Thanos vs VictoriaMetrics
long-term metrics — object storage federation vs. high-density TSDB
| Thanos | VictoriaMetrics | |
|---|---|---|
| Summary | CNCF-graduated long-term storage and global query layer for Prometheus, backed by object storage. | Prometheus-compatible TSDB optimized for ingestion rate and storage cost. Single-binary by default, cluster mode for scale. |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| GitHub stars (approx) | 14000 | 17000 |
| Categories | metrics | metrics |
| Replaces SaaS | datadog, new-relic | datadog, new-relic |
| Self-host deployment | kubernetes helm, docker, single binary per component | single binary, docker, kubernetes helm/operator |
| Commercial hosted option | no / self-host only | yes (vendor-run) |
| Repository | https://github.com/thanos-io/thanos | https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics |
| Freshness checked | 2026-05-17 | 2026-05-17 |
When to prefer Thanos
You want long-term metric storage on S3-compatible object storage and you already operate Prometheus servers. Thanos federates them and offloads historical blocks to cheap object storage without changing your scrape topology.
When to prefer VictoriaMetrics
You want a single binary or cluster (no sidecars, no compactor, no store gateway) that handles ingest plus long-term retention. VictoriaMetrics stores its own data in a high-density format and avoids the Thanos component sprawl, at the cost of being a non-Prometheus codebase.