What it is

InfluxDB 3 Core is an open-source time series database purpose-built for real-time ingestion, processing, and querying of event and metrics data. It lives in the InfluxDB ecosystem and is the latest major version, generally available since April 2025. Built with Rust and leveraging Apache Arrow, DataFusion, and Parquet, it replaces older versions (v1.x, v2.x) with a new architecture optimized for low-latency analytics and interactive workloads.

It solves the problem of storing and querying high-cardinality, high-velocity time-stamped data where traditional databases struggle with performance or scalability. Use cases include monitoring sensor data, application performance, network telemetry, financial tick data, and behavioral analytics—any scenario requiring sub-10ms last-value lookups or sub-30ms distinct metadata queries.

Key capabilities

• Diskless architecture with optional object storage (S3, Azure Blob, GCS) or local disk persistence
• Fast query response: under 10ms for last-value queries, ~30ms for distinct metadata
• Embedded Python VM for custom plugins and event triggers
• Full compatibility with InfluxDB 1.x and 2.x write APIs
• Support for InfluxQL, SQL (via FlightSQL and HTTP), and Line Protocol for writes
• Parquet-based storage format for efficient compression and columnar reads
• HTTP API on port 8181 for writes and queries

Who uses it and how

• DevOps teams deploy it for real-time infrastructure monitoring, ingesting metrics via Telegraf or direct HTTP Line Protocol writes
• IoT platforms use it to store and query high-frequency sensor readings with embedded Python triggers for alerting
• FinTech firms ingest market tick data via FlightSQL for low-latency trading analytics dashboards
• SaaS vendors build user-facing monitoring UIs that require fast, interactive queries over time-bounded datasets

Getting started

Docker images, Debian/RPM packages, and tarballs are available at the InfluxData downloads page; the getting started guide walks through container or binary deployment with default HTTP API on port 8181.

When to use it — and when not to

Use InfluxDB 3 Core when low-latency time series queries and high write throughput are critical, especially if migrating from InfluxDB 1.x or 2.x and needing SQL compatibility. Avoid it if your workload is purely transactional (OLTP), requires ACID guarantees across unrelated records, or lacks time-based semantics. Self-hosting requires managing object storage or local disk, and the embedded Python runtime adds runtime complexity for production deployments.