VictoriaMetrics Review, Pricing & Features

VictoriaMetrics is an open-source, Prometheus-compatible time series database for monitoring at scale. See pricing, features, pros and cons.

Category
DevOps
Pricing
open-source, from Free (open source); Cloud from about $190/month
Verified
Not yet
Last updated
July 19, 2026
Founded
2018
Headquarters
San Francisco, California, United States
Free PlanAPIOpen SourceAIFreemium

What Is VictoriaMetrics

VictoriaMetrics is an open-source time series database purpose-built for storing and querying metrics at scale. It is compatible with the Prometheus remote write and query APIs, so it can slot into existing Prometheus-based monitoring stacks as a long-term storage backend or full replacement without requiring teams to rewrite their alerting rules or dashboards.

The project emphasizes operational simplicity: it ships as a single, dependency-free binary that can run on a laptop for personal projects or be deployed as a distributed cluster handling billions of metrics per day for large enterprises. Its design goals of high compression, fast ingestion, and low RAM/CPU usage have made it a popular alternative to Prometheus plus Thanos, Cortex, or Mimir for teams that need long-term retention without heavy infrastructure overhead.

Beyond metrics, VictoriaMetrics has expanded into a broader observability suite with VictoriaLogs for log management and VictoriaTraces for distributed tracing, letting teams consolidate metrics, logs, and traces around a similar storage engine and query philosophy.

Key Features

VictoriaMetrics supports PromQL and its own extended MetricsQL query language, high data compression that reduces storage costs versus Prometheus and InfluxDB, and native support for OpenTelemetry, Kubernetes, and Grafana integrations.

It scales from a single-node instance to a highly available cluster mode with independent scaling of ingestion, storage, and query components, and includes enterprise add-ons such as downsampling, multi-tenancy, and retention filtering for larger organizations.

The platform also offers AI-assisted anomaly detection features and a managed Cloud offering that removes the operational burden of running and scaling the database in-house.

Pricing

VictoriaMetrics is free and open source under a permissive license, and most users can self-host it at no licensing cost. For organizations wanting vendor support and advanced features, an Enterprise license is available with custom pricing.

VictoriaMetrics Cloud, the fully managed SaaS version, uses a fixed-tier pricing model combining compute and storage costs, with entry-level tiers starting around $190 per month plus $0.09 per GB of network egress; new accounts receive a time-limited trial credit and no credit card is required to start.

Key Features

Pros & Cons

Pros

  • Free and open source with a large, active community and frequent releases
  • Significantly lower RAM, CPU, and disk usage than many alternatives at similar scale
  • Drop-in compatibility with existing Prometheus and Grafana tooling
  • Scales from single-node to large distributed clusters without switching tools
  • Managed Cloud option removes operational overhead for teams that want it

Cons

  • Cloud pricing model can be harder to estimate than simple per-seat SaaS pricing
  • Enterprise features require a paid license, gating some advanced capabilities
  • Steeper learning curve for teams unfamiliar with Prometheus-style monitoring concepts
  • Cluster mode setup and tuning requires infrastructure expertise for very large deployments

Pricing

Frequently Asked Questions

Is VictoriaMetrics free to use?

Yes, the core VictoriaMetrics database is free and open source. Enterprise and Cloud offerings are paid options for teams that want extra features or managed hosting.

Is VictoriaMetrics compatible with Prometheus?

Yes, it supports the Prometheus remote write protocol and PromQL, so it can be used as a long-term storage backend or full replacement for Prometheus.

What is VictoriaMetrics Cloud?

VictoriaMetrics Cloud is the company's fully managed SaaS offering, handling deployment, scaling, and backups, with pricing starting around $190 per month.

Who founded VictoriaMetrics?

VictoriaMetrics was founded in 2018 by engineers with prior experience building large-scale monitoring systems, and it has grown as a largely bootstrapped company.

What is the difference between VictoriaMetrics and VictoriaLogs?

VictoriaMetrics stores and queries numeric time series (metrics), while VictoriaLogs is a companion product for storing and searching log data using a similar storage philosophy.

Can VictoriaMetrics replace Thanos, Cortex, or Mimir?

Many teams use VictoriaMetrics as a simpler alternative to these long-term storage solutions for Prometheus, citing lower resource usage and easier operations.

Does VictoriaMetrics support Grafana?

Yes, it integrates directly with Grafana as a data source using its Prometheus-compatible query API.

Who uses VictoriaMetrics in production?

Organizations including CERN, Grammarly, Spotify R&D, Wix, Adidas, and Cornell University have publicly discussed using VictoriaMetrics.

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