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Frequently asked questions

What is time series data?
Why shouldn’t I just use a relational database?

What is time series data?

Time series data is a series of data points each associated with a specific time. Examples include:

  • Server performance metrics
  • Financial averages over time
  • Sensor data, such as temperature, barometric pressure, wind speeds, etc.

Why shouldn’t I just use a relational database?

Relational databases can be used to store and analyze time series data, but depending on the precision of your data, a query can involve potentially millions of rows. InfluxDB is purpose-built to store and query data by time, providing out-of-the-box functionality that optionally downsamples data after a specific age and a query engine optimized for time-based data.

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Where are you running InfluxDB?

Select your InfluxDB Cloud region and cluster or your InfluxDB OSS URL and we’ll customize code examples for you. Identify your InfluxDB Cloud cluster.

  • InfluxDB Cloud
  • InfluxDB OSS or Enterprise
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  • US West (Oregon)

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For more information, see InfluxDB Cloud regions or InfluxDB OSS URLs.

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New in InfluxDB 3.5

Key enhancements in InfluxDB 3.5 and the InfluxDB 3 Explorer 1.3.

See the Blog Post

InfluxDB 3.5 is now available for both Core and Enterprise, introducing custom plugin repository support, enhanced operational visibility with queryable CLI parameters and manual node management, stronger security controls, and general performance improvements.

InfluxDB 3 Explorer 1.3 brings powerful new capabilities including Dashboards (beta) for saving and organizing your favorite queries, and cache querying for instant access to Last Value and Distinct Value caches—making Explorer a more comprehensive workspace for time series monitoring and analysis.

For more information, check out:

InfluxDB Docker latest tag changing to InfluxDB 3 Core

On November 3, 2025, the latest tag for InfluxDB Docker images will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments.

If using Docker to install and run InfluxDB, the latest tag will point to InfluxDB 3 Core. To avoid unexpected upgrades, use specific version tags in your Docker deployments. For example, if using Docker to run InfluxDB v2, replace the latest version tag with a specific version tag in your Docker pull command–for example:

docker pull influxdb:2