InfluxDB Cloud is InfluxData's managed time-series database. Compare its usage-based pricing tiers, features, and alternatives like TimescaleDB and Prometheus.
InfluxDB Cloud is the managed, cloud-hosted edition of InfluxDB, the purpose-built time-series database created by InfluxData. Founded in 2012 by Paul Dix and Todd Persen (initially under the name Errplane), InfluxData is headquartered in San Francisco and has raised roughly $120 million in venture funding to build out InfluxDB and its cloud infrastructure, including the newer Rust-based IOx storage engine.
The platform is designed specifically for timestamped data — metrics, events, and sensor readings — that pours in continuously from infrastructure, applications, and IoT devices. Rather than a single fixed offering, InfluxDB Cloud spans multiple deployment models, from a free rate-limited tier for experimentation to dedicated single-tenant infrastructure for large-scale production workloads.
InfluxDB Cloud supports both the InfluxQL and newer SQL query languages, along with the original Flux language, giving teams flexibility in how they analyze time-series data. Telegraf, InfluxData's open-source collection agent, ships with plugins for hundreds of data sources, making it straightforward to pipe in metrics from servers, containers, sensors, and third-party APIs without custom ingestion code.
The platform includes built-in downsampling and continuous query capabilities to manage long-term storage costs, native alerting and notification rules, and a columnar storage architecture (via the IOx engine) optimized for high write throughput and fast time-range queries at scale. Deployment options range from shared serverless infrastructure to fully dedicated, single-tenant environments for workload isolation.
The Free plan is rate-limited to 5MB of writes and 300MB of queries per 5-minute window, with 30-day retention and up to 2 databases — enough for learning InfluxDB or prototyping small projects. The Usage-Based plan removes those retention and database caps and charges per unit consumed: $0.0025 per MB ingested, $0.012 per 100 queries, $0.002 per GB-hour stored, and $0.09 per GB of egress.
For committed production workloads, Annual plans offer volume discounts with unlimited writes, queries, and retention plus an uptime SLA and dedicated customer success, while InfluxDB Cloud Dedicated provides single-tenant infrastructure typically starting around $50,000 per year. Most production deployments across all tiers land between $5,000 and $75,000 annually, with the largest dedicated deployments exceeding $150,000.
InfluxDB Cloud has a free, rate-limited tier (5MB writes and 300MB queries per 5 minutes, 30-day retention) suitable for learning and prototyping.
InfluxData was founded in 2012 by Paul Dix and Todd Persen, initially operating as Errplane before rebranding in 2015.
Beyond the free tier, InfluxDB Cloud uses usage-based pricing charged per MB ingested, per query volume, per GB-hour stored, and per GB of egress, with annual committed-use and dedicated infrastructure options for larger workloads.
It is a single-tenant, enterprise-grade deployment offering workload isolation and enhanced SLAs, typically custom-quoted starting around $50,000 per year.
InfluxDB Cloud supports SQL, the original InfluxQL, and the Flux functional query language.
It is commonly used for infrastructure and application monitoring, IoT sensor data, financial market data, and industrial equipment telemetry.