strong points and limits

Strong points

  • Open-source database with free downloadable binaries and source
  • Ingestion options include native APIs and MQTT
  • Queries align data across devices and sensors
  • Access permissions use users, roles, and privileges

Limits

  • REST service is disabled by default
  • JDBC inserts may not provide high-performance writing
  • Version 1.0 changed SQL syntax conventions

Who it suits

IoT teams that need time-series storage across edge and cloud environments may find IoTDB relevant, particularly in the listed industrial scenarios. It also suits teams using its supported APIs, SQL options, or named analysis integrations.

Verdict

IoTDB offers a broad range of ingestion methods and time-series query features for industrial IoT data. Review the JDBC and version compatibility notes when planning integrations or upgrades.

Where Specifiction places it

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