Freedom251 › Time-Series Databases
Gnocchi
What Gnocchi is
Gnocchi is an open-source time series database for storing and indexing metrics and resources at large scale. It computes aggregations during ingestion and stores results for retrieval. An HTTP REST interface handles ingestion and queries, while other input methods include StatsD, Prometheus Remote Write, InfluxDB line protocol, and AMQP 1.0. Archive policies define which aggregations to calculate and how many to retain; supported methods include minimum, maximum, average, percentile, and standard deviation. Gnocchi supports multi-tenancy, retention policies, metric searches, structured resources, resource history, and batching measures. Its stateless API and processing services can scale horizontally by adding daemons or endpoints. Storage drivers include File, Ceph, OpenStack Swift, Amazon S3, and Redis, with Ceph recommended. PostgreSQL is the preferred indexer, while MySQL 5.6.4 or later is supported. Installation options include pip, source, Docker, and OpenShift. Upgrades are limited to adjacent major versions or minor versions, and backlog data is not migrated.
Who it suits
Gnocchi suits self-hosted teams needing API-based time series storage, retention policies, multiple ingestion protocols, and horizontal scaling. It supports multi-tenant deployments and integrations such as Grafana.
What it does well
- Open-source and free
- Multiple ingestion protocols
- Horizontal scaling with stateless services
- Several storage backends
- Supports retention and archive policies
What to know first
- Self-hosted deployment required
- No SQL support
- PostgreSQL or MySQL indexer required
- Upgrades cannot skip major versions
Verdict
Gnocchi is a focused, scalable time series database with broad ingestion and storage options. Its self-hosted architecture and upgrade constraints require operational planning.
Facts from Gnocchi's own pages
- Aggregation
- Gnocchi computes metric aggregations when data is ingested and stores the results for fast retrieval. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Aggregation policies
- Archive policies configure which aggregations to compute and how many aggregates to retain; supported methods include minimum, maximum, average, percentile, and standard deviation. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Architecture
- Its API and metric processing services are stateless and can be scaled horizontally by running additional daemons or API endpoints. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Authentication
- The API supports basic authentication, OpenStack Keystone authentication, and remote-user authentication. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Deployment
- Gnocchi can be installed with pip, from source, using Docker, or using OpenShift. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Features
- Its listed features include an HTTP REST interface, horizontal scalability, metric aggregation, measures batching, archiving policies, metric value search, structured resources, and resource history. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Grafana
- Gnocchi supports Grafana. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Indexer
- The documented indexer drivers are PostgreSQL, which is preferred, and MySQL version 5.6.4 or later. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Indexer backends
- The supported indexer database drivers are PostgreSQL and MySQL, with PostgreSQL marked preferred. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Installation
- Gnocchi can be installed using pip, from source, or using Docker; the documentation also describes an OpenShift installation option. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- The documentation lists support for Grafana, Prometheus Remote Write, Nagios/Icinga, StatsD, Collectd, InfluxDB line protocol, and AMQP 1.0. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Multi-tenancy
- Gnocchi lists multi-tenant support as a main feature. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Other integrations
- The feature list includes Nagios/Icinga, StatsD, Collectd, InfluxDB line protocol ingestion, and AMQP 1.0 support. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Product
- Gnocchi is an open-source time series database for storing and indexing time series data and resources at large scale. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Prometheus
- Gnocchi supports Prometheus Remote Write. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Purpose
- Gnocchi is an open-source time series database for storing and indexing time series data and resources at large scale. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Scalability
- Gnocchi services are stateless and can be scaled horizontally by running additional daemons or API endpoints. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Storage
- Documented storage options include file, Ceph, OpenStack Swift, Amazon S3, and Redis; Ceph is described as the recommended driver. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Storage backends
- Incoming and aggregated metric storage can use File, Ceph, OpenStack Swift, Amazon S3, or Redis drivers. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Support
- The project documentation points users to its source code, GitHub bug tracker, and the #gnocchi IRC channel on OFTC. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Tenancy
- Gnocchi supports multi-tenant use. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Upgrade limit
- Upgrades are supported between major versions one step at a time or between minor versions; upgrading directly from version 2 to version 4 is unsupported. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
- Upgrade limitation
- The documentation says upgrades are supported between major versions one step apart or between minor versions, and warns that backlog data is not migrated between versions. · gnocchi.osci.io, 11 Oct 2026
Where Gnocchi stands on Freedom251
- Time-Series Databases#19 of 36